Of briefs and bladders: Destigmatizing bladder control

Depend isn't just for Grandma anymore.

With a successful marketing campaign launched last year to destigmatize bladder-control issues among American adults - and future demographics clearly in its favor - Depend has proven highly reliable.

Revenue has grown the last five years and its market is getting younger, according to Jennifer Nobui, Depend senior brand manager for Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark.

She said independent research by the company showed that 1 in 4 Americans experiences bladder leakage sometime in life. And there are a number of causes, including pregnancy and childbirth, radiation treatments, stroke, and chronic diseases. Too, more information is getting out to a younger audience.

And Depend filled an oft-unspoken need. "Depend is the category leader in heavy-end adult care in North America," with about half the U.S. market, Nobui said.

Net sales in North America for 2014 were essentially flat from the prior year for all Kimberly-Clark products, including Huggies baby wipes. The company had net sales of $19.7 billion in 2014, with net income of $1.6 billion.

But adult-care sales volumes increased in the high-single digits for brands Depend and Poise (pads and liners, launched in 1992 for lighter leaks).

Depend-buying households in the Philadelphia region are estimated to be 220,700, according to AC Nielsen ScanTrack for the year ending Sept. 5, 2015. The brand is sold in about 2,600 stores in the area.

In 1978, Kimberly-Clark - a major paper producer in the United States - began making Huggies disposable diapers for infants.

In the early 1980s, it introduced Depend for adults, pioneering the retail incontinence category (for those with urinary issues) in the U.S.

The company built a plant in Neenah, Wis., to manufacture Depend, and the brand aired its first TV ad in 1981.

By 1984, Depend went into full national distribution, meaning it could be bought anywhere in the United States.

"The retail incontinence market was long untapped because of stigmas," Nobui said. "Until the early 1980s, people with modest bladder leakage used feminine-care products, toilet paper, or other measures, and many with the heaviest end bladder leakage and incontinence simply stayed home."

There was also the stigma attached to bladder incontinence that lingered after Depend's launch.

"Again, people were too embarrassed to talk about a forbidden subject," Nobui said. "Some media outlets refused to run Depend advertising or information that would advise their readers or viewers."

Depend - like Kimberly-Clark, which went from making paper, to facial tissue, to diapers - has continued to evolve. Last year the Depend brand launched an integrated, multi-year "Drop Your Pants for Underwareness" marketing campaign to encourage more open conversation and offer support among the millions of Americans who cope with bladder leakage.

This year the campaign features new print and TV ads for Kimberly-Clark's latest innovation: Depend Silhouette Active Fit briefs for women. The Silhouette is a moderate-absorbency brief with a thin design, a lower rise, and an underwear-like look and feel, that comes in beige and black.

Suggested retail price for the new 21-count Depend Silhouette Active Fit briefs is $12.99, while 52 Depend Guards for Men cost $11.37 on Amazon.com.

Depend's U.S. target market age continues to be 35 and up. Women under 45 are a growing segment, while seniors remain its core clientele.

"I think it's the medication" for a skin rash, said Katheryn Acker, 75, referring to what may be behind her need to urinate often.

Acker, a retiree from Levittown, uses Poise panty liners, but said if her bladder condition worsens, she may switch to Depend.

"They leave you protected without worrying about being embarrassed over 'an accident,' " she said of the two products, while shopping at a Macy's last week. "You can go out and wear what you want."

Nobui said many people still hold misperceptions about bladder leakage and whom it affects. "Truth is, 65 million Americans (over 51 million, or about 3 in 4, are women) live with bladder leakage, and of that, 23 million are under the age of 45," she said. "Even younger people who live with bladder leakage assume that it only affects those much older than them, which can compound their feelings of shame and prevent them from seeking solutions."

Sabrina Small, 45, of Northeast Philadelphia, has Crohn's disease - a genetic condition that affects her body's ability to digest and process food. She said Depend has allowed her to go back to work full time at Liberty Resources Inc. in Center City, which provides services for the disabled.

"I can function independently and feel secure," Small said while on break from her scheduling job last week. "I don't have to pack extra clothes."

David Burdick, director of the Stockton Center on Successful Aging at Stockton University in Galloway, N.J., said companies such as Kimberly-Clark are well-positioned.

Older adults in the U.S. are the fastest-growing demographic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those 65 and over are 13.5 percent of the U.S. population.

"We expect by 2050, they may comprise 20 percent, or 1 in 5 adults," Burdick said. "This was primarily due to the baby boom generation that experienced a significant fertility rate, which almost doubled from 1946 to 1963. We saw a big blip in our population – 76 million people – being born in that period. Those people are all aging.

"Depend undergarments help them to age successfully and stay actively engaged with their families, communities, and, perhaps, their jobs," he said. "It's definitely a useful product, and we have reason to believe that demand will only increase over time."

sparmley@phillynews.com

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