It’s interesting that there has been so much debate among Moms about the new iPad and how it will integrate into their lives. It’s clear evidence that Moms are passionate about technology and its ability to simplify their lives and give them a sense of control.
A recent 21st Century Mom: Tech Mom study by BabyCenter identified Mom’s 2010 Gadget Wish List.
- Laptop
- Nintendo Wii Fit
- HDTV
- Blu-Ray
- External Hard Drive/Back-up
- iPhone
- HD Digital Camcorder
- Portable DVD Player
- Garmin/GPS
- Digital Camera
These tools are the items that will allow her to manage the family schedule, comparison shop, learn, save memories, stay fit, stay connected with family and friends, keep her family entertained and not lose her self, or her location in the process.
For marketers, here’s the crucial point: Sixty-seven percent of Moms play a key role in purchasing new technology for their family.
Adding weight to the importance of these different technologies are the things they would give up to have their most desired gadget:
- Lipstick 67%
- Manicures/Pedicures 64%
- Coffee 49%
- Flats/Uggs 32%
- Chocolate 24%
One marketer who has embraced the importance of women in the corporate office and in the marketplace is Best Buy with their Best Buy Wolf Program. They have fostered a 10,000-person network designed to encourage leadership from female employees within the company and to drive its growing women’s market share. The company seems to understand that both are necessary to creating a Best Buy that women will want to patronize. They say that for Best Buy to be a great place for women to shop, it has to be a great place to work. And encouraging women to shop Best Buy has its rewards. The company is seeking to grow its share of the $90 billion female consumer electronics market. Currently they have only 16 percent of the female market. Results point to greater sales, declining female employee turnover and growth in female employees.
Well, facts say that the U.S. economy is growing and the recession is officially over, but Moms are not so sure.
According to the February 2010 American Pulse poll from BIGresearch, 84.5 percent of Americans say that the recession is not over. And, women at 86.2 percent are more pessimistic than men at 82.6 percent.
Key White House economic advisor Larry Summers has an interesting term to describe the way that most of us feel. He said the U.S. is experiencing a “statistical recovery and a human recession.” While there seems to be some movement in indicators, the truth is families cannot feel really optimistic when unemployment is at 10 percent.
The recession may be taking more of a toll on working moms. In October 2009 Citi found that more than half of the Moms surveyed reported working longer hours and adjusting their spending habits more than other groups. Seventy-five percent of Moms say their spending habits are forever changed, compared to six in 10 women without children.
Why are working Moms hit harder?
Working women still make less than men. More women are becoming the family breadwinner. More men lost jobs during the recession than did women, and currently one in five men are unemployed. Families are facing higher expenses for a variety of items including education, and budgets were stretched before the recession.
Because Mom is in charge of 80 percent of the household spending, she needs to feel secure to starting spending again.
Research shows that half of Moms with children have delayed big-ticket item purchases and 52 percent said they have tapped into savings to make ends meet. One in three said they are headed back to school to improve their job skills and job prospects.
At our house, we say “nobody’s happy unless Mama is happy.” Guess that is true for lots of households this year.
If Mom likes the iPhone, the possibilities for her new Apple iPad are endless. So here’s the top 10 uses that I think I will love, I mean Mom will love about the iPad.
- e-Reader for Kids. Imagine taking the whole bookshelf of the favorite books and games for the kids to occupy themselves at the doctor’s office, restaurant, car trips and more. It’s a way to entertain the small fry while Mom is out and about. And no excuse for not doing homework because their textbooks are always right at hand. And backpacks just got a lot lighter. In fact, both Mom and Princess can brush up on their French lessons with the new iPad.
- e-Reader for Moms. All those books and magazines piled up in the den and bedroom will be gone. Instant de-clutter. “Hoarders,” take notice. And with Wi-Fi, reading magazines will take on a whole new experience that both Moms and advertisers will love with videos and experiential ads accompanying the magazines and newspapers. I can finally read the Sunday Times without newsprint on my hands.
- Movies, Music and Videos. Mom can take It’s Complicated or the latest episode of Project Runway with her to watch in the car pool or during dance lessons.
- Email, Facebook and Twitter. So there I am watching television and I reach for the iPad to share with my friends on Facebook what I think about American Idol, or respond to an invitation from my book club, and Tweet minute by minute impressions of the Oscars.
- Kitchen Assistant. With the iPad propped up on the countertop, those online recipes and photos will assure the homemade product looks and tastes as good as the pictures. No need to print anything.
- Video Phone. By using Skype, I can check in on my son in his college apartment and with a little luck I can pick up some intel on what he is doing. Is that really beer labels on his wall????? (Correction: Just found out that the iChat and Skype are still to come. My son is safe for awhile. Guess that webcam will be in the second or third generation.)
