Blog Post: Reading #2

Reading Reflection Post #2: Groundswell Chapters 5-8

            For almost all of us who have experienced life as a pre-teen, we know that puberty can be an awkward time in a person’s life. Tweens feel awkward in their changing bodies, experiencing a whirlwind of new emotions, and parents and their children alike hate the dreaded “talk”. For adolescent girls specifically, however, the onset of young adulthood creates a unique and uncomfortable new change: namely, periods.

            Luckily for these girls, in recent years, conversations about periods have been moving away from shame and stigma, and towards education and openness. In fact, many companies are creating messages about ending the stigma of periods, particularly those that sell pads and tampons. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff bring up a case study of such a website in their book “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies”. The site, which is called “beinggirl.com”, is run by Proctor & Gamble, the company that makes Always brand pads and tampons. I decided to pay a visit to the site and see if it was still operating, and what it looks like to the average consumer. While the name of the website has changed since Li and Bernoff wrote their book, the original vision for the site as described in “Groundswell” has still remained.

Li and Bernoff are clear to say that “beinggirl.com is not a community site about tampons. . . It’s about everything that young girls deal with” (118). Its current site, as seen above, does the same thing; rather than focusing exclusively on periods, it includes a variety of topics for women of different age groups. P&G subtly demonstrate through their site that they listen to the groundswell and are responding to what they hear. According to Li & Bernoff, “listening is perhaps the most essential neglected skill in business. . . But in the era of the groundswell, listening is easy” (93). This is the main argument of the fifth chapter of their book, and it is one that P&G follows through their site. One example of this shows up in their chat feature, as seen below.

By using language like “period questions are normal” and “you are not alone”, P&G recognizes that many girls and women who have uncertainties about their menstrual cycles may feel like the other women around them have it all figured out. In addition, by acknowledging women who have “had a life change” and want to learn more, they acknowledge that not all visitors to the site are adolescent girls. This also opens up the opportunity to include a new market group, i.e., mothers and older women. Their “‘The Talk’” section creates a unique opportunity to bridge communication between these two groups as well, creating an association of mother/daughter communication with the Always brand.

In the words of Li & Bernoff, “communities are a powerful way to engage with your customers and deliver value to them. They’re also effective at delivering marketing messages, as long as you listen, not just shout” (103). They highlight how the delicate nature of this topic means that P&G has to be especially careful in how they talk with the groundswell: “Traditional advertising was problematic- shouting doesn’t work so well when people are embarrassed to listen. So Bob [from P&G] and his team conceived of a new approach- solve the girls’ problems, instead of marketing to them. This was the genesis of beinggirl.com” (118). This approach is clever and innovative- but more than that, it demonstrates the uselessness of brands talking without listening to what the groundswell has to say.

What are some other brands that have successfully handled delicate issues? Can you think of any brands that you now associate with the process of growing up?