A great roundup in today's New York Times about the current effort to inject more emotional resonance into the CPG category via social networks. The latest addition is Pepperidge Farm's "Connecting Through Cookies" at ArtoftheCookie.com, which joins site for non-Gen Y brands like Goldfish, Pantene, Clorox's Food Division, Fiskars Scissors, and of course Dove.
Behind this trend is a common thread - women. Specifically, the kind of women we used to call homemakers, now Chief Family Officers, etc. Housewives were the original social networkers, and I think the rise of brand-driven niche social networking is a sign that women (with children) may eventually come to dominate social spaces in the way that they dominate online gaming. And in the same way that traditional game developers continue to miss the boat by targeting a younger demo (with the exception of the Wii, which is still not marketed specifically to women), I think big social networks are under-serving the lucrative Mom demo as they chase youth with dating apps, sheep attacks, and other juvenilia.
Misha Cornes
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Strategists & Planners
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Ye-es - but at the same time agencies will need to ensure they employ enough of this 'Mom' demographic so that what they offer isn't trite and patronising. Or at the very least to consult with them.
Having just finished researching the retirement sector for a client here in Australia, it made me cringe to read much of the content on websites and in brochures that was obviously written by well-meaning young copywriters.
As we age we become wiser, not dumber (although I think my children would dispute this sometimes).
So find out what makes we Moms tick. We're a powerful force on the Internet.
Posted on November 26, 2007 23:44
Misha -
While I agree that Moms need to be served, I think you're only going to see more sites geared towards women in general. Now, women don't just have iVillage. They have "mommy bloggers," MomLogic, myLifetime and a ton of other sites.
Will Facebook or MySpace ever really make an effort to target moms? As it becomes more hip to be a mom and (gasp) be pregnant, you may see it.
Posted on November 27, 2007 05:16
I just wrote about a website and forums aimed at women - thebabywearer.com. This site is ugly and totally non-intuitive, but despite is almost cult-like and thriving with participation from moms all over the world. I am so amazed at the devotion/obsession (some people have posted in the 1,000s of times) of these women on the topic of babywearing.
What struck me most about this site is that it totally dispelled any notions I had that online social networking was for tech geeks and kids. There is a place online for everyone.
Posted on November 27, 2007 12:03
Martha's Circle, iVillage, MomLogic, the list will only increase. And now television channels are jumping on board. Who first? Lifetime, of course.
We wrote last week that "they're realizing that one way to get the eyeballs they want is to target their 'fragmented female' through web properties."
Read more here:
http://blog.digitalaxle.com/2007/11/media-propertie.html
Posted on November 27, 2007 22:55
Great discussion here and a lot of new women-oriented social networking sites for me to check out. Thanks!
I have been thinking a lot about Adele's comment re: employing more women, and more moms, at ad agencies. I am totally in favor of (more) diversity within the advertising community, and it's true that interactive in particular young, single, tech-positives are very over-represented.
The larger question is whether it's ever possible for a non-X to design well for an X. And personally I believe that empathy and listening skills, plus tools like personas, do make it possible. But I also believe that the customer experience is improved by talking to the target audience and involving that demographic in the design process, whether it's through hiring, user testing, focus groups, or ethnography.
Posted on November 28, 2007 15:23
It's funny -- I was an cultural anthropology major as an undergrad, but not once did any of my advisors, professors or administrators mention marketing as a career choice for anthro students. It was pretty much, "If you're an anthropologist, you'll end up working in academia or for a museum."
This is a fairly large pool of talent for marketing firms, and if an anthro grad is presented with a job offer for more than $30K, well, let's just say they probably won't turn their noses up.
Posted on November 29, 2007 05:28