bloggy meet up

And why was I famous you ask? (You did ask, didn’t you?) Well, for one glorious day, I had a camera crew follow me around. We’re talking boom mics, cameras clicking away during private conversations and in your face as you walked down the hall. OK, it wasn’t just for me, but I was one of 15 that were being followed. And I have to admit, it feels kinda weird. I can’t imagine how Hollywood-types have paparazzi following and yelling at them 24/7. It would be pretty annoying.

Enough of Hollywood, let’s get back to ME.

When I went to Cincinnati for the Pampers Mommy Blogger Event (uh, yeah, it was like 3 weeks ago and I’m updating you on the final day…), P&G wanted to capture every moment of our adventure to share with the rest of their departments (not the word I was looking for, but “companies” isn’t right, either…). Apparently, everyone was so intrigued with bloggers they wanted to see how we did with Pampers before they decided to bring some more bloggers into Gilette or Tide or MaxFactor or whatever.

So, all the mama bloggers met in the hotel lobby at the ungodly hour of 8:30am. Then we jumped into our cushy chauffeured cars and went to Pampers Baby Care Headquarters. And this, my friends, is where the camera crews began.

We were greeted by Jane Wildman, GLOBAL VP (could I say that few more times?!), Bryan McCleary, External Relations for P&G and about 5 camera guys—still cameras and video. Yeah.

This began our hyper speed day, basically broken down into three parts. I’ll try to keep it brief. You’ll be rewarded at the end, I promise.

1. Tour of Pampers’ Discovery Center & Baby Care HQ

The Discovery Center is like a giant daycare. Only instead of dropping your kids off, you get paid to bring them in! You get free snacks and juice and then researchers watch you put on diapers. On your kids, I mean. We got to see the moms & babies, talk to the kids and watch research taking place.

Let’s say one of the researchers said, “Now, why exactly did you pull the tab like that?” And the mom says, “Well, it’s in the wrong position. It would be better here.” The researchers take that info upstairs to the secret pampers-place and they hand make a new diaper. This place was TOP SECRET and even our camera men weren’t allowed inside. But after donning hairnets and goggles, we were!

We watched four women hand make some prototype diapers based on the moms downstairs. I asked the supervisor, “How often do you do this?” He was kinda confused and said, “Well, like one shift. Eight hours a day.” I said, “I’m sorry. You make prototype diapers EIGHT HOURS a day? EVERY DAY?” I just can’t believe there is that much to improve upon in a diaper! But this is what Pampers does. They want to be the very best for your baby.

2. Q&A with P&G Panel

Next we were ushered into a swanky meeting hall complete with donuts and Pampers notepads. We were given the opportunity to talk to four different execs: Director of Product Development, Global Director of Product Quality, Senior Brand Manager and Marketing Director of Baby Care. So, basically: BIG WIGS.

Of course, we asked the questions about chlorine-free diapers, perfumes and landfill waste. And honestly, I was impressed with their answers. They were thoughtful, genuine and intelligent. (For example…NO ONE uses chlorine anymore. It’s an old-skool method. So, to advertise that you’re chlorine-free is like chocolate advertising, “we’re sweet!”.)

And this is when we started our engines. Each P&G exec that spoke made us genuinely excited about Pampers. (I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say this, too.)

We could feel their passion and couldn’t understand why they don’t display that passion to the public. If everyone got to hear the Marketing Director say, “I work at Pampers to make my wife’s job as a sahm easier.” they’d buy nothing but Pampers. If they showed us the Director of Product Development who has worked in Japan for five years investigating new fibers to put inside diapers, making them less wasteful, we’d be smitten with the company.

Pretty soon we were shouting things out like, “TWITTER THAT!” “YOU NEED A BLOG!” and “OMG, MAYBE WE CAN…” The bloggers in us started jumping out of our skins! Everyone had an idea and of course, it could all be solved with a blog!

It was kinda funny but the idea was true—people like blogs because they are real. And people would LOVE a super-mega-huge company to be that transparent, too. Authenticity sells.

3. UNICEF Presentation

I’ve already gushed on that. But I want to hit on it again because I don’t want you to forget about it…and the lives of babies & moms Pampers & UNICEF are saving.

The last three weeks, the mommy bloggers, the PR companies and Pampers have been a flurry of emails trying to get some more good stuff going on for YOU and UNICEF. We have our own awesome widget (courtesy of Mindy) and two of the mommy bloggers, Isabel @AlphaMom and Romi @TrueMomConfessions, have decided to match donations up to $500 on their blogs. Between those 2 blogs, that’s 40,000 vaccines. 40,000 babies & moms. 40,000 lives.

