Building community in a category where customers rarely speak up

Most brands won't even say "adult diapers." We found more than 500 customers willing to share their stories anyway.

Most brands in our category won't say "adult diapers." They say briefs, or underwear, or anything that sounds a little less like what it is. We found more than 500 customers willing to say, out loud, "I wear adult diapers."

Community marketing usually starts with fans who already love you in public. Ours don't. Nobody tags their adult diapers in a vacation photo. When your best customers are also your quietest, the classic playbook of finding fans and amplifying them has nothing to amplify.

So we built this community the only way that works in a private category: slowly, one brave step at a time, with each step asking a little more of us and a little more of our customers.

Go first

You can't ask customers to show their faces if you won't show yours. So our team went on camera first, talking about adult diapers in our own voices. Before anyone else would trust the brand, they needed proof there were real people behind it.

Next, we needed someone outside the company to take the leap with us. Our first influencer was a twentysomething with bright pink hair and MS who was already talking openly about incontinence. Afterward, VICE called her the world's first adult diaper influencer.

Go slow

Our first call for customer video stories brought in three. It sounds small. At the time, it felt like a breakthrough.

So we raised the stakes. I'd been looking for a reason to give away a year's supply of diapers, and a story contest was it: customers would share their experiences, and other customers would pick the winner. I was hoping for 100. More than 500 people entered. Our customers had plenty to say. They'd just never been asked the right way. That contest became the basis for our customer hero club.

500+customer stories, from a contest where I hoped for 100.

Get braver

Every yes made the next ask easier. We launched a brand ambassador program shortly after and were buried in applications. Then we did something that still makes me grin: we threw a fan event. For adult diapers.

Over two weekends, more than 40 longtime customers traveled in from California, Idaho, Florida, Connecticut, New York and beyond. They cruised the Chicago River, cheered at Wrigley and ate their weight in deep-dish. Then they toured the warehouse, tested products side by side and gave our leadership team their unfiltered feedback.

Why they show up

None of these people are in it for money or followers. They remember how long it took to find the right product and the right support, and they want to make that search shorter for the next person.

The numbers

Engagement grew 144% year over year, to record levels. Followers climbed from 35,400 to 56,600 across eight platforms, and monthly follower growth hit 4.47%, against platform benchmarks of 0.3% to 1.4%.

Silence isn't absence. It's a room that hasn't been built yet.

Every category has a version of this: a product people need and never talk about. The playbook doesn't change. Go first. Go slow. Get a little braver every time.