‘Cheeky’ baby wins out

These new French nappy packs are a triumph of customer research over client thinking. Although Kimberly-Clark, which bought the Peaudouce brand in 1996, favoured a redesign featuring photographs of babies, Siebert Head pushed for the illustrations to be included in the research.

The introduction of Peaudouce’s first unisex nappy gave Kimberly-Clark the opportunity to review the image of the entire range, in the face of competition from Pampers and Huggies.

Siebert Head was brought in to help Peaudouce fend off its rivals by creating an updated image.

‘Fresh, dynamic pictures of bonny babies in a number of settings’ were shot, says a consultancy spokeswoman. However, Siebert Head creative director Keren House felt that something was missing with the photographs. She pictured the visual stimulus in the baby’s home – books, toys and wallpaper. ‘Somehow photography seemed static and uninvolving when imagined in this context,’ she says.

Illustrator Eleanor Pletts was contacted to draw some cheeky-looking babies and toddlers in a simple style.

While the client liked the illustrations a lot, it was felt ‘they were far too removed from the marketing objectives’, says the spokeswoman. House adds: ‘Emotionally, everyone who saw [the illustrated route] felt it was right, but also felt it was too different corporately from what they had done in the past.

‘It was a case of standing by our convictions and saying “Just try it in research”,’ she adds. Her convictions held true, and the drawings won through in research.

Different aged babies portray the various product ranges, all appearing on brightly coloured backgrounds with a blue logo. The new illustrated Peaudouce range goes on shelf in France at the end of this month.

Designer: Siebert Head

Client: Kimberly-Clark