- Online Shopping. I can’t wait to shop online from wherever I am with a great little screen that allows me to look through J.Crew’s catalog and order while I’m sitting under the hairdryer at my hairdresser. Or maybe I’m at Chico’s and they don’t have the jacket that I want. Fine, I’ll order it online and have it in two days. Or eBay, do you have the out-of-stock pant that has been discontinued?
- House Hunting and Interior Design. Taking along the iPad is easier because I’ll have my style boards, pics of furniture, floorplans, MLS listings and color swatches that will make house hunting and shopping easier.
- The Family Photo Album or Digital Frame. Got a few minutes? Let’s look at my son’s graduation photos. Isn’t he handsome? Want to see a video of his rugby game? Or pictures of his girlfriend?
- Killer Apps. If this is a really big iPhone, the apps will be really important. For games, for the weather report, for your personal health records, for the latest features at Whole Foods, all at my fingertips.
The iPad looks like the perfect, more intimate cross between the iPhone and my laptop. Oh, and my husband will love it too. He will try to borrow it for reading the paper, checking out sports and finding books and articles on DIY projects.
For marketers to Moms, the world of possibilities just got larger and more interesting. Engagement is even more accessible for the consumers. This is a beautiful conversion and I can’t wait to get one and try it out.
It seems that iPhone Moms are soon to replace the ubiquitous “soccer mom.” A recent study from mobile ad network Greystripe finds that iPhone Moms currently make up 29.5 percent of all iPhone users.
Have you noticed that everywhere you turn someone has an iPhone now? I see Moms comparing apps at the nail salon and looking up recipes at the grocery store. I see young Moms handing their iPhone to their child to occupy them. In meetings, I hear executives talking about how they couldn’t live without one – after just a few months of use.
I resemble that group. I am a hard-core iPhone user who whips out my iPhone to check on the weather, to manage my calendar, to check movie times, to find a new recipe when I am at the store staring at raspberries, to get football game scores, to find directions, to look up a Bible verse, to Google a new restaurant and to see what the Wall St. Journal headlines are. My favorite new app is the Southwest Airlines app allowing you to check in, check schedules and pick up travelers more efficiently.
Greystripe has a new report proving just how important our iPhones are to us.
- 96% of iPhone Moms are involved in household purchasing decisions
- 90% of iPhone moms use it for personal entertainment
- 79.5% of iPhone Moms use their phones to check emails
- 79% of iPhone Moms use their phone for shopping related activities
- 71% of iPhone Moms have household incomes between $32,000 and $165,000
- 60% of iPhone Moms depend on their phone to locate the nearest store
- 59% of iPhone Moms say they let their children use their iPhone
- 41% of iPhone Moms download apps specifically for their children
- 41.9% of iPhone Moms use their phone to keep track of shopping lists
- 39.4 % do comparison shopping
- 39.4% download coupons
- 22.5% use it as a recipe resource
View the full Greystripe report at http://bit.ly/78st4O.
The iPhone and other new smartphones are becoming a Mom’s most important accessory, providing both entertainment and order for our harried lives. Apple expects to sell 16 million iPhones in 2010. Marketers that have been reluctant to delve into mobile advertising should take note. And yes, there’s an app for notes as well.
Just a note on the time we research what we are going to buy. The more important the purchase, the more we research it.
Here are the facts, based on information gathered by www.reuters.com and covered in The Next Evolution of Marketing by Bob Gilbreath.
Average Amount of Time Spent Researching (in hours)
A new home 39 hours
Major home improvements 10 hours
Car 8 hours
Vacation 5 hours
Mortgage 5 hours
Computer 4 hour
Television 2 hours
Marketers need to follow the trail, understanding the research path, so that our messages intersect with the search. The role of advertising and marketing is to make the buying process easier for the consumer. Moms appreciate those brands that inform and educate.
The folks providing the best information will be the preferred brand. A December 2008 study by ForeSee Results revealed that highly satisfied visitors to a brand’s home pages were 59 percent more likely to recommend the product and 73 percent more likely to purchase it.
The number of Moms in two-parent households who are the primary breadwinner is at an all-time high, with the number of stay-at-home Dads growing as well. While the economy woes have certainly contributed to this rise in Mom breadwinners, the trend has been noted for the past three years.
It seems that gender roles are becoming more flexible and trends realized during the Great Recession could have long-term affect on cultural views of gender roles.
Men’s jobs have been particularly hard hit during the recession with male-dominated industries such as manufacturing and construction jobs losing proportionately more jobs.
