Founding Families

Free nappies for a year. There's a catch, but it's a small one.

Ten Australian families. A box of nappies and wipes on the doorstep every month for twelve months. All we want back is the truth about them.

Applications close Friday 30 October, or earlier if we're swamped. Everyone hears back within a fortnight, yes or no.

Emma stands at a bedroom window in soft daylight holding Louis against her shoulder, his head tucked under her chin, a shelf of trailing plants behind them.

Designed in Bendigo Australian-owned Ten families

So what is this?

We're a tiny Australian nappy brand out of Bendigo. We launched in August. You've almost certainly never heard of us, which is fair enough.

Here's the deal. Every month we send you a box of nappies and wipes in whatever size your baby is up to. You use them on your actual baby, in your actual house. Then you write us a review on our site, in your own words, and you put up a couple of posts a month. About the nappies, the wipes, your week, your baby, whatever you feel like. We are not after polished. A story on a bad morning, a photo taken with one hand, thirty seconds of a change that did not go to plan. If it looks like an ad we have both got it wrong. We are not going to tell you what to post about either. Life being life, some months you will manage one and some months four, and nobody is counting. Just tag us so we can find it, and add us as a collaborator if you're on Instagram, which puts the post on our page as well as yours and takes two taps. We'll show you how.

That's it. No script, no shot list, nobody sending you a mood board at 9pm. If we wanted an ad we'd go and make an ad.

And along the way, tell us what to fix. We're not finished with these and the next version is genuinely shaped by what comes back from the ten of you. There's a whole section on that further down, because it's the part we'd care about most if we were the one reading this.

Ten families. Twelve months. We'd quite like it to be you.

Two parents leaning over a change table in a kitchen, Louis on the mat between them, a sealed pack of Little Puggles nappies standing on the bench and a woven box of native foliage to the left of frame.
Your actual baby, in your actual house. That is the whole brief.

Why nappies and not a gift card

Because nappies are a bill. They turn up every month whether payday was kind or not, sitting somewhere between the phone and the power.

Take that off a family for a year and you get a very different sort of yes. People chasing a prize enter competitions. People who want the nappy bill gone actually go through the cartons, and six months in they've got something real to say.

That's who we're after. Someone who's still here next winter, with an opinion.

A Little Puggles nappy carton sitting on a coir doormat in a brick doorway, delivered and not yet opened.
A box that turned up. That is the entire offer.

What turns up, and when

A box a month, twelve months. Nappies or nappy pants in the size you're actually on, plus wipes. It turns up at your door and there's nothing to pay, not for the nappies and not for getting them to you. We post anywhere in Australia.

Monthly rather than one big drop every few months, because babies are wildly inconsiderate about sizing. A carton of size 2 is no use to anybody once your bub has moved to size 3, and we'd rather not fill your garage with a size you've finished with.

So we check in before every box. That's the one thing we need from you on any sort of schedule. We message, you tell us what size you're on, the right box goes out. A reply is all it takes, and we won't send five cartons off to a size we're guessing at.

Taped nappies, pants, or one and then the other. Sizes 1 to 5 in taped, 3 to 6 in pants. Swap whenever you like, just say so at the check-in.

And if you run short, tell us and we'll send more. Once in the year, that one's on us.

Also in the box

A code with your name in it, to pass on to friends if you want to. There's no obligation to use it or share it, you earn nothing from it, and nothing that happens with it affects your place here. It's a thing to give away, not a job. We'll tell you exactly what it's worth when we send it, because we'd rather print nothing than print a number we end up changing.

We're not paying you to be nice

We want a real review, not a good one.

If they don't work for your baby, say so. Out loud, on our own site, with your name on it. We'll be a bit sad, but we'll cope.

And here's the bit worth being precise about, because “your boxes keep coming either way” is exactly the sort of thing a brand says and doesn't mean. We will never stop your boxes because of something you said. You might stop them, because who wants a year of nappies they don't rate, and that takes one message and no explanation. But the stopping is yours to do. It is not a thing that happens to you quietly after a review we didn't enjoy.

There's no such thing as a nappy that suits every baby, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. If ours aren't the ones for yours, we'd rather hear why than not hear at all. Telling us is the useful thing, not the awkward thing.

A four-star review saying the tabs are annoying and size 4 runs small is worth more to us than a polite one, and it's worth more to whoever's reading it at 11pm trying to work out what to buy.

Calling it off is one message. No notice, no explanation, no hard feelings, nothing owed in either direction. We'd still like to know what went wrong, but you don't owe us that either.

