Captivating Connections.

when will marketers recognize we need to market to PARENTS, not just mom or dad?

Listen, I get it: Moms rock. They're awesome. But so are dads. For reals!

In a world where the average family structure is changing and the roles people play vascilate, it's important to recognize that PARENTS run the family household, not just a mom or a dad. Sometimes if you only speak to moms, you make dad feel left out. And if you only speak to dads, moms feel like you're ignoring them.

So what's wrong with talking to parents as...wait for it...PARENTS!

According to work done Edelman and The Parenting Group, dads are social media monsters, too. In fact, "fathers—particularly first-time fathers—are engaging in the same types of social media activities that new moms enjoy...42% of new US dads who use social networks write family-related status updates on a daily basis. It further found that 56% of new dads post family photos at least a few times a week, while 21% post family-related videos."

Some dads are even 'beating' moms: "There was even one area in which dads were actually ahead of their female counterparts: Millennial dads have more online friends than millennial moms. These dads reported an average of 96 online friends, while moms averaged only 70."

So how do you appraoch this dads? I like how Mark Wildman, vice president and group publisher of magazine and digital media company The Parenting Group, sums it up. He points out that, as a dad himself, “I don’t just view myself as a provider. The nurturing, the cooking, the food buying—I am doing it in partnership with my wife.”

What do my parent readers think about this?

dads are more likely than moms to buy electronics (shocking I know).

Granted I may be an anomoly when I become a mom, but, according to Ipsos OTX MediaCT's LMX Family Study, "dads with kids aged 6-14 are significantly more likely than moms with kids the same age to be planning to purchase a host of consumer electronics including smartphones, TVs, Tablets, Blu-ray players, 3-D TVs and desktop computers."

 

are men taking over the grocery cart?

According to a new study from Yahoo, over half of men ages 16 to 64 "now identify themselves as the primary grocery shoppers in their households. Dads in particular are taking up the shopping cart, with about six in 10 identifying themselves as their household's decision maker on packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases. Not surprisingly, given that such ads long have been crafted for women, only 22% to 24% of men felt advertising in packaged goods, pet supplies or clothing speaks to them, according to the Yahoo survey.

The Great Recession has thrown millions of men in construction, manufacturing and other traditionally male occupations out of work and by extension into more domestic duties. At the same time, gender roles were already changing anyway, with Gen X and millennial men in particular more likely to take an active role in parenting and household duties.

Of course, in the survey, men could be overestimating their own role in shopping for the family. Lauren Weinberg, director-research and insights for Yahoo, acknowledges that could be possible -- and that women don't see them making as much progress on that front. But she said the fact that so many men now see themselves as masters of the shopping cart not only reflects real shifts but also means any stigma once attached to men as shoppers is fading fast."

kidlets & their iphones, er, toys of choice.

Loving this look at kidlets and their affinity for the iPhone as a play device.

"The iPhone has revolutionized telecommunications. It has also become the most effective tool in human history to mollify a fussy toddler, much to the delight of parents reveling in their newfound freedom to have a conversation in a restaurant or roam the supermarket aisles in peace. But just as adults have a hard time putting down their iPhones, so the device is now the Toy of Choice — akin to a treasured stuffed animal — for many 1-, 2- and 3-year-olds. It’s a phenomenon that is attracting the attention and concern of some childhood development specialists."

How did this happen, you ask?

"Apple, the iPhone’s designer and manufacturer, has built its success on machines so simple and intuitive that even technologically befuddled adults can figure out how to work them, so it makes sense that sophisticated children would follow. The most recent model is 4.5 inches tall, 2.31 inches wide and weighs 4.8 ounces: sleek, but not too small for those with developing motor skills. Tap a picture on the screen and something happens. What could be more fun?

The sleepy-eyed toddler who called for the iPhone from his crib is one of hundreds of iPhone-loving tykes starring in videos posted throughout the Internet, usually narrated by parents expressing proud wonderment at their offspring’s ability to slide chubby fingers across the gadget’s screen and pull up photographs and apps of their choice.

Many iPhone apps on the market are aimed directly at preschoolers, many of them labeled 'educational,' such as Toddler Teasers: Shapes, which asks the child to tap a circle or square or triangle; and Pocket Zoo, which streams live video of animals at zoos around the world. There are 'flash cards' aimed at teaching children to read and spell, and a 'Wheels on the Bus' app that sings the popular song in multiple languages. Then there’s the new iGo Potty app (sponsored by Kimberly-Clark, maker of Huggies training pants), with automated phone calls reminding toddlers that it’s time to 'go.'”

targing parents via mobile marketing.

"Marketers looking to convince mobile subscribers to opt in to SMS marketing campaigns should look to target parents, especially those with young children, based on research conducted by Harris Interactive for mobile marketing platform Placecast.

The May 2010 survey found that among US mobile users with children, 33% were at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile alerts from their favorite merchants. Among those without children, just 26% were equally interested. The age of children in the household also had an effect on user interest levels; the presence of children under 6 boosted interest levels most, while those with teenagers in the house acted somewhat more like couples with no kids.

Parents considered several mobile activities at least somewhat important at higher rates than mobile users without children, including searching for retail locations (57% vs. 42%), making purchases (40% vs. 26%) and accessing the internet in general (63% vs. 48%). Parents are even more interested in participating in foursquare and Facebook on the go.

