Innovative and Interactive

2008 was a tough year for most media outlets but there were a two leaders that launched innovative and interactive applications that will appeal to mom’s values and motivations:

SavvyMom Media, publishers of savvymom.ca, launched ShareSavvy.ca an online community where moms can share local resource recommendations. This user-driven city guide invites moms to ask or answer questions about mom-friendly finds.

SavvyMom co-founder Minnow Hamilton is quoted in saying the reason they started this micro-local content site is because over the past three years they have received hundreds of submissions from readers who want to share their finds, but they are not always relevant to the wider SavvyMom audience. They know that mom’s love to share and want a source that saves them time when searching for information and solutions.


Canadian Living launched a smartphone application right before Christmas that automatically delivers and stores content to a user’s handheld device. Need a recipe on-the-go? download m.canadianliving.com to your iphone or blackberry.

Appealing to moms' need for convenience and feeling of accomplishment, this application puts some of the most popular features from the printed magazine directly into a mom’s hands; placing a focus on a free service that saves times, provides freedom, and makes her life easier can only strength the reputation of this icon in the Canadian magazine industry.


A final note: 2009 stands to be the year of engagement with those wanting to reach the powerful mom-market making steps to take marketing efforts to a whole new level. “Employing” mom influencers to help promote your brand is crucial as word-of-mouth continues to be the most powerful external force affecting a brand.

Consider Xbox’s new marketing plan which is targeting moms by inviting 1,000 women from across the USA to host a house party to showcase their Xbox 360 console and new services, including Netflix and Xbox live. They got an Xbox party pack of freebies that included microwaveable popcorn, Xbox trivia game Scene It? Box Office Smash, an Xbox universal media remote control, a three-month subscription to Xbox Live, and 1,600 Xbox Live points (used for game, movie and TV show purchases).

The moral of this post is that moms trust and act upon third-party endorsements. Tapping into media outlets and mom influencers will leverage your brand to new heights.

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Moms Love Videos

I've been forward the same video advertisement three times in the past week by some mom friends. That's right, its an advertisement for JC Penny. What attracted my attention was the fact that these aren't women who normally send me things. In fact, one of them never sends me links to look at so when she did, I knew I had to take a look.

This is so typical of today's mom. They love to watch videos online because they can choose when and where to watch it; they can determine when it can fit into their busy schedule and it provides them with useful (or in this case funny) content in an easy-to-consume manner. And if the video is appeals to their core values (in this case, a dilemma all moms/wives face when husbands give them thoughtless gifts), they will forward it to everyone they know. Each of my friends forwarded the link to 10-15 women. Reminder, this is an advertisement; talk about good bang for your buck!

This is one of the best examples of how a brand can engage with moms using today's technology and grassroots PR efforts. Reaching them is harder than ever before because moms are a moving target - they may read a paper one day but not the next, watch TV one night but not again for another 5 days, listen to the radio in the morning while they drop the kids off at school but then switch to their IPOD to listen to a podcast they downloaded the night before. There's no consistency.

Moms rely on other moms to give them the latest and greatest tips but they also want to be the one the first one to supply that information to other moms. Moms like being influencers because it raises their status in peer groups (you become the 'go-to' person for great info) but it also appeals a core value to be a better mom - the more info you have, the better you will be as a mom.

Think about how your brand is using PR to engage moms. Do you need to put your current PR efforts in the doghouse for a while?