Kids at Work

Posted by Melissa in children | CSR | media | moms | Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, launched nationally by Parade.  I am fortunate enough to work for an organization that not only understands work/life balance but embraces it. To mark the occasion, we had a group of six children in the office ranging from infants to age seven. Interestingly, they were all girls.   Check out a few photos here thanks to PRWeek.

As I commuted into the city with my twin girls, many commented on the huge number of youngsters on the train.  And while Peppercomm’s group happened to be all female – as did many on the train, the majority of thosOur Kids @ Worke commenting assumed it was Take Our Daughters to Work Day.  I wondered why that was. Is it simply because more women tend to participate and happen to have daughters who join them? Or do we think that girls will be more engaged (read: behave better)?

As part of their coverage, Parade, the magazine that launched this tradition nationally, published a story about Jackie DiMarco, Ford’s lead engineer on the F-150 pickup.  Jackie happens to be a woman and have twin daughters. She uses the day to encourage her daughters’ interest in math and science, and I hope, to dispel the ongoing stereotype that girls (and women) are not as interested or as talented in these fields of work.

The article focused on her rise in this particularly male dominated field where some have assumed prior to meeting her that she would be male and others have assumed that she would be more understanding of family commitments than a male manager would. Her response? Why would you think that?

Bravo to Parade for focusing in on what continues to be an issue in the workplace even though many believe it’s not.

Special thanks to Peppercomm’s culture committee for making this a meaningful experience (and truth be told, wrangling cats!).

How Fair Art Thou?

Posted by Nick in brand | food/bev | loyalty | Marketing | moms | retail - (0 Comments)

Living in Manhattan, I’m always surprised when I somehow manage to stumble upon a bad restaurant, a moody store owner or just generally bad customer service. The reason it surprises me is that there are so many good restaurants and retail establishments in Manhattan. With so much excellent competition, I don’t know how the good ones stay in business, much less the bad ones.

Plus, New Yorkers are notoriously… um… particular, which makes it all the more wonderful when an establishment is able to stand out above the rest. I’m speaking, of course, about that wonderful New York City bastion of grocery excellence, Fairway. What began as a fruit and vegetable stand in 1933 is now a nine-store juggernaut of high-quality food in the greater NYC area.

But that’s not what makes Fairway great. First of all, it seems like I always go grocery shopping at the wrong day or time. I’m always bumping elbows at the deli counter, dodging baguettes by the bakery or having my toes run over by stroller-pushing mothers in full yoga regalia. Fairway is great in spite of all that, much of which I attribute to my poor planning anyway. That’s because pretty much every employee I’ve ever encountered at Fairway has been helpful and human.

I’ll give you an example. One day I decided to go to Fairway right after work. As every working person is wont to do after work, I was rushing to get home. So I gathered my jerk turkey, dark chocolate with mint, greek yogurt and honey-glazed almonds, and jumped in the express line.

The customer in front of me was completely bonkers. One of those women of ambiguous age with an alien-esque stretched face and stringy hair, she was losing her mind because the cashier accidentally added an extra zero to some quantity of vegetables, making the grand total something around $400 for her handful of items. The cashier, handling a barrage of insults, patiently explained to the customer that she would get a manager to simply void the transaction. The manager came quickly, and, before voiding the transaction, asked the cashier what happened.

It was too much for the customer to handle. She kept screaming “I refuse to pay that much!” After voiding the transaction, the manager then offered the lady free delivery. I would have called a NYC Animal Control Officer to “crate” her for a while. When the debacle was over, and it was my turn at the register, the cashier and I looked at each other and both burst out laughing. It was a little slice of humanity indicative of what I always find at Fairway and supporting what Fairway says about itself: “Fairway: LIKE NO OTHER MARKET.”

 

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Back to School

Posted by Melissa in brand | Marketing | media | moms | product - (0 Comments)

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMM-U conference in Chicago.  I joined several sessions on different topics ranging from content marketing tools and an approach to content creation by Second City that uses improv, to strategies for embedding social across the enterprise and various ways to drive engagement (contests, reviews, etc.).

