What Not to Do

In case you missed it, Twitter was all a-buzz yesterday when @TassimoCanada launched a twitter giveaway which stated:

“ONLY 50 TASSIMO Systems remaining for Twitter Giveaway. DM your email if you want one! You must live in Canada and have 500 + followers!”

(Now, don’t think that you have been living under a rock because you haven’t heard of Tassimo because I expect 95% of the twitter entrants hadn’t. Tassimo is a Kraft coffee machine that has “patent barcode technology” that will brew a cup precisely each time.)

In a subsequent tweet, @TassimoCanada responded to a mom blogger and stated:

“we are trying to give TASSIMO Systems to as many moms as we can ... thank you for spreading the word!”

Like all the other entrants, I was excited because …well, who doesn’t love free stuff! But what intrigued me the most was the strategy and execution of this PR campaign and the fact they are trying to target moms. On a base level, there were many flaws to this campaign, which I believe will ultimately negatively affect the brand.

1. EXECUTION: Twitter 101: As many of the entrants pointed out, you cannot DM someone if they aren’t following you back. So everyone (including me) sent a general tweet to @TassimoCanada which first pointed out that you can’t DM them but that you wanted to be considered. The big problem was that their entry guideline was flawed by a lack understanding of how Twitter works on a basic level, which can translate into a negative for brand value.

They also created a storm in a teacup, which could have gotten much worse. By singling out moms on twitter, a few dads got up in arms about why they couldn’t enter. The company quickly rectified the situation by offering a machine to a couple dads but this brings me to my second point -

2. NO TRANSPARENCY & GUIDELINES: One of the #1 rules to any contest is the entrant needs to understand how you are going to choose the winner and make it clear for the entrant on how to submit their entry in order to have the best chance of winning. Well, I met the criteria of being a mom, having over 500 followers (I have 1100 in fact) and being Canadian but somehow, I didn’