Most of parents’ desire for mobile text alerts points to time-strapped families looking to save money. Grocery coupons and promotions were the most popular text alert among all parents, including among the subgroups with older children and teens. The biggest interest of parents of the youngest kids was in products like movie tickets. The only promotions that appealed more to the child-free were deals for coffee and travel."

wondering what the top gifts are for father's day?

"According to NRF’s 2010 Father’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, the average person will spend $94.32 on dear ole dad this year, up from $90.89 last year. Total Father’s Day spending is expected to reach $9.8 billion.*

Shiny new toys for dad will be one of the biggest hits this year, along with special outings, gift certificates and clothing. The survey found 39.9 percent of those celebrating dad this year will treat him to a special outing such as dinner or brunch, spending $1.9 billion. With 36.7 percent planning on spending a total of $1.3 billion on clothes, dad can expect a few more work shirts and ties to add to his collection as well. Others will shell out $1.2 billion on electronics, $749 million on greeting cards, $578 million on tools or appliances, $550 million on home improvement or gardening tools and $400 million on automotive accessories. Three out of 10 (31.2%) will give dad a gift card, spending an estimated $1.2 billion on those purchases.

'A slight uptick in Father’s Day spending is another sign people are starting to open up their wallets again,' said Matt Shay, President and CEO, NRF. 'Whether it’s a large family get together or surprising dad with the new gadget he’s had his eye on, there are many ways people will choose to celebrate this year.'”

kids & their influence on media.

"A new study from Ipsos OTX MediaCT says humans are getting wired a lot earlier. The study says kids are pretty much digital sophisticates by age 12. Sociological implications aside, marketers ought to pay attention to how the Internet is changing how kids use media and how media affect the ways kids and parents interact.

The annual report, called the LMX (Longitudinal Media Experience) Family study, follows some 2,000 kids between the ages of 6 and 12 as well as a parent. It comprises a diary component, wherein kids log past day activities; and a separate component for kids and parents for recording device ownership, usage, and co-entertainment activities. Forty percent of moms in the study say, for instance, that it was their idea to get their child a mobile phone.

Donna Sabino, SVP of kids and family insights at Ipsos OTX MediaCT, points out that kids have only known a digital world where content never stops flowing and isn't dependent on platform.

'One of the biggest findings is how quickly families are adopting new technology and new ways they are using technology and media,' she tells Marketing Daily. 'For kids, it's all content; to them, content is king.' She says they take accessibility for granted. 'Between 8 and 9, something magical happens, an age of enlightenment between fourth and fifth grade when their moms give them a cell phone, and then iPods, mobile phones, and handheld games. It opens new markets to them.'

She says that kids, even at that age, are making purchase decisions via digital channels. "You do have a lot of kids making decisions. The apps are so tempting and songs are so numerous."

Pete Blackshaw has written about his iPad experiance as a dad. As he writes, "For me, the biggest surprise has been the device's relevance and resonance with my 'proud padre' parenting zone. Indeed, well over half of my iPad activity to date centers around my kids, and that percentage seems to be growing.

My fixation here has less to do with the Apple brand, per se, than the long-term implications of what this highly interactive, touch-pad functionality represents for marketers, educators and especially parents. Indeed, I've no doubt that by year's end we'll see close approximations of iPad functionality across most of the major device manufacturers, not unlike how mobile phones follow first-mover innovations.

That's a potential game-changer."

Are any of you parents and iPad owners? What do you think?

don't forget the dads...

"In the middle of the marketing frenzy around mommy bloggers, Sony Electronics has turned its attention to the other gender, launching DigiDads, a program all about putting its products into a small group of blogging dads in hopes that they'll play with them and write about them.

The dads are not getting paid for using the consumer-electronics giant's products and will have to return them when they're done. Oh, and it's not quite as simple as giving them a product to review, and asking them to write about it, according to Marcy Cohen, senior manager of communications at Sony Electronics, and Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs. Unlike with journalists, who often receive products on loan from Sony to review, Sony will put together projects for the blogging dads that they can use the gadgets on.

'Anybody can do blogger outreach,' said Mr. Brogan.'We're aiming for telling a story vs. 'Here's some stuff, write about it.'' The projects will include 'Summer of 100 Faces,' where the dads and their kids will use Sony cameras to take 100 portraits. Other plans include using a GPS-equipped video camera to map out historical video tours of a neighborhood or record a tour on a vacation."

how does your family stay together?

Wondering how families stay together in an incredibly fragmented world?

"Households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types to have mobile phones and subscribe to the Internet, according to data released in October 2008 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Nearly nine out of 10 married-with-children households surveyed owned multiple mobile phones, and nearly one-half owned three or more. Two-thirds of such households had broadband at home. The national average for all households is 52%.

Many of the families Pew surveyed used their mobile phones to keep in touch: 70% of couples in which both partners owned a mobile phone contacted each other daily to say hello or chat, and 42% of parents contacted their child/children every day by mobile phone."

See? Technology doesn't tear families apart; it may actually help them stay together (or get even closer) in ways that were previously unimagined. I can imagine, thinking back to when I was a kid and felt that face-to-face conversations or having my parents physically check up on me was intrusive, that being able to keep in touch via text is a happy medium for family members of all levels.