Who would have thought taking a tampon brand off the shelves would stir so much controversy? Not Johnson and Johnson who pulled all OB products off the shelves in the US and Canada last year only to face a slew of criticism through blogs, letters and websites (http://obultratampons.com/ ) claiming the company pulled their products only to replace them with....pills and surgical treatment? Both are offered by J & J's Ethicon unit and are intended to help manage the flow of your period so you won't actually need their products anymore. Seems like a very 'interesting' strategy. Did J & J actually think they were going to persuade all of their loyal customers to start ingesting drugs, or even worse, succumb to surgery instead of using tampons? The answer is yes--and it was, needless to say, unsuccessful.
So, what did J & J do to apologize for their unacceptable behavior? Well, the first move was pretty obvious- they put the products back on the shelves (minus the trustworthy Ultra product which should be returning after an outcry from customers). But how did they know their customers were going to remain loyal after pulling a stunt like that? ( Keep in mind some of them paid $80 per box on ebay, nearly 20 times the retail price.) They launched a campaign of course! A "We're Really Really Sorry" campaign to apologize for their reckless behavior. The campaign was built around a funny, over the top and personalized music video, with a chorus that says Im sorry so many times you almost wonder if J & J was serious at all. When you first click on the video, http://obtampons.ca/apology, you enter your name...which is then seen on a tattoo, greeting card and in sky writing to make you feel that they were just apologizing to you. Clever. Very clever. This move may not gain back trust from ALL their customers, but it sure as heck is memorable.
Kudos to you J & J for using a digital campaign to effectively turn angry customers into smiling ones.
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