BeingGirl

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Website

title: "BeingGirl" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["marketing-websites", "american-health-websites", "procter-&-gamble", "internet-properties-established-in-2000"] description: "Website" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeingGirl" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Website ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]

Field	Value
name	BeingGirl.com
caption	Screenshot of Beinggirl.com taken on 17 March 2013
url	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmU6DmIfL_gX9arzNh3iOg
commercial	Yes
type	Inbound marketing, Self care
registration	Optional
owner	Procter & Gamble
launch_date
current_status	Unknown
::

It provided information and advice; it was also a marketing tool.

History

The site was created in 2000, with P&G including content provided by experts. Its development was led by the company's Tampax brand and feminine care group. Forums were later added, in order to build interest. This enables girls to discuss things with each other, facilitating more subtle and effective marketing by the company. Company representatives "play an active role" in this user-generated content.

, the website was available in 25 countries. Its content editor in 2005 was author Marcia Byalick.

Features

The site provides information and expert advice on topical self-care issues such as menstruation, eating disorders, acne and dating, by taking a "big-sister approach". Features such as self-discovery quizzes are also included. It also advertises some of the company's products and has offered free samples from Always and Tampax. The information is provided using "cool teenage-girl vocabulary".

In addition to offering advice, the site gathers information from questions asked anonymously by visitors. This is used for inbound internet marketing of its products, being judged by co-author of social technologies book Groundswell, Josh Bernoff, as being four times as cost-effective as advertising. The site facilitates data collection and market testing. Sociologist Adam Arvidsson, writing in 2006, analysed the site's premise as being that "engagement in community-like interaction will generate emotional and experiential ties" in consumers. They will consequently relate positively to the brand, which will raise the brand's equity.

Marketing agreements

The authors and publishers of 2006 novel Cathy's Book agreed with P&G to include references to the CoverGirl makeup line in exchange for promoting the book on BeingGirl. No monetary payment was involved. The references were deleted in the novel's paperback edition. Also in 2006, Sony BMG partnered with P&G to feature its artists on the site. David G. Knox, a teenage market specialist in P&G's beauty division said that they approached Sony in order for teens to associate their brands with stars such as singer-songwriter Teddy Geiger.

Reception

::quote

|quote = It's a safe place where they can go for information about changes they are experiencing but are too embarrassed to discuss. |source = Velvet Gogol Bennett, P&G's North America feminine care external relations manager (January 2011) |width = 30% |align = right |qalign = right |quoted = 1 The Taiwan site attracted 6000 registered members in the three months since launch in 2002. , it was receiving in excess of 2 million hits worldwide per month. Its "successful engagement of teen girls" has been largely attributed to the company "stay[ing] in the background". Its Indian site was launched in 2006, which Nikhil Pahwa on the contentsutra blog observed to "lack the freedom of a social networking space", such as Hindustan Unilever's Sunsilk Gang of Girls. Writing in 2006, Sheth and Sisodia noted that the open discussion (in real life) by teenage girls of feminine hygiene products may be difficult in some countries.

In 2011, the charity Mothers' Union criticised the site for being "clearly a marketing tool" and Rebecca Morgan of the London Feminist Network linked references to hair removal and erotic underwear with the sexualisation of childhood. Research fellow at the University of York, Dr Merran Toerien, criticised the site's attitude in advertising to such a young age group.

Some reviewers evaluated the health content as being "useful and well presented", although concern was expressed about the number of product mentions. Some of the weight-loss tips were seen by some as "enabling eating-disorder behavior".

A P&G spokeswoman said that the site's "broader personal wellbeing educational scheme was strongly supported by schools".

References

(July 26, 2000). "Dancing tampons".
Pearce, Tralee. (November 13, 2007). "Cashing in on preteen puberty". Globe and Mail.
Rich, Moctoko. (June 12, 2006). "Product Placement Deals Make Leap From Film to Books". New York Times.
Sonia Baelo-Allué. (23 June 2011). "Bret Easton Ellis's Controversial Fiction: Writing Between High and Low Culture". Continuum International Publishing Group.
"beinggirl.com". [[Procter & Gamble]].
Lee, Bill. (April 5, 2012). "The Things Customers Can Do Better Than You". [[Harvard Business Review]].
(2006). "Girlhood: Redefining the Limits". Black Rose Books Ltd..
(19 September 2011). "Beyond the Familiar: Long-Term Growth through Customer Focus and Innovation". John Wiley & Sons.
(12 June 2012). "Handbook of Marketing Strategy". Edward Elgar Publishing.
(2005). "Chicken Soup for the Soul Healthy Living: Menopause". HCI Books.
(21 July 2009). "Beyond the Big Talk: A Parent's Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Teens — From Middle School to High School and Beyond". HarperCollins.
Antony Young. (3 March 2007). "Profitable Marketing Communications: A Guide to Marketing Return on Investment". Kogan Page Publishers.
Adam Arvidsson. (2006). "Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture". Routledge.
Martin, Andrew. (January 12, 2011). "As the Web Turns". New York Times.
Nutter, Blaise. (August 31, 2009). "5 rules for marketing in niche social networks". iMediaConnection.
(2006). "Does Marketing Need Reform?: Fresh Perspectives on the Future". M.E. Sharpe.
Halverson, Nathan. (April 24, 2008). "Finding direction as Web 2.0 changes". PressDemocrat.com.
Dick Martin. (15 May 2009). "Secrets of the Marketing Masters: What the Best Marketers Do--And Why It Works". AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Petrecca, Laura. (September 10, 2006). "Authors strike deals to squeeze in a few brand names". USA Today.
Deam, Jenny. (September 13, 2006). "Selling a book by its CoverGirl". The Denver Post.
(4 May 2012). "Big Media, Big Money: Cultural Texts and Political Economics". Rowman & Littlefield.
Deutsch, Claudia H.. (May 9, 2006). "Trying to Make Teenage Hygiene Hip". New York Times.
Palmer, Alex. (January 1, 2011). "Marketers strike a balance between skeptical teens and their cautious parents". Direct Marketing News.
Hille, Alfred. (February 22, 2002). "CONNECTIONS: Whisper site banks on club appeal". [[Haymarket Media Group]].
Dan Hill. (3 September 2010). "About Face: The Secrets of Emotionally Effective Advertising". Kogan Page Publishers.
Gaurav Bhalla. (1 January 2011). "Collaboration and Co-Creation: New Platforms for Marketing and Innovation". Springer.
Pahwa, Nikhil. (November 20, 2006). "P&G Launches Branded Space – BeingGirl.co.in". [[GigaOM]].
Atherton, Sophie. (August 23, 2011). "BeingGirl website accused of 'exploiting' teenage girls". The Guardian.

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