This isn't a commercial influencer job. Nobody is managing you. There's no brief, no approval queue, no reporting and no one checking your numbers. It's ten families using nappies on their own babies and saying what actually happened, which only works at all if what you say is true.

There's no deadline on the review and no due date. Write it when you've actually got something to say, which is usually about six weeks in. We'll ask once, we'll ask one more time, and then we'll leave you alone about it.

One thing the review does need, and it's a single line at the top: “Little Puggles send me product as part of their creator programme.” Then say whatever you actually think. Same rule as a post, same reason, and it's the bit that makes a five-star review worth reading.

Emma, co-founder and mum to Louis, kissing the side of his head while he looks straight down the lens in a navy striped sleepsuit.

I'd rather hear it from you than read it in a review six months later. I use them on my own son. If they weren't good enough for him, I'd want to be the first to know, not the last.

Emma, mum of Louis and co-founder

We're not finished

Every nappy on a shelf somewhere is a version two. Ours will be too, and the next one gets better because of what comes back from the people actually using this one. This is the part of the arrangement we care most about.

So the review matters. But the thing we're greedier for is the detail underneath it, and we'd like to hear it regularly rather than once at the end.

What we're after is your story, really, and how Little Puggles does or doesn't fit into it. How the nappies go. How the wipes go, which people forget to mention and we care about just as much. What you love, if anything, and what you don't. What annoyed you at 3am. Where the fit went odd as they grew. Which size ran small. What you wish came in the box and doesn't.

And how we are to deal with. Whether the box turned up when we said it would, whether the size check was a nuisance, whether an email took too long to answer, whether anything about ordering from us is more annoying than it needs to be. The service is as much the product as the nappy is, and it's the half nobody ever tells a brand about until they've already left.

An email is plenty. A voice note, a few lines, a photo of the thing you're describing with an arrow drawn on it, whatever's quickest while it's fresh. A photo of what went wrong is worth a page of explaining and we'd rather have the photo.

We want to design these around what mums and dads actually want for their kids, rather than around what a factory finds easy or what a spreadsheet says a nappy should be. That only works if the people using them tell us. Ten families a year into a product is a genuinely unusual amount of input, and it's the reason we're doing it this way rather than paying someone with a big following to hold a pack up.

We're small enough that it goes somewhere. A note from you reaches the people who decide what the next run looks like, rather than a form that gets counted and filed. We can't promise every idea lands in the next version, because some of them are a factory conversation and some cost more than the nappy. What we can promise is that it gets read by someone who can do something about it, and that we'll tell you what we did.

That's the actual offer here, and it's the bit we'd choose if we were you. Not free nappies. A say in the next ones.

The catch, and a few other things

Most brands let you find out you're not a fit after you've filled in the form. Here's ours up front, while you can still walk away.

No cash, sorry.

Product only for now. If that ever changes, the people already in get first call on it.

Talk about your night, not our spec sheet.

Rough guide: if the sentence starts with “we”, it's yours. If it starts with “these nappies”, it's ours. What happened in your house is yours to tell, however you want to tell it. A statement about what the product does for every baby has to come from us, and we're careful with those.

You have to make it obvious we sent them. Every time.

That's the law, not us being precious. Up the top of a post, and one line at the top of the review, in whatever words you like. It's the one thing we genuinely can't budge on.

We might be slow.

We'll try to reshare everything you post. There are a handful of us here and one is usually holding a baby.

And this one, because we'd want it told to us

Every so often we might ask whether we can use one of your posts as an actual paid ad. That's a different thing from you posting it, so we ask every single time, there's a short release to sign for it, and you can say no. Saying no changes nothing about your boxes or your place here. Plenty of families won't want their kids in ads and that is completely fine.

Little Puggles' two co-founders sitting together on a lounge, both smiling at the camera, with their baby son held between them.
Us, and the reason any of this exists. Little Puggles is ours, so when you write in, one of us reads it and one of us writes back.

The rules, before you film anything

Most brands send you a box, let you post, then message you three days later asking if you'd mind changing the caption. We'd rather just tell you now. There are four and they're short.

Do

Say what happened to you

“The wipes are the bit I actually rave about” is perfect. So is “the tabs did my head in”. It's your night, your week and your kid. Tell it however you like, including the unflattering bits.

Do

Say we sent them, right up the top

What the law actually asks is that it's obvious, not that you use a particular word. Any of these do the job: Instagram's own paid partnership label, which sits above your caption and is probably the clearest; #ad; or just saying it, like “Little Puggles send us these”. Something like “We're one of Little Puggles' founding families, they send us nappies for the year and we share how we go” covers it nicely. What doesn't work is burying it at the bottom under thirty hashtags, or leaving a reader to work it out. Same on the review: one line saying we send you product, then whatever you actually think. This one protects you as much as it protects us.

Don't

Don't speak for the product

The “we” and “these nappies” rule again, because it's the one people trip over. Same goes for joining a nappy to any sort of skin condition: that's a medical claim and nobody gets to make one, us included. Ask and we'll send you the list of what we're allowed to say. It's shorter than you'd think.

Don't

Don't put another brand on camera failing

We know. It's very tempting. It's comparative advertising, it needs evidence for every point of the comparison, and it lands on us rather than on you.

Only your own kids in anything you make for us. Another parent's consent has to come from them directly, not from you, and we're happy to have that conversation separately if it comes up.

And if you work in health, whatever your registration, you're very welcome here as a parent. Just as a parent, though. Not in your work voice, and not with your job as the reason your audience should trust a nappy. The advertising rules are firm on that one, they bind every brand and every creator, and it isn't us being difficult.

Not sure about something? Ask. hello@littlepuggles.com.au with “Founding Families” in the subject. We'd far rather answer a question in an hour than ask you to change a post you were proud of.

Who we're after

Honestly? Someone fairly normal.

You're in Australia and you've got a baby, or one's on the way. Anywhere between expecting and around eighteen months is where our sizes and a full year of nappies line up best.

You post like a person. Your camera roll is mostly real mornings. You don't need a ring light, a niche, a media kit or a rate card, and we're not going to ask you for one.

We care much more about whether your people are real than how many of them there are. Two hundred parents who reply to your stories beats twenty thousand who scroll past. If you've never once called yourself a creator and you're sitting there wondering whether this is meant for you, it probably is.

A pack of Little Puggles nappies standing on a nursery change table beside a flat quilted change mat, under a framed print of Australian animals and plants.
Not a present. A thing you run out of.

Questions you'd be mad not to ask

Who are you people?

Little Puggles is Emma and Marcus, out of 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo. We sit under Australian First Aid Distributions, a Bendigo family business that's been sending medical and first aid gear around the country since 2011. Emma answers most of what comes in. Our son Louis was born this year and is, unavoidably, the most photographed part of the testing. The nappies are designed in Bendigo and made in China.

Is there a catch?

The catch is the whole middle of this page. One honest review on our site, a couple of posts a month, tag us in them, make it obvious we send you the product every single time, and tell us how to make the next ones better. That's the lot. No cash, no minimum follower count, nothing to buy, and nothing to pay for at any point.

What if I try them and I hate them?

Say so. In the review, in a post, in an email to us at midnight. Your boxes keep coming, and a bad review is never a reason for them to stop. That one's written into the terms rather than left as a nice promise. We'd rather have ten honest reviews than a hundred polite ones, and we'd much rather find out from you than from a stranger.

Do I actually have to post?

Yes, and we'd rather be straight about it than pretend otherwise. A couple a month is what we're after, because ten families posting regularly is the whole engine here. But we mean a couple of ordinary posts, not a couple of productions. A story on a bad morning counts. A photo of the nappy bin counts. Some months you'll manage one and some months four, and nobody is keeping a spreadsheet. What we would not want is a year of silence, and if that happened we'd just ask whether it's still working for you.

What happens when my baby changes size?

You tell us at the monthly check-in and the next box is the new size. That's the entire reason this is monthly. If they've gone up mid-month and you need it now, email us and we'll sort it out.

Do I get paid?

Not in cash. You get the boxes, with nothing to pay for them or for getting them to you, and your own code for friends. If we ever start paying creators, the ten of you hear about it first.

Does my baby's face have to be on the internet?

No. Some of the best content we've ever seen is hands, feet, a change table and a voice. Whether your child's face appears is your call and only your call, you can change your mind at any point, and if you ask us to take an image down we do it within seven days without asking why. That's written into the agreement rather than left as a nice promise.

Would you ever run my post as an ad?

Only if you say yes to that specifically. Posting for us and us paying to put your post in front of strangers are two different things, so we ask each time and there's a short release to sign for it. You can decline any of them, or all of them, and it makes no difference to your boxes or anything else. We'd rather ask you seven times and be told no seven times than assume once.

What sort of feedback are you actually after?

The specific and slightly annoying kind. Which size ran small on your baby. The tab that came unstuck at the worst moment. How the wipes go, which people skip. What you wish came in the box. And how we are to deal with: whether the box turned up when we said, whether we took too long to answer you. A photo of the thing you're describing beats a paragraph explaining it, so send the photo. An email, a voice note or three lines is plenty, and we'd rather have it while it's fresh than tidied up later. We're trying to design these around what parents actually want for their kids rather than around what's easy to make, and that only works if you tell us.

What happens at the end of the twelve months?

It ends, and that's genuinely it. Nothing rolls over into a subscription, nothing starts charging you, and there's no card on file to charge. If we'd like to keep going we'll ask you properly, and you can say no and still keep the code and our goodwill.

Is this a competition?

No, and we're careful about that word. There's no draw, no entry and nothing is won. We read every application ourselves, we pick ten families, and everyone hears back within a fortnight of the close. If you were hoping for a random draw, this is the wrong page and we're sorry to have wasted four minutes of your evening.

Right then

Two babies lying side by side on a cream blanket in zip sleepsuits, one in navy stripes and one in oatmeal, both with their arms up.
Ten families, and we don't know who any of them are yet. The form below is where that starts.

Fourteen questions, about four minutes. We ask how old your baby is and what size you're on. We don't ask a single thing about their health, because it's none of our business.

We don't ask for your address either. If you're one of the ten we'll ask then, and not before, because there's no reason for us to be holding it otherwise.

Rather do it by email? hello@littlepuggles.com.au with “Founding Families” in the subject comes straight to us.

Everything here is needed unless it says optional. About four minutes.

Where we'll write back, either way.

Is your baby here, or on the way?

A guess is completely fine.

Taped nappies or pants?

You can swap whenever, this is just a starting point.

Any brand, or a few of them. Nobody gets ruled out on this answer, we're just curious.

Do you have a paid arrangement with a nappy or baby brand at the moment?

Not automatically a dealbreaker. Say so and we'll talk about timing.

Mothers' group, playgroup, the daycare pick-up crowd, a group chat of forty mums, none of the above. All of it counts, including none of it.

Optional, and not how we choose. Leave it blank if posting isn't really your thing yet.

Happy to make it clear we send you the product, on every post?

The only answer that rules you out is no, and we'd both rather know now.

A few sentences in your own words. “The nappy bill is doing my head in” is a completely acceptable answer. We're not marking it, and a short paragraph is plenty.

What we do with what you've written

Little Puggles is a brand of Australian First Aid Distributions Pty Ltd, ABN 54 153 377 185, of 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo VIC 3550. We collect this to run Founding Families: to decide who we take, to work out what to send and where, and to stay in touch with the families we take.

If we don't take you, we delete your application at the end of the round and nothing you've written goes onto any list. If we do take you, we keep it while you're in the programme and for twelve months after it ends. We'll ask for your delivery address once you're in, not now.

We don't hand this to anyone to use for their own purposes, and we never sell it. It does pass through the services that run our business: our shop platform, which is where this form submits, and our email, which is where your application lands. Some of those store data overseas, mostly the United States. Our privacy policy names them and says where. If we take you, your name and address go to the delivery company. What you tell us about the nappies you use now, and what you write in the last question, stay internal: never published, never quoted, never used in any advertising.

We haven't asked you anything about your baby's health and we're not going to. Nothing on our site, in our forms or in our emails asks, and we hold ourselves to that. Please don't send us medical details, because we don't want to hold them.

You can ask to see, correct or delete what we hold at any time: hello@littlepuggles.com.au with “Privacy request” in the subject. If you're unhappy with how we've handled it, tell us first, and if we can't sort it out you can take it to the OAIC at oaic.gov.au. The full policy is our privacy policy.

The small print, and there isn't much of it. Founding Families is run by Australian First Aid Distributions Pty Ltd, ABN 54 153 377 185, of 205 Murphy Street, East Bendigo VIC 3550, trading as Little Puggles.

It is not a competition, a trade promotion or a prize draw. There is no chance element, no entry and nothing is won: we read the applications and choose ten families. Acceptance is at our discretion. Applications close on Friday 30 October, or earlier if we receive more than we can read properly, and we'll say so on this page if that happens.

Products are designed in Bendigo and made in China. Nappies, nappy pants and wipes are consumer products and are not therapeutic goods.

The full programme terms and the content agreement come with your acceptance email, and nothing is signed before you've read them. What we do with what you send us is set out in our privacy policy.