Discovering hidden stress led to a "divine service"! Nepia Genki! "Free Diaper Exchange Service"

How can Dentsu Inc.'s creative team contribute to the ever-evolving field of CX (Customer Experience)? "Monthly CX" is a series where members of Dentsu Inc.'s CX specialist division, the "CXCC" (Customer Experience Creative Center), share insights ( For more on Monthly CX, click here ).

This time, we introduce the "Free Diaper Exchange Service" project, which ran from April 20 to July 20, 2023. This initiative offered free exchanges of children's diapers that had become too small for their new size. We spoke with copywriter Akiko Hanada, who was involved in this project.

[Profile: Akiko Hanada]
Dentsu Inc.
Customer Experience Creative Center
Copywriter/Planner
As a copywriter/planner, she has been involved in communication and branding for various advertisers. She specializes in copy-driven communication and, in recent years, has handled branding utilizing PR and SNS. Major awards include the TCC Newcomer Award, ACC, Spikes Asia, and ADFEST.

A Project Born from User Insights

Monthly CX: Could you briefly explain what the "Free Diaper Exchange Service" project was?

Hanada: The "Free Diaper Exchange Service" was launched by Oji Nepia's diaper brand "Nepia Genki!" (hereafter Genki!) to identify and solve hidden concerns of families raising children. It collected unused "Nepia Genki!" products that had been left unused in households due to children outgrowing them, and exchanged them for new sizes free of charge. The project ran for three months from April 20 to July 20, 2023, and was conducted three times, each time serving the first 1,000 households to apply.

Monthly CX: What sparked this groundbreaking project?

Hanada: The original impetus came from a voluntary presentation we made in 2021. About a year later, in 2022, we received an orientation asking, "With the 2023 product renewal, could we develop a digital promotion targeting parents themselves?"

The reason was that while parenting households were actively using social media for childcare, Genki! had barely touched digital advertising or social media at that time.

In the diaper market, where quality differences between brands were shrinking, leading to price wars and battles over ad volume, we needed to figure out how to make consumers fall in love with the brand and choose it specifically without a massive budget. To achieve this, we concluded that instead of focusing solely on digital, we needed a campaign that would naturally spark organic conversations among parents on social media. The key insight came from Genki!'s brand slogan: "Stress-free diapers for babies, moms, and dads."

Monthly CX: Could you elaborate on the "diaper stress-free" concept?

Hanada: While ensuring babies using diapers are stress-free is fundamental, the crucial part of this slogan is that it includes moms and dads too. We devised initiatives to reduce parents' diaper stress, leveraging this brand slogan.

Many team members are parents themselves, so we brainstormed together as stakeholders to identify diaper-related frustrations. That's when we discovered the insight: as children grow, parents end up with a lot of unused diapers that are no longer the right size. People often find themselves stuck with partially used packs or bulk purchases made during sales that they couldn't finish, and we realized many parents struggle with this.

During our discussions, someone suggested, "It would be helpful if someone could take them off our hands, and it would be good for the environment too." This led to the completion of the project proposal that became the "Free Diaper Exchange Service." When we presented this proposal to the client, they responded, "We definitely want to make this happen," and the project officially launched.

Monthly CX: So this project started from the real insights of those directly involved.

Hanada: Yes. While it might not seem like a major concern to outsiders, for those directly affected, it was actually a hidden source of stress. We also felt strongly about finding a way to solve this kind of problem ourselves.

As our research progressed, we discovered that approximately 20 million unused diapers go unused annually, with over 5 million of those ending up discarded. We named this the "Diaper Size-Out Loss Problem," framed it as a social environmental issue, and issued a PR release. It's a project kind to both parents and the environment, and we felt it truly embodied Genki!'s brand slogan.

Monthly CX: What a wonderful project benefiting all three parties: the client, consumers, and the environment. I thought it was a very new and modern CX approach.

Hanada: In the past, there was a mindset that even if there was some loss, getting people to buy large quantities of sale items would yield short-term profits. But that doesn't fit with today's times, does it?

Oji Nepia has long been a company focused on environmental issues and social contribution activities. Given that background, it was great that the project could move forward without being dismissed just because it wasn't directly tied to sales.

Project development undertaken by everyone, feeling our way forward

Monthly CX: How was the response to the "Free Diaper Exchange Service"?

