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Giant calls them the 'new influencers'; will recruit up to 15 to headquarters
PROCTER & GAMBLE co.'s Pampers is bringing as many as 15 top "mommy bloggers" to the company's Cincinnati headquarters later this month in what appears to be the company's biggest effort yet to reach online influencers.
That it's doing so with allexpense-paid trips could place P&G in a controversy similar to those that have confronted other marketers, such as Microsoft, in years past. But P&G sees the move as an emerging standard industry practice to inform bloggers, rather than buy their loyalty.
"It's official: Mom bloggers are the new influencera, " said Bryan McCleary, director of external relations for P&G baby care.
Bloggers weren't really "on the radar screen in a major way" when P&G first began focusing heavily on "influencer marketing" more than five years ago. But at least in...