With the right PR, your niche can be found even in a saturated market. Shapee Malaysia, a nursing and maternity products specialist, won the silver award for Best Use of Content at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s recent PR Awards 2021 for the launch of its new breast pump. Working with its PR agency Wofollow, Shapee was able to create significant demand within its target audience and the wider community in a three-month, four-phase campaign, #PumpThisWay.

Challenge

Shapee Malaysia saw a need for a new type of breast pump as changing societal and lifestyle factors drove changes in breastfeeding habits and patterns. The market was saturated, however, with intense price competition online and at physical retailers. Shapee needed to differentiate its brand in the breast pump market so that it would be top of mind with its target audience, pregnant women and first-time mothers aged between 25 to 44 who are modern working mothers of today.

Strategy

The three-month #PumpThisWay campaign, from October to December 2020, was designed to increase brand awareness and visibility while introducing the Shapee Lacfree Wearable Breast Pump to the market.

With Shapee’s goals to stand out from the crowd in mind, Wofollow worked with Shapee to determine the key messaging: that the pump has the unique selling points (USPs) of being hands-free, wireless and lightweight. In contrast, traditional breast pumps require some manipulation, are relatively heavy and come with long tubes.

Instead of focusing directly on the product features, Wofollow decided to go bold with marketing that discussed the pain points of the target audience instead. The product would be positioned as a convenient solution featuring three USPs, backed by a rich narrative that stemmed from the pain points. This was operationalised as a campaign that highlighted the challenges that working breastfeeding mothers face and then introduced the breast pump as the solution.

Wofollow knew that for demand generation to be successful, especially for new and innovative products, there had to be enough helpful product information delivered to target audiences. This led to Wofollow zeroing in on Facebook and Instagram content for the campaign. The agency also came up with the hashtag #PumpThisWay, and included it across the board from content to design, in the videos and other marketing materials.

Digital media buys targeting the target audiences were also used to maximise the reach and engagement of the content.

Execution

The campaign adopted a full-funnel content marketing approach in four phases, from creating awareness and stimulating interest to triggering desire and encouraging action.

1. Awareness building with campaign videos

Shapee and Wofollow adopted a public health strategy which sought to bring attention and change behaviour not just for those who were direct targets of the product, but for the wider community. The campaign kicked off with three thought-provoking videos which used metaphors to highlight the problems encountered by breastfeeding mothers at work.

One metaphor involved a working mother tied to a chair in a crowded area, with everyone looking at her as they pass by. The scene conveyed how breastfeeding mothers have restricted movement, and face unwanted attention when breastfeeding in public.

A second video was a metaphor for how breastfeeding mothers may have to express milk in toilets because there is no private space at work, while the third video was about how mothers may have to express milk in the car due to tight work schedules.

Audiences were then asked, “Do you still #PumpThisWay?”, after which the product was introduced. The videos sparked a discussion among breastfeeding mothers and communities, reminded them about the challenges that can derail someone else’s breastfeeding journey and ways to overcome and normalise public breastfeeding.

2. Sustaining interest on social media

The campaign also leveraged Facebook and Instagram to promote the product as well as educational content regarding breastfeeding right after the campaign videos were launched. All social media posts were timed for maximum reach and exposure.

Content about the product aimed to stimulate interest and encourage action. Shapee and Wofollow defined and highlighted each unique selling point of the product, giving the target audience peace of mind and educating mothers about the experience that they can expect in the product. All “product knowledge” posts included a call to action to purchase the product on the brand’s official website. The team also introduced a launch promotion to drive direct response to sales.

While product-related content focused on highlighting the benefits of the product with clear USPs, Wofollow knew it would be crucial to avoid a hard sell approach in demonstrating the brand’s expertise. This was achieved by sharing meaningful content on related topics like pregnancy and parenting in addition to breastfeeding. The strategy resulted in great engagement rates and brand stickiness.

3. Amplification through influencer marketing

To help trigger desire and encourage action, the team decided to engage key opinion leaders (KOLs) from the mum communities. These KOLs were carefully selected for their close alignment with Shapee’s target audience, being working mothers who need to breast-pump every few hours. The campaign saw the KOLs upload unboxing videos, post Instagram stories, and share reviews as well as testimonial videos. These activities further raised product awareness for Shapee.

4. Community engagement

A giveaway contest wrapped up the campaign and encouraged a steady stream of user-generated content on the campaign message, #PumpThisWay. Wofollow helped to turn the content towards celebrating the excitement of welcoming a newborn with the question “Are you ready to #PumpThisWay?”, while audiences were invited to share a photo showing what they had prepared to welcome their baby. Winners were rewarded with their own Shapee Lacfree Wearable Breast Pump.

Result

The three-month campaign saw a clear positive increase in brand awareness across social media. There was improved average organic reach for the web page during the campaign period, and triple-digit growth in page likes as audiences sought product information and learned about breastfeeding online. Monthly engagement rates also increased as compared to previous periods.

In addition, the three campaign videos created a significant buzz within the community. There were also intangible results gained, such as the public’s positive reactions and comments towards supporting breastfeeding.

 

Credits