Hanada: We received incredibly heartwarming reactions on social media from parents, calling it a "godsend," saying "we're truly grateful," and "we wish other companies would do this too." It made us feel strongly that "we were able to help, we weren't wrong."

We collected about 1,880 diapers, and the initiative was featured in multiple parenting media outlets and newspapers. I believe it significantly boosted brand awareness for Genki!.

Monthly CX: Looking back on the project, what were the biggest challenges?

Hanada: It was incredibly tough overall. We had to launch within about four months after the project got the green light, so time was a major constraint. We had to develop the service and create the ads simultaneously, which meant an overwhelming amount of work. While I usually handle CM and promotion production, service development was completely new territory. Managing the schedule without knowing the right answers was extremely difficult. I understood all too well the urge to outsource the ads.

Monthly CX: With so much to do, how did you move the project forward?

Hanada: Since it was a completely new service, we had to figure out what to do and how to do it from scratch. However, the collaboration between the client, the shipping company, and Dentsu Inc. was smooth because we held numerous discussions to make it happen. The client facilitated close coordination with the shipping company, and that open communication really helped.

Monthly CX: So it was the strong collaboration between the three companies that made this possible.

Hanada: More than just the collaboration, I believe the client's strong desire to "make this happen" was what drove the project forward.

We had to think about advertising strategy, service design, and more and more, so we needed to proceed in an agile manner. We were able to overcome this because every team member had the skills to thoroughly complete planning and deliverables even within a short timeframe.

The key is uncovering and refining "insights everyone possesses"

Monthly CX: What do you think were the key CX points for the "Free Diaper Exchange Service"?

Hanada: I think it was starting the project from the insight. While regular ad production focuses on output—how to express a solution strategy in an excellent way—this project prioritized capturing the customer's strong insight above all else. Success came from effectively uncovering "the insight parents have" and refining the idea from there.

Another key point for user convenience was focusing on creating a stress-free system from the parent's perspective, embodying our brand slogan. We consciously aimed to reduce stress like packaging hassle through features like "free shipping," "delivery personnel picking up directly from your home," and "exchanging on-site for the same number of diapers in a new size." Additionally, we removed as many barriers to use as possible, such as accepting even opened diapers.

Monthly CX: You mentioned many team members are parents themselves. Did your own experiences connect with this project in any way?

Hanada: The issue of outgrown diapers was something both I and team members had personally experienced. Regarding CX, it also connected to something I heard during new employee training shortly after joining the company.

During that training, we were given the challenge: "How can we increase customer traffic at a convenience store?" While many participants suggested promotional ideas like "inviting celebrities" or "hosting flashy events," the instructor proposed something seemingly less flashy but genuinely useful: "Place a pot for heating cup noodles." It really stuck with me as an example of how advertising planning could be approached. I think most convenience stores have these pots now, but back then, they didn't.

I think the strength of the "Free Diaper Exchange Service" was its ability to pick up on insights that everyone had in their minds but hadn't yet been made explicit, and then give them tangible form.

Monthly CX: Finally, could you share your outlook for the future?

Hanada: We'll continue exploring new initiatives to achieve "diaper stress-free for babies, moms, and dads." Moving forward, we aim to discover insights that can improve the lives of those involved in childcare and, ultimately, society as a whole, and consider what we can do to make that happen.

---

(Editor's Note)

This time, we discussed the "Free Diaper Exchange Service" project, which offers free exchanges of outgrown diapers for new sizes.

Identifying and resolving frustrations and inconveniences that everyone feels but are too commonplace to be explicitly voiced, thereby enhancing trust and goodwill toward the company and product, struck me as an ideal form of brand communication. Simultaneously, I imagine it also reduced the likelihood of users switching to other brands when they need to move up to a larger diaper size. Including such secondary benefits, I felt it was an excellent design of customer experience.

This interview was conducted in collaboration with 'CX Creative Studio note' ( see here for details on CX Creative Studio note ). We are also working with Dentsu Digital Inc.'s CX Creative Team, not just the Dentsu CXCC team, to collect and introduce a broader range of case studies. If you're interested, please check that out as well.

If you have any requests for future case studies or topics you'd like us to cover, please send a message to the Monthly CX Editorial Department via the contact page below. Thank you for your continued readership.

Monthly CX Editorial Department
Dentsu Inc. CXCC: Koike, Oda, Otani, Kibata, Takakusagi, Kanasaka, Okumura