So, don’t pass up on this opportunity to literally ERADICATE tetanus in these countries.

***

I didn’t even mention the lunch we had with the Pampers Parenting Institute ladies. Or the statistics of how Pampers has reduced waste in the last three years. Or the Graeter’s ice cream. But I think I’m talked out. So, are you ready for your reward?

Well, Pampers has a great Gifts to Grow program, where you can earn points for every pack of diapers or wipes you buy. I’ve been collecting points ever since Lydia was born and have earned a cool Snapfish photo album book and am now deciding between free movie tickets or more Snapfish stuff.

So, Pampers is giving you a free point! ONE POINT. OK, so it doesn’t sound like very much. But you only get .5 if you buy a pack of wipes. So, this is equivalent to buying 2 packs of wipes! Just go to Pampers.com (and sign in, etc. etc.) then enter this code: OHAMANDAAWGTG08. If you’re not collecting these points, let someone else know about it! They might want your one point. I know I would!.

Thanks, Pampers for letting me be famous for one day!

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So. Cincinnati. Pampers. Mom Bloggers.

It was just too much. It will take me posts and posts to properly assimilate all the information. And honestly, it was so interesting and informative and inspiring (how’s that for alliteration?) that I WANT to give you every detail. Hope you’re ready!

I want to tell you about P&G, the archives, the execs, my heavenly hotel room, the bloggers, the diapers, the babies, UNICEF, the bloggers and well, the bloggers. The thing I’m the most excited about is (well, besides the bloggers) is the UNICEF stuff that Pampers is doing. But I’m going to hold off for a couple of days until I get an idea I have a little more squared away…

Once I arrived in Cincinnati I was greeted by two fantastic girls from the PR companies, Andrea and Jen. They are adorable and sharp as a tack (or a whip, whichever you prefer). Also, Kailani, Heather, Romi and Stacy were there. (More on their impressive selves later…)

We were whisked away to the Westin (heavenly!) with just enough time to gush at a sweet P&G giftbasket, change into MORE maternity clothes and head off to P&G for a tour of the archives and a little bloggy mixing.

We arrived at P&G and were greeted by a big sign, a security desk and my very own Pampers nametag! Then we had refreshments in the archives room. (Yes, I was first in line.) The archivist (who’s name I don’t remember because I wasn’t smart enough to get my pad of paper out!) was amazing. He didn’t start out as an archivist…he was just so into the history of P&G and the companies they had accumulated, they ended up making this job for him.

I love listening to old stories and hearing about the history of American culture, so this was extremely interesting to me. We had a little bloggy introduction (where I was again blown away by all the smart mamas in the room), then finally got to meet all the Pampers folks!

We met Jane Wildman, GLOBAL VP for Pampers Baby Care. Global Vice President. Yeah.

And Bryan McCleary, Director of External Relations. Oh yeah, and he was on The Apprentice as a spokesperson for P&G and a guest judge. So, he’s famous.

I was immediately impressed with their warmth. I mean, I know they are just normal people, too. But they didn’t seem to be doing just another work-related thing. They seemed truly excited to meet us, talk to us and spend the next 24 hours listening to us.

We hit up Brio Tuscan Grill for dinner. It was fun to eat dinner with some more fun bloggers, the P&G execs and some UNICEF folks. Plus, I ate about 30 appetizers, a salad, a steak (yes, a steak!) and then a DELISH dessert. Oh my. I can’t believe I didn’t get a pic of that!

But here’s the thing. I don’t know what I was expecting when we got there…maybe to be wined and dined? Maybe just be a focus group? Or maybe it was just a straight PR move so they could say, “Well, look at what we did! We brought these mom bloggers in behind the scenes!” But even in this totally informal environment, I did not get that impression.

I felt like they were honored we were there. I think they were excited to share their “baby” with us. Their passion for moms and babies was catching! (more on this passion in another post…)

At our first little meet-up in the Archives, they showed us an in-house video of several employees from around the world talking about how they’ve seen lives changed because of Pampers products. They are literally zealous about diapers! They believe that they are changing and saving lives with their products.

I say all that to say, that with just a little meet and greet, a brief presentation and a normal dinner they’d already won me over. Everyone was personable, genuine, welcoming and in my opinion, honored to have us there!

On the way to the hotel, we caught up with the “other” table and then I went straight to bed. I couldn’t get online and didn’t think my little brain (or my pirate) could stay up long enough to figure it out.

More to come!

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