For Moms, Offline Friends Still Wield Heavy Brand Influence†

Study: Social Media Is Kept, Well, Social, While Marketers' Website Become Important Tool for Product Info

Advertising Age, November 6, 2009 — Technology's influence is widely assumed to have morphed the over-the-fence backyard chat into mommy blogs and Twitter networks. But when moms are seeking product advice, it's not all social-media all the time. A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases

Kodak Shoots For YouTube Consumer Connection

MediaPost Publications, November 3, 2009 — Many consumers may still think of Kodak as mainly an enabler of still images. But the company is becoming deeply involved in the Web's most popular site for moving pictures: YouTube.

Kodak has launched a branded YouTube channel, ForMom, featuring user-generated testimonials from real moms on topics ranging from parenting and cooking to health, beauty and exercise.

Facebook and MySpace: Beware Of The Mommy Bloggers

MediaPost Publications, July 29, 2009 — was reading the write-ups of last week's BlogHer conference in Chicago secretly jealous that even though I'm a mommy and a blogger, this junket was simply not in the cards for me.

But it wasn't just jealousy that drove my interest, it was how the mommy bloggers inadvertently, perhaps, uncovered a central truth about social media marketing: it isn't at all about carefully targeted display ads, or search ads, but about relationship-building. Unfortunately, that isn't something the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world have learned to monetize very well yet. So, while the discovery of the mommy bloggers is great for advertisers, it's not so great for those who are trying to be the broker that connects the bloggers with the marketers. That connection is already... continue reading

At BlogHer Confab, Marketers Show Moms Some Love†

Pepsi, P&G, Walmart, Kodak, Others Look to Learn Lessons of Social Media While Feting Moms With Luncheons, Gift Bags

Advertising Age, July 27, 2009 — If you were wondering where the media budgets have gone, you might have tried looking around Chicago late last Thursday through Saturday, or maybe even check out one of the city's pawn shops this week.

At the BlogHer '09 conference in Chicago marketers were lining up to woo around 1,500 mommy bloggers with swag, celebrity appearances, shopping sprees and lavish entertainment of the sort that seems part of a bygone era to most of the marketing world.

Can Moms Save Us From the Recession?†

Five Rules for Marketers to Understand Their Purchase Behavior

Advertising Age, January 13, 2009 — As a marketer, you may be asking yourself: Are there any consumers out there who will be shopping this year? The answer is a resounding yes. Moms will keep shopping. They have to. Moms control 85% to 90% of household spending on everyday, Warren Buffet-advocated items, according to a BSM Media Study, which also projects household spending to be $3 trillion in 2012, up from $2.1 trillion today. In this economy 85% may play an even bigger role to your bottom line. Your efforts to understand their purchase behavior are more important than ever.