Realizing I Know Nothing
Posts tagged Dad Marketing
Dads v. Huggies
Mar 13th
Oh Huggies, what have you done? I saw a flurry of posts and comments over the last few weeks related to an advertising campaign by Huggies (here is a quick overview by Janice D’Arcy over at the Washington Post and the final outcome as well). Basically, Huggies tried to celebrate dads by calling them inept — maybe not the original goal, but that was the perceived result.
I understand the backlash and think that Huggies deserves almost every single criticism for the sheer fact they used a stereotype as the basis of the campaign. I say almost since, well, some complaints are straight from More >
I guess I am a “Digital Dad”
Nov 17th
I came across this interesting blog post by our friends over at Yahoo! Advertising. I say interesting because I am not sure how marketing to dads is that different from general marketing rules of thumb (based on their highlights):
1. Don’t ignore or insult them. 2. Educate them. 3. Entertain them. 4. Play up the premium. 5. Let them try you on for size. 6. Start small.
In other words: do what you are doing for everybody else.
I get it. I know they are trying to say that the household of today is not the same as it was 50 years ago, but More >
Evenflo and Humor in Ads
Jul 18th
Trust is interesting. Do/Will I ever really trust a brand? In the end the goal is profit, not my satisfaction, no matter what a company puts in its press releases. Do Board members say “Forget all this profit talk, are the customers satisfied with our products????”
I doubt it.
But, I also think that to be profitable, you need to make the customer happy with a safe, reliable product, especially when it relates to children. So in the end, by creating what I need, they get what they want. But how to market, how to market? I, for one, like humor in advertising. More >
I didn’t see that coming
Jul 8th
In an earlier post, I talked about the “Blue Jean Diapers” from Huggies not making their way into our house. The Wifey (whiff-ey) didn’t particularly care for them – and I didn’t like them at all.
Then, after giving my own mom details on the kiddo’s recent 15 month checkup, she asked “how much did you say he weighed?” I knew the question had a followup — with this being the first grandchild, she would have remembered it from the moment it came out of my mouth.
I told her he weighed 22 pounds — which was More >
Still not my thing
Jul 5th
I like the ad. I really do. I like the fact that the recent Toyota Sienna ads focus on both moms and dads — but I know they aren’t doing because the feel a need to talk to moms AND dads. Again, you go where the numbers lead you and I am sure dads play a big role in the family car decision — and I am even more sure that the folks at Saatchi and Saatchi (they did this for Toyota) know this as well.
In the end — I find the ad funny. I think it is well executed, talks More >
Pampers likes me today. I like Huggies all year.
Jun 25th
Another interesting article from the New York Times and contributor Andrew Adam Newman. Although it focuses on Procter & Gamble marketing Pampers to dads on a more overt basis, it included a couple topics I find somewhat noteworthy that aren’t direct topics of the piece.
First topic: Companies focusing on of-the-moment things like, oh, I don’t know…fathers on father’s day. (on a side note: I remember when my soup was du jour, now the world has gotten so fast it is of-the-moment) Will I change my purchase pattern because I feel like an actual, honest-to-God parent for one day (and in some More >
Genworth is celebrating parents
Jun 8th
Genworth is celebrating parents on facebook (here is the fan page). Only one thing seems missing from the photos….hmmmm…I wonder what it is.
However, to their credit they do offer a television spot focused on dads for Father’s Day and there are a lot of comments about dear ol’ dad — regardless of the lack of dad in any of the photos.
I don’t like Chips Ahoy! anyway
Jun 4th
According to this article by Elaine Wong, Kraft is repositioning its Chips Ahoy! brand to focus less on talking cookies and more on joy. The new ad “centers on the moments of exultation moms and children alike derive from eating the cookie” and was “was driven by insight from moms, who observed that children would often break out in a “toe-tapping dance” upon seeing the cookies”.
I am sure if it was driven by dads the cookies would be fighting one another to their death, gladiator style, with chocolate chips exploding in the background. Or, maybe…just maybe…mom and dad (or gasp, More >
Sorry Huggies
May 26th
Mom (she doesn’t) may like the idea of diapers as jeans — but I don’t. In this article by NY Times contributor Andrew Adam Newman, he looks at Huggies’ new push for their “diaper-jeans” and the general state of affairs in the diaper marketing landscape.
Part of the discussion is about the move by Huggies away from the classic blue liquid soaked diaper example to a more in-your-face-we-are-using-the-word-poop type of advertising. Overall, advertising typically doesn’t do much for me when I am already committed to a brand, however, when it is introducing a new product — I have a tendency to pay More >