Here are the stats from the Census Bureau released in January for married couples with
children under 18:
- Moms who are sole breadwinners – 4 percent or 963,000 Moms
- Dads who are sole breadwinners – 28.2 percent or 7.3 million
- Couples who both work – 66 percent or 17 million
But just a reminder, two-parent households are just part of the picture.
Seventy-eight percent of women with children in all households (single and married) work. And the U.S. labor force is composed of 49.9 percent women.
Everyone is talking about how mobile is going to change the world in a few years. But the truth is, we are witnessing that change right now as aid to Haiti is pouring in through a text messaging campaign supported by Twitter and Facebook. In less than a week following the earthquake, the Red Cross raised $20 million dollars.
It was so easy – no PayPal, credit cards, phone-a-thons or snail mail – just a simple and easy method to express your concern and help. Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross efforts in Haiti.
One reason this method works so well is the immediacy with which the message can be issued and quick manner in which you can respond. If you have to get your credit card out or find a stamp, you might forget or procrastinate. The mashup with opportunity and generosity has never been so streamlined.
Organizations and businesses have spread the word effectively in a very short period of time. The NFL created national PSAs to air in the highly rated playoff games, along with in-stadium video and PA messages.
And as disaster and war has proven, Twitter has become an amazing method for millions of people to report what is happening in real time and to spread the word instantly. Celebrities with huge followings on Twitter have reached out to their fans to encourage them to help. Wyclef Jean, whose uncle is the Haitian ambassador to the U.S., has been requesting his 1.3 million Twitter fans to donate $5 to his charity foundation through texting YELE to 501501.
There are several reasons the Red Cross program is working. Access is key. Currently 83 percent of adults have cell phones or smartphones and are becoming increasingly adept at using them for tasks such as purchases, search and social networking. The mobile giving program had been tested in smaller situations and had worked. Red Cross was ready. And the message was simple, adapting easily to Twitter, Facebook and other social media, allowing many companies and news outlets to point to this new method of fundraising.
And with Moms becoming so attached to their smartphone, the opportunity for brands to sway the affection of Moms has never been greater than when a calamity of “Biblical proportion happens” as Hillary Clinton commented.
As reported in our Marketing to Moms: A Just Cause blog, 85.6 percent of Moms feel that it is important for brands to support a cause. So phone companies and organizations such as the NFL have benefited with their association with the cause.
It’s a frigid and quiet Friday in Nashville. The first week of the year is always challenging. So I thought is was important to get ready for the new things of the year. Check out this JWT Intelligence report on the 100 things to watch in 2010.
Tried out Posterous to upload this new post.
The impact of the recession is far broader than economic on women over 50 according to a recent survey by VibrantNation.com.
Boomer women have lost confidence in organizations and institutions.
Sixty-two percent are worried they will not enjoy the same level of benefits from social security and 
Medicare their parents received.
Thirty-three percent have lost confidence in their financial advisors since the economy downturned. This group joined one-third of women over 50 that never trusted them.
Only 23 percent said they found inspiration from their current religious community.
On the plus side, 8 in 10 Boomer women are gaining confidence in themselves.
Vibrant Nation CEO Stephen Reily sees implications for marketers:
- Tell Boomer women you trust them to make the best decision
- Admit that your institution is unlikely to meet all their needs
- Acknowledge that wishing won’t make it so
- Confirm her sense that she is growing stronger
Boomer women are extremely resilient, so be honest in your marketing to and with them. Results will follow.
If you think in the broadest terms, Moms connecting online could be one the world’s largest on-going research experiment. Because Moms use the Internet to connect, learn and have conversations, the world of marketing to Moms has forever changed from the top-down one-way messages of the past to the peer-to-peer two-way conversations of today.
“The majority of Mom consumers transform themselves into ‘social researchers’ by seeking out online reviews to make thoughtful and well-informed purchasing decisions based on their peers’ recommendation,” said Tracey Hope-Ross, Vice President of Social Media for Newton, Massachusetts-based Mom Central Consulting.
The word-of-mouth recommendations that are happening online between Moms, family members, friends and even strangers are the marketing mojo every brand covets. Hope-Ross suggests three methods to leverage word-of-mouth.
- Panels – Form panels of Moms online around a common passion. Panels allow for deep conversations in what might be thought of as a real-time online focus group.
- Brand Brigades – Use existing online communities to engage Moms in order to activate them offline. Following a recent recommendation, a travel agent friend recently started five Facebook groups around types of cruises or destinations. In the first week over a thousand people have joined.
- Events and gatherings – Allowing Moms to connect face-to-face through events creates the opportunity for offline networks of people and relationships with brands.