Overall, a very interesting if somewhat predictable couple of days.  The speakers were smart, for the most part engaging and focused on topics of use for those in attendance – other marketers.  Highlights include:

  • A session on content marketing tools which played out a bit too much like a sales pitch.
  • A look into how Whole Foods manages employee ownership of and participation in social media at a local and regional level.  The approach is organic and refreshing.
  • A sweepstakes case study from Jackson Hewitt – This is how they do it!
  • An honest and engaging session featuring the Whirlpool Moms/Mom Central laundry review program (disclosure: this is a Peppercom client)
  • Finally, we listened to Paul Adams of Facebook describe five major shifts that are affecting marketing.

Interestingly, no matter what the topic the key takeaway was this: driving consideration and advocacy is still all about connections and building relationships.  We here at About You wholeheartedly agree. No matter the platform, the topic or the audience, establishing that common ground is the key to success. Now go make some friends.

Moms to Advertisers: The Shoe Don’t Fit

Posted by Maggie in brand | children | loyalty | moms - (0 Comments)

Fifty years ago, Marketing to Moms was perceivably simple. Based on historic icons and a few episodes of Mad Men, reaching moms was one dimensional and focused purely on making June Cleaver’s life easier. Now, the women of that time may disagree about the singular dimension approach, but it worked. And it worked well for large ad agencies relying on piles of research to identify the singular mom audience. Not anymore.

According to a recent blog from EmpowHER, 91% of women feel that advertisers do not understand her. The problem here is that “her” is more multi-dimensional than ever, and old research methods and blanket ad campaigns are just not getting it. Marketers today need to be more nimble and have honest dialogues with their female consumers. The secret sauce that worked to sell home appliances to the perfect housewife now involves 25+ recipes to reach the moms of today. Let’s start with the basics – there are single moms, divorced moms, married moms, moms by mistake, grandmoms being moms, moms to pets, etc. Then we get into situation analysis like the miserable moms, the perfect moms (or they think they are), the active moms and more. So how can one brand or agency claim to be able to reach this moving target?

Listening is the first step and recognizing that no amount of expensive research can uncover what honest conversations can. Second is having these conversations where your consumer is and not forcing them to come to your sandbox. For example, last year Frito-Lay made great strides communicating their healthy brand promise by partnering with Farmville to let social gamers learn about the ingredients in their products. And it worked. And finally, it has to be authentic. Let’s be honest, Kelly Ripa doing laundry and cooking with her Electrolux appliances is about as un-authentic as you can get (at least in this blogger’s mind). Why not show real women – and all types– struggling with daily chores, re-heating the takeout and running to Home Depot to fix things herself.

Agencies that continue to target just June Cleaver are not only getting left behind, but ignored by moms and trampled on by other, more authentic brands. They can’t see themselves in June’s shoes and they are letting brands know this loud and clear. Remember, hell hath no fury…

Bucking a Time-Tested Trend

Posted by Melissa in brand | children | moms | product | retail - (0 Comments)

That is what I am calling the fact that I procrastinated starting back-to-school shopping for our twins until yesterday – the first day of school.  The onslaught of sale information (read hurry up and buy!) started in July.  I was involved in creating and disseminating some of it, yet I refused to shop.  I blamed it on work, summer-itis, you name it – anything to avoid starting the annual spending spree.

Well, yesterday was the first day of kindergarten, and guess what?  The girls wore an outfit they have worn several times before and nothing happened!  They looked adorable. And you know what else?  We went shopping today after school ended.  Expecting the worst – picked over aisles and no size options – I was pleasantly surprised.  The shelves were stocked and I discovered something else. I am not the only one.  I met two close friends and another class mom in Target doing the very same thing.

So to all of my fellow procrastinators, just because they say it’s time to shop doesn’t mean it is.  Remember that when the holiday décor and sales start in October.

I am speechless.

Posted by Melissa in children | moms | product | retail | wellness - (0 Comments)

Guest post by Erin Howard, fellow Peppercommer and YAY DIY! blogger.

