Cussons baby, the baby care line of PZ Cussons is a renowned household brand that has continued to serve its customers over the years, providing baby care products and driving successful engagement activities with consumers in a bid to achieve maximum customer satisfaction and retain loyalty.
Despite building a strong customer base in a competitive market, the company took it up a notch to improve customer experience, take care of them and also appreciate them as they engaged in various activities to improve customer experience.
However, its Cussons Baby Moments (CBM) competition is one activity that has topped the charts and warmed the hearts of its product users while deepening the relationship between producers and consumers.
Business experts say customer experience is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer which comprises three parts i.e. the customer journey, the brand touch points that customer interacts with, and the environment.
Emphasizing this customer experience in his book, ‘The Seven Dimensions of Branding’, Muyiwa Kayode argues that for any relationship to stand a chance of survival, it has to be built on a symbiotic exchange of value.
“This exchange of ideas derives its meaning from each party’s perception of the value being derived. For as long as each party continues to derive value, the relationship will subsist,” he said.
Since its inception in 2013, the competition has grown to become the biggest baby contest in Nigeria and continued to gain momentum as the brand owners continue to enjoy customer loyalty with the creation and sustenance of product value.
To enter for the competition, interested participants were required to purchase the Cussons Baby products or gift pack, register and upload a picture or video of their baby with the product and then get people to vote for the baby’s picture if eventually shortlisted while judges select the winners.
Gbenga Akindele, head of category, personal care, PZ Cussons said the competition has since its initiation grown to become an amazing way to celebrate the child-parent bond while helping the brand keep to its promise of growing together naturally which in essence, is about the emotional confidence that comes from using Cussons baby products.
“Through this we are not only creating magical memories, we are also rewarding families at every opportunity in the process,” he said.
He added that as a tradition the company tried to improve and innovate with each season leveraging participants’ feedback from previous editions and thought to review the competition mechanics, with the aim of improving on it and making it easier for people to participate.
“Building on the success of past editions, we sought to create a much more memorable and more rewarding experience by unveiling new celebrity judges, revamping the competition mechanics and introducing a unique theme that celebrates our little champs; showcasing and nurturing their talents,” he said.
He mentioned that in its seventh edition, the brand increased cash prize to be won significantly to N2 million, furthermore, the number of shortlisted entries was increased from 2,000 to 4,000 while the entry period was extended from six to eight weeks to give as many interested participants the opportunity to get shortlisted.
The competition’s recorded success and Cussons’s attention to detail paved way for its sustainability as it celebrated its eighth edition in February 2022 where it effected these significant changes to accommodate more participants and also ensure a transparent competition.
In addition to this, the brand toured various cities in Nigeria including Port Harcourt, Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, Owerri, and Lagos where they created a lot of fun activities like games and gave various prizes out, furthermore agents were available to help interested participants register their babies for the competition.
Read also: Isabella Uzuakpunwa crowns Cussons Baby of the year
Speaking on the eighth edition of CBM which commenced in November 2021, Akindele said this edition was themed ‘little champs’ with the aim of identifying babies’ talents which they have displayed in different activities, their hobbies and the wonder they express daily and encourage parents to highlight and nurture it.
“This season, we chose to move away from the conventional baby pictures and provide a platform to celebrate our babies’ unique talents and at the same time foster the bond between parent and child, hence the theme ‘Little Champs’,” he said.
As such changes like the entry age for participants was increased to 0-36 months old babies as opposed to the 0-24 months initially used, the entry criteria was reviewed from pictures to videos while the grading system for the grand finale became 50 percent public vote and 50 percent judge’s score while participants yet to be shortlisted were still allowed to submit multiple entries for the entire entry period.
“We had four phases of the competition which was the Call-to-entry phase where we received about 5000 unique entries, the voting phase which was divided into the epic moment, bonding moment and the final phase tagged nurturing moment where the top 10 was shortlisted from Top 1000 entrants, and the Grand Finale where our Cussons Baby of the Year was crowned by judges from the accumulation of the public votes and the judges’ score,” he said.
On February 27, 2022, the eighth edition of the competition came to an exciting conclusion as it crowned its Baby of the Year at the grand finale which was held at Radisson Blu, Ikeja, Lagos state.
After tough deliberations by the independent panel of judges, comprising Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Nollywood actress; Kelechi Amadi, renowned photographer and Elsie Okpocha, an Entrepreneur and Public figure, Isabella Uzuakpunwa emerged the winner with two million naira and a year’s supply of Cussons Baby products.
Uloma Onu-Ndukwe emerged the first runner-up, going home with the sum of one million naira and 6 months’ supply of Cussons Baby Products, following closely behind was the second runner-up, Leroy Sam who was the lucky winner of N500, 000 and 6 months’ supply of Cussons baby products. The 4th to 10th winners were given N100, 000 and three months’ supply of Cussons baby products.
Special category babies and outstanding champs were not left out, as Cussons awarded babies in the category of cutest baby, most creative video, most charming video and Toothy smile. These special category winners each received N50, 000 and a 3-month supply of Cussons Baby products.
Since PZ Cussons establishment in Nigeria over 120 years ago, the company has been able to establish its brands to meet the basic daily needs of its Nigerian consumers whether as adults, children or babies.
It has strategically developed product lines that include soaps, detergents, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, packaging materials, refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners to appeal to the quality and price requirement of households.
Endorsed by the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, its Cussons Baby brand has over the years continued to provide reliable quality products that deliver mild and gentle care for babies with different skin care needs, with a range of products, which include baby oil, baby powder, baby lotion, baby wipes, baby soap, etc. as well as, the Cussons Baby Gift Pack, which is convenient for use as it contains all the baby’s skincare needs in one pack.
The products come in two variants which are the Mild & Gentle which contains chamomile and milk that soothes and calms skin, and Soft & Smooth which contains almond & rose oil that smoothens & provides extra nourishment for baby’s skin.
