And Now For This Commercial Break
Posted on July 25th, 2008 – 8:17 AMBy Kay Krhin
Guest-blogger Robin Marty shares part of her experience of being part of a desirable demographic at the recent Blogher convention in San Francisco.
When I first entered the exhibitor’s hall at Blogher the national conference for women who write on the web, it was like stepping into another world. After all of the time I spent reading parenting magazines demanding I keep my child away from television and movies and removing her from all commercial influences, being inundated with this much paraphernalia was shocking.
I strolled past the PBS Kids table, then moseyed by the Sprout. In the room across the hall I could play with V Tech toys or Leapfrog leap pads, and a little
further along I could try out a Wii . T-Mobile was passing out surveys on how young is old enough for a cell phone (”Not seven months,” I told a disappointed rep who was talking up family plans.).
We all know moms are hot, but it appear the advertisers agree. Parties were thrown by Macy’s, TNT, yes, even by personal lubricant maker KY (somehow that one slipped my mind). The lunch meeting with Rocco Dispirito filled quickly by women willing to listen to the virtues of Bertoli Pasta if it meant seeing the Restaurant bad boy in the flesh. You could visit the Sesame Street Suite to create a video to take home to your child or get a cup of coffee in the I-Robot room. Everywhere you turned was a new sponsor, from makeovers to financial planner to the Michelin man pointing you to the fresh croissants.
Although the workshops, panels and keynotes were geared to all women who
write, the marketing was an obvious reflection of the large percentage of
attendees that were mothers and the impressive amount of collective clout
the women have, both on line and in their homes. After copious freebies,
demos and handouts, I never felt so valued as a potential consumer.
Can a bag full of schwag and some wooing by the stars of TNT’s Saving Grace truly change my shopping and viewing habits? Of course not — I’m a mother and a wife, I eat emotional manipulation for breakfast. But it’s nice to be appreciated for the powerhouse I really am, especially since my family sometimes forgets that fact.
Cribsheeters- have you felt the barrage of being a target market ? Have any attempts won you over or influenced how you shop?
Robin Marty is the Deputy Program Manager for the Center for Independent
Media and former editor of the Minnesota Independent . Robin blogs at Powerliberal which has slowly turned from politics to mommy blogging.
She’s bringing a bag full of Blogher schwag to the Cribsheet playdate tomorrow (!) and will have a post on privacy and your children online next week.
7 Responses to "And Now For This Commercial Break"
I think two things are at play. First, mothers and women in general are a huge consumer block. We are a marketing niche. When else would all these companies have so many women and moms in one place? Second, there is a lot to be said about the power of product endorsement on a mama blog. I think they know that. When another mama blogs about her new favorite product, we all read and take notes. I know I have been swayed by my fellow blogger’s endorsements. All those companies are dreaming of blogs written about their great products, and they were hoping that a little free stuff might persuade the attendees to do that. I bet it was successful, too. I am imagining the posts out there about that Sesame Street video.
Thanks for the great post. This was really interesting.
At Cribsheet, we get pitched all the time to write about books, products and shows. We do sometimes write about them but only if we really, really like them. And because we’re part of the Strib, the only freebies we accept are books. Things we’ve declined in the past include: free products from Method (the folks who make the environmentally friendly detergents), who said they’d picked me as a Method Maven (!) and did I want a bunch of free products to throw a Method Maven party. And I actually use Method laundry stuff! I’ve also sadly said no to extremely cute onesies from Ingrid of Black Sheep Baby. I could go on…
I told I-robot I’d write something nice about them if they sent me an actual robot to clean my house, watch my baby and cook for us (none or this roomba stuff — I want Rosie from the Jetsons). At the very least, they need a roomba that can keep running even after a baby sits on it.
From time to time I get pitches, sometimes for things I have no interest in or no use for. Sometimes something great will come across and then I’ll take it and write about it. It’s got to be something good. I’m not sure if my shopping influences have changed though. I got a whole bunch of DVD’s from TNT (including Saving Grace) a few months back and wasn’t sure what they thought I would do with them…write about the show? Hmm, no.
I have bought a few things because they were mentioned (positively) on other blogs, so I can definitely understand where the marketers are coming from. There’s something about buying things for my daughter that makes me more cautious and more likely to take into account recommendations from someone who’s been there. In fact, to Becky’s point, this is probably the fourth place I’ve read about the Sesame Street videos at Blogher, and I haven’t even been seeking out Blogher posts. Still, I think I would find it disconcerting to be at Blogher and to feel like I’m being targeted so specifically based on my parenting status. There were non-mommy bloggers at Blogher, yes?
I think women are powerful marketing wise, and I appreciate that we’re getting attention. I do hope that viral marketing is helping companies think more about the choices that they make (see the Baby Camp backlash that J&J got). I also think one of the best parts of the whole mommy blogger movement is the focus on mom owned and indepedant businesses. Many of them would not have been able to succeed pre-Internet/blogosphere.
And about the Sesame Street thing. To heck with what my kid would have thought, I’m just a fan of Grover and I’m sorry I missed it, for me.
There were non-mommy bloggers, and they were feeling a little — awkward, to say the least. Luckily, the 6 level progressive party and massages from Macy’s seemed to assuage that a bit, I hear…