Well, maybe not. Ready?

So yesterday, the blogosphere exploded with images of this shirt, apparently on sale just in time for back-to-school. The shirt in question was available in sizes 6-16; targeting not only elementary school girls, but girls in that already awkward and confusing time that most of us would rather forget called middle school.

There are so many things wrong with this! There’s the fact that somewhere along the line, multiple teams of people thought this was not only acceptable, but maybe even a money-maker. Because let’s face it. No one designs, creates, buys and promotes a shirt they think isn’t going to sell. Maybe they’d buy this for their child.  And maybe they’re the kind of people who dream of their daughters being First Lady and not President.  I’d like to hope that mentality is held by only a very small minority of parents in this country.

School age girls are impressionable. They believe what people tell them.  One thing they should NOT be told is that
they can’t be both pretty and smart. There are no “roles” or “molds” girls should be taught to fill.  They don’t have to be “The pretty cheerleader” or the “mousy computer nerd” or the “smart girl in Future Business Leaders of America.”  That pretty girl, the one who’s always cast as the cheerleader, or head of the “mean” squad in
the movies?  That girl should be encouraged to be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, or even President, just as
much as anyone else.

The young women who can fit into this shirt are tomorrow’s leaders – but only if we help them realize their full potential. There is nothing wrong with telling young women that they’re beautiful – there is only something wrong with telling them that beauty and intelligence are mutually exclusive.

OK, I’m done.

 

Meet the Gorilla In the Room: Blogger Compensation

Posted by Heather in brand | moms - (0 Comments)

With the evolution of bloggers in today’s digital age, the relationships between bloggers and brands can be a tricky situation.  Let me begin with mentioning that our agency and clients have worked and continue to work with bloggers on both paid and non-paid efforts and have seen success on both fronts.  We value our relationships with bloggers and are curious to hear from both sides; brands/ agencies as well as bloggers on this topic.

After attending the Evo ’11 conference last week, the 800 pound gorilla named ‘Blogger Compensation’ showed up during a ‘Working with Brands’ workshop.  While the delivery of the overall message surrounding blogger compensation found to be unsatisfactory for most of the people in the room (you can read more about this here), the bigger conversation was brought to the forefront: Should bloggers be compensated with cash, not including in-kind compensation, for reviews and posts?

This is an important conversation that needs to happen in order for both brands and bloggers to develop successful relationships in the future that benefit all involved.

So here we go! Tell us what you think are the biggest challenges, recommended solutions, or heck, just vent your frustrations.

 

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The Beauty, The Blog And The Brand: My Experience At Evo’11

Posted by Heather in brand | moms - (1 Comments)

The problem with living in such a connected, digital world is that sometimes the personal connection is overlooked.  Last week I had the pleasure of attending Evo ’11, Evolution of Women in Social Media, conference in Park City, Utah, and was reminded the importance of good ole’ fashion networking and relationships.  Ted Rubin, a leading social marketing strategist and the current brain behind Collective Bias, focuses on the “Return of Relationships” instead of ROI, and I couldn’t agree more. Evo seemed more like a retreat where people bonded on different levels than a traditional conference.  Who wouldn’t feel inspired with the literally breath-taking scenery at altitudes sometimes as high as 8,000 ft.

Minus the kumbayas around the campfires (also known as scary gondola rides up mountains), geeky conversations and workshops were aplenty. As a female in the digital space, the women (and men) behind parenting blogs continue to impress me.  The workshops included in-depth SEO, analytics, HTML and Facebook promotions panels with one-on-one coaching from some of the brightest minds in the digital world.  Yes, that’s right brands and agencies, Mommy and daddy bloggers know their stuff. Need proof? You can watch some of the sessions on Evo’s Ustream channel here.

The evolution of the blogger –especially parenting bloggers – is something everyone should be aware of.  Not only are mommy and daddy bloggers learning how to market their blogs and increase traffic, they are efficient business women and men while still maintaining their unique personalities and sometimes hilarious stories of their family. At times I think parenting blogs, have the same appeal to reality shows. People are nosy. People like to read about other’s everyday lives and outrageous experiences and often can relate.

Overall, the value of attending conferences and events is even more important in the digital world.  Developing relationships with bloggers from a brand and agency perspective will only help your future initiatives when determining who is appropriate for your client’s brand based on their personalities, overall objectives and ultimately a win for BOTH the brand and the blogger.  Once again, it’s not a one-sided partnership and has to work both ways in order for the campaign to be successful.

My top three takeaways:

  1. Keep it personable and develop the relationships. Yes, smile and say hi to someone IRL (in real life).
  2. Log off. It’s important to log-off and enjoy life and what’s around you.
  3. You are never too old to jump in a pool with all of your clothes on. Life and business can be serious, but stepping back and having fun will help you stay creative and happy.

And if you are looking for a dose of inspiration, watch the closing keynote from Me Ra Koh here and make sure you have some tissues handy.

Did you attend Evo? If so, what were your most memorable moments or takeaways?

 

 

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Face Time – Mom 2.0

Posted by Melissa in brand | entertainment | media | moms - (0 Comments)

In an increasingly digital world, the value of relationships continues to increase rather than decrease. I find this interesting given that the majority of our communications with the people and brands in our lives comes in the form

of email, text and the all-important social networks we leverage as part of our work and personal lives.  If not for Facebook, I would probably talk to some of my closest confidantes once a month yet the medium allows me to stay up to speed on what everyone is doing, see photos of those I love and more.  Yet nothing can replace the feeling of sitting down over a cup of coffee or a cocktail to catch up. This is especially true for brands as they engage consumers directly through various social mediums in virtual versions of the coffee klatsch.   

Since About You’s mission is focused on how it’s no longer about brand output, but all about customer input, we ventured to New Orleans in April to engage in the proverbial cocktail with some of the most influential voices in the blogosphere – mom bloggers. A few of us attended Mom 2.0, an annual conference where mom bloggers and marketers meet, greet and eat. There were sessions on everything from how to build readership and reach by using video to the evolution of daddy bloggers and everything in between. The most interesting and valuable part of the conference, at least from my perspective, was the ability to put faces to names and spend some time getting to know to one another in the beautiful city of New Orleans.  We chatted with a couple of the attendees – some we knew and some we met at Mom 2.0 – about the importance of relationships and how that extends to their support of and loyalty to brands. They also shared some insight into how brands should engage bloggers and some of the campaigns that really resonated. Check out the videos and let us know what you think.   

Check out these on-the-ground- commentaries:

Insights from Mom.20

Experimental Mommy

Rock and Roll Momma

Thanks to Lindsey Maines (Rock & Roll Mama), Bridgette Duplantis (Experimental Mommy) and Leslie Irish Evans (Peeling Mom Off the Ceiling) for sharing their insights.

What Came First…

Posted by Maggie in brand | moms | product - (0 Comments)

So, I spend a large amount of my time thinking about Mommy bloggers.  Their impact, influence, how to reach them, etc.  But at 35,000 feet in the air, I started thinking what did my mom do in the world before the Mommy Blogger phenom?  Or who was there before Oprah, Gilt Groupe, TLC?  Who told my mom what to buy, to wear and how to raise us?  OK – I admit she needed more help on the latter, but then a PRWeek article pointed me in the right direction.  Ding, Dong, Avon Calling.

Avon Ladies (as they were called), and even Mary Kay Girls, were really the first YOU marketers, the original Mommy Bloggers.  They talked directly to women about product that they liked, the trendy colors of the season, the newest fragrance.  They sold the bejesus out of that SSS (Skin So Soft) product that kept flies away at the beach.  They marketed directly to me (well my mom), who was at home and too busy to think about all of the stuff Avon could offer.  It made her feel special.  Everyone knew about it, and everyone told their friends.

In a marketing world where we jump on the latest craze, there was some shock and comfort realizing that this has been going – in Avon’s case – for 125 years, and remains 125,000 representatives strong.  They might not be ringing as many doorbells today, but they certainly set a precedent for opening doors.