All I can say is thank you to Sarah Haskins of current tv for watching "hundreds of hours of ads" this year so I didn't have to. This fun video about her observations reveals that we've still got a long way to go, baby. Sarah thought that maybe we can't be perfect wives, mothers, career women, and super-hot sex babes all at once. But then she turned on the TV and remembered that an abundance of stuff makes anything possible. When you're a woman, happiness is just one purchase away.
This video is a perfect testament to why 90% of women feel misunderstood by advertisers. And once again, I will connect that statistic to another: only 3% of creative directors are women. Let's hope 2010 is the year of bringing that first figure down and the second one way, way up.
Companies that have been around forever face the risk of looking their age. The key to longevity is to stick to what you're known for, but evolve to meet new consumer demand. Few companies do it well. The winners that come to mind are Coach, Disney, HP, Avon and...Hallmark. Founded in 1910, Hallmark precedes these other long-timers by more than a decade, making their relevance to today's customer all the more notable.
Remember "when you care enough to send the very best"? A great tagline for earlier times. Hallmark has wisely evolved to "A card. It's the biggest little thing you can do." Their line of 99 cent cards supports this notion that a tiny bit of effort -- and outlay of cash -- can make a difference in someone's life. Such a smart shift in understanding your customer. Moms want to do it all, but fall short due to the demands of life. Hallmark's print and TV spots show a keen understanding of this dilemma, offering beautifully presented examples of how a well-timed card can deliver boosts like Appreciation, Confidence, and Guts in the chaos of everyday life.
Hallmark's forward-thinking marketing doesn't end with creative. They consistently push the envelope (pardon the pun) with format and innovation. They introduced musical cards, and now offer DVD holiday greetings, mobile greetings, an address-book builder to facilitate holiday mailings, a line of mom-to-mom cards which encourage "proudly imperfect moms," same-sex marriage cards, and recordable storybooks, a grandparent's dream product so desirable that it sold out before Christmas. So many innovations from a company that could easily have rested on their laurels and become Harvard Business School's ultimate case study in fuddy-duddiness. I surprised even myself when visiting a Hallmark Gold Crown store; I found there gorgeous embossed stationery (I'm a major paper snob and letterpress fan), a line of RED cards supporting the Global Fund for AIDS, even martini glasses.
On that note, I raise a glass to Hallmark, recipient of this month's Warm Blanket Award for marketing to moms masterfully.
Slacker moms, rejoice! Amazon.com has created a brilliant shortcut for checkout on the Web. By creating a two or three-word PayPhrase unique to you, you can access your shipping and payment information in your Amazon.com account across the Web.
Here's why this is a big win for Moms and mom-retailers:
1). A Mom's head is already full of information. Numeric passwords simply don't have the brain stickiness of a personally relevant phrase like "Delicious Caramel" or "Fiction Vixen." She will love knowing this is one thing she won't forget.
2). Letting moms shop at new online retailers without setting up an account is a double whammy win. The PayPhrase is a subtle Amazon.com nod that makes her more likely to trust a new e-tailer and the quick checkout makes her more likely to pull the trigger and buy from them.
3). You can set up a separate PayPhrase with a limited budget for tweens, teens and college students. You can even choose to approve each order individually via an e-mail or text alert when an order is placed. This is a fabulous way to teach kids about budgeting money and give them just enough leash to figure it out in a safe way.
The list of participating retailers is small right now, likely because the program is new. I have no idea of the back-end accounting and what piece of the transaction Amazon payments will take. But provided it's not usurious, I would recommend any e-tailer looking to corner moms hop on this bandwagon.
After the lengthy blog posting I wrote back in August, I really thought I had examined all the compelling attributes of gift cards. Here's an excerpt from that blog post:
If you do any kind of couponing to moms, consider changing your formatting to be more gift-card like. Retailers report that when they switch from paper gift certificates to gift cards, they sell between 50-100% more. Direct mail companies also report upticks for gift-card "coupons." I've encouraged several of Maternal Instinct's clients to print savings coupons on heavy card stock with rounded corners and to snot-glue them on mailers. There's just something about this format that telegraphs value and practically screams: "pull me out and put me in your wallet."
Talbots took this advice one step further with a strikingly simple idea. On the second page of their holiday catalog is a gift card, snot-glued to the page, with the copy:
The Instant Gift
Forget someone? Not sure what to get her? Out of time to buy that last gift? No problem. Just peel off this gift card, call 1-800-825-2687 or visit a store to activate it in the denomination of your choice, and voila! Instant -- and very appreciated -- gift.
Brilliant. You remove it and tuck it away for a possible last-minute gift need. It doesn't reek of a last-minute gift by being an e-giftcard sent via email. It's a real bonafide piece of plastic that looks like you made an in-store visit to obtain. Then when the gift crisis hits, you tuck it into a card, and voila. Aren't you thoughtful?
The only downside to this campaign is in the execution. They haven't enabled web activation. You still need to call in or visit a store to activate it. Bummer. Their 1-800 number is open until 2 a.m. EST, but still. So close to a perfect execution, might as well go all the way and create a web landing page for card activation. Plus I think they could have been more presumptive and glued 2-3 cards on the page, since I'm rarely scrambling for only 1 last minute gift.
Here's my prediction for Christmas 2010: gift card retailers will join forces and run co-op ads where they snot-glue several different cards on one magazine ad. You tear the page out and it becomes your Emergency Gift 911 for almost anyone on your list, from kids to gadget guys to pet owners.
Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if --
you don't agree with what I've written.
I am the founder and creative director of Maternal Instinct, a Palo Alto agency of creative problem solvers for marketing to moms. I am lucky enough to get paid to spend my days helping big and small corporations figure out how to make moms want to do business with them. (I don’t get paid for my nights and weekends, caring for my two boys, which is far, far more tiring.)
My 20-year advertising career spans both coasts: in New York (my hometown) and San Francisco, my home today with husband Gene and boys, Henry and Benjamin. I have peddled products for every industry -- credit cards, wine, cars, magazines, jewelry, hotels, software, phone service -- and even picked up a Clio and a few ADDYs along the way.
