Motherhood Has Changed: Opportunities Abound
The purpose of marriage used to be to raise children. There has been a pretty big societal change since, say.. the 1960s, and that is no longer the case. In fact, 44% of all women of childbearing age (defined as 15 to 44) are childless, according to the most recent "Fertility of American Women" report.
Still, we read reports of new Huggies diapers appealing to moms with "fashion trends," about "Fashion Aiming Young" in a New York Times article, and about over-scheduled children getting burned out from soccer or hockey by the time they are ten, among other things. Hello? What’s going on here?
According to Celinda Lake and Kellyanne Conway, authors of What Women Really Want:
"On the one hand, fewer babies are being born to fewer women… On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that we are obsessed with children."
And, a big part of that obsession ends up being what moms are willing to purchase for those kids. The answer, for some women, is: wayyyyyy more than your mom ever thought of buying for you.
Some marketers see the opportunity and dive in, creating options and choices for that likely small percentage of higher income (and just as likely East or West coast-based) moms to go crazy with consumer love for little Madeline or Henry Jr. On the other hand, those same marketing attempts may make the more average income moms (more often middle America-based) insane with frustration - doing the brand no favors. These moms are having a tough enough time providing for even their smaller families, as it is.
My question today: Are there marketers willing to invest in this segment of moms - and get beyond short term buzz and into longer term relationships with consumers? It seems there’d be a lot of benefit (both financial and goodwill) for those companies willing to take such a risk in staying connected with, and aware of, the daily lives of women all over the country (not just in Manhattan or San Francisco), right?
Opportunities abound. Working to serve the more average mom is a longer term, less-sexy investment for a marketer, yes, but just think of the undercurrent of mom-to-mom talk and the lasting brand relationship potential of reflecting the reality as opposed to the expensive fashion of the day!
P.S. Fortunately, there are two upcoming marketing to mom conferences that can help us all learn more:
M2Moms: October 23rd and 24th in Chicago
Marketing to Moms Coalition: September 12th - 14th in Des Moines, IA
August 28th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Interesting thoughts, and ones I’ve had myself. I sent for a free sample of the new magazine for moms, Cookie. Cute name, but they should have titled it Kiddie Vogue. All the ads are for high-end clothing, etc. A total misfire for the world I live in (and most of the moms I know live in). Needless to say, I won’t be subscribing. Time is short, and I need resources that are reality-based.
August 28th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I glanced at Cookie at the newstand recently, as well, just to see what moms might be reading - and I agree… (though I am not a mom, so maybe fashion suddenly becomes really important for some women when they have kids?…yeah, right) Resources should be reality-based, as you say.
I’ve even found the 8 gazillion women’s mags I end up reading (research purposes, mainly!! I swear) are getting a little repetitive and also have way too much aspirational fashion/home design/travel and not so much of the clothing or homegoods that would work in my reality. One mag that seems more reality-based for me these days is MORE, and I was interested to see that an editor from that publication just moved to Marie Claire.. so there may be hope for younger’s women’s magazines yet.
Bottomline - as you wrote: give women, moms or not, a few truly reality-based resources. And, it’s easy to find their realities, because you can just ask and observe.