In a conversation with IMPACT Magazine, Kartik Johari, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Nobel Hygiene, breaks down how the company is approaching 2025 with a sharpened, category-first marketing strategy. With Friends adult diapers and Teddy baby diapers as the primary focus areas this year, Johari explains how the organisation is balancing regional amplification, digital-first communication, and research-backed insights to grow awareness in a category where stigma still dominates consumer behaviour.
Friends remains the backbone of the company’s portfolio, yet category penetration continues to hover at around 5%, a challenge Nobel Hygiene aims to tackle through culturally specific, modular messaging and strong regional media presence. Teddy, on the other hand, enters 2025 with a clearly established digital identity after a year of experimentation, allowing the team to speak to mothers in a tone that is more transparent, relatable, and distinct from competitors.
Johari emphasises that Nobel Hygiene’s marketing playbook is built on deep consumer understanding gathered over years of research rather than short-term campaigns. “When you deal with a subject people don’t discuss openly, even with their partners the expectations from marketing fundamentally change. You can’t rely on clever narratives; you need cultural context, patience and a genuine understanding of what people are experiencing. Once that trust is built, communication evolves into category education, confidence-building and, eventually, relevance,” he says.
Rather than expanding into multiple new initiatives, Nobel Hygiene is focusing on deepening what already works—regional messaging, CTV-led awareness, and insights gathered through years of research. With Rio kept on hold for this year and new launches planned for the next financial cycle, the company is prioritising Teddy’s digital momentum and Friends’ category education effort.
Watch the full conversation here:
