Settle in, folks, for a good read. This is one for the record books.
Maternal Instinct got word recently that a campaign we created was being honored for excellence in marketing to moms.
Great news.
Our client was excited. We were excited. And the award committee set to work on the press release.
This is where the music stops.
All was fine until someone in the Corporate Communications department at our client struggled with their quote in the press release. So he decided to decline the award.
I’m not sure exactly what I felt since I think I may have blacked out for a few minutes.
When I came to, here was my burning question:
Why on earth would a national brand decline an award recognizing its excellence in marketing to the most powerful consumer segment in the world?
The answer was that the client’s brand strategy “has been focused on a broad reach including and beyond the family unit.”
Huh?
This Twilight-Zoney experience is the perfect encapsulation of everything that is wrong/misunderstood/misguided with marketing to moms.
Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. They also don’t let friends market blind. Here, 5 points for all of you to remember so you don’t become that guy whose blindness becomes a liability:
#1 Moms are not a segment. They are THE segment. You have to look very hard to find an industry where mothers do not control the lion’s share of the spending. Women control 80% of the spending decisions in this country and have veto power over the remaining 20%. And because moms buy for more people, their buying power snowballs. Everything else is a subset of the mom market, not the other way around. They are the broad reach, pun intended.
#2 72% of women with a child over the age of one work. Do not picture your mom consumer on the couch. Picture her in a conference room. And then look at the other “segments” you are targeting (i.e. business travelers, technology users, investors) and guess what — Moms fit into those groups, too. Any favor you gain with her in one role translates into the others.
#3 Marketing to moms does not always mean you are marketing about motherhood. Rather, you are solving a need for a time-pressed woman who happens to live in a household with children. More than anything, this is what most trips up a lot of brands. Marketing well to mothers is about understanding the rhythms and priorities of her life. It does not mean you have to hire a “stunt kid” to place in your ads. You might not even reference the words “mother” or “family” in your entire campaign. But if you solve a problem for her, she will open her purse. And she will tell her friends (see #4)
#4 No market will spread the word farther and quicker than moms. Moms average 109 word-of-mouth conversations per week about products, brands and services. And pregnant and new moms have even more. This works both ways. Brands need to deflect negative brand sentiment among moms by addressing gripes head on. But good news — like an award that shows moms are a valued market — this is a prime opportunity to mobilize your Facebook fans and Twitter followers.
#5 This is not a feminist issue. It’s not about giving moms equal media time with men. It’s not a pink or blue issue. It’s a green issue. Money talks and it’s just smart business to connect with Moms. 94% of the wealth acquired in the next four years will be acquired by women. Women making $100,000 a year has tripled since 1997 while men’s earnings have stayed relatively flat. Do not imagine your mom consumer dropping coins into a piggy bank. Imagine her maxing out her 401(k).
Losing this award was a disappointment. But in an odd way, it offers tremendous potential for lemonade. If this post can help one brand manager “get it” — then I feel duly rewarded, trophy or not.
