Marketing to Moms; Ignoring Dads
Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by Brian Reid in Uncategorized, gender wars
This tweet rolled across my stream this evening, from CK_Lunchbox, wondering what dads thought about the Mom 2.0 Summit (“An Open Conversation Between Moms and Marketers”).Clark Kent said he wasn’t stirring up trouble, but I don’t buy it. (I don’t blame him, either)
But I’m not bent out of shape. The mom blogosphere is a lot bigger than the dad-o-sphere, and moms still make the majority of consumer buying decisions. It’s a natural that marketers would work harder to reach moms. This is the reality. If marketers want to go to Houston in hopes of getting some of that momblog love, more power to them.
But if companies are looking for the next great market, they’ll ease up on the mom-centrism and start asking if there are ways that they can court dads. Whether or not we want that attention is an open question, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the smart marketers of the next decade will work on capturing dads. After all, it worked for Bugaboo.
(UPDATE: Clark Kent’s Lunchbox noted that he has a much more complete take on this phenomenon from last month. It’s called “Why I Hate Mommy Bloggers.” Worth the read.)
Clark Kent's Lunchbox
19. Feb, 2010
Thanks for the mention, Brian. It’s funny, I’ve had several discussions with some fairly well-known mom and dad bloggers, and this topic always comes up. The moms were complaining about how some mom bloggers have turned their sites into virtual Tupperware parties with all the crap they pitch, while the dads were curious as to why marketers wouldn’t be more interesting in them since 60 - 70% of their readership are moms. (That’s a pretty consistent number for most of us dads.)
Anyway. This is a subject I could go on and on about, but I’ll spare you the soliloquy. You might like reading a post I wrote “Why I Hate Mommy Bloggers.” It covers this topic pretty thoroughly: There are good mom blogs, there are bad ones, marketers are all about a buck, dads deserve attention & not just for man products, dads shouldn’t be desperate and sell out, blogging is about community & content, not the QVC channel, dads can use the example of good mom blogs in using their own blogs to change the stereotypes of dads in the media, blah blah blah.
I’ll tweet you the link.
Brian
19. Feb, 2010
I’ll add the link to the post later today. The whole issue of shilling on a blog is a snakepit of its own. I’m anti-sellout. And I hate the idea that momblogs (and therefore parenting blogs, generally) are getting stamped as just another avenue toward consumption.
That’s my take as a blogger. On a larger, societal level, the fact that marketer are *not* pursuing dads with the same level of glee suggests that corporate America still doesn’t get the rising influence of fathers as drivers of family decisions.
Being ignored might be good for us, as individuals, but it doesn’t reflect well on the pursuit of gender equity.
Jack
25. Feb, 2010
There are a couple of reasons why we haven’t been pursued as aggressively as the mothers.
1) Dad bloggers haven’t chased the brands/PR agencies with the same gusto as the women.
2) The marketers/PR agencies are normal people meaning that they don’t switch gears easily unless they see a compelling reason.
I could really go on at length about this, but I’ll save that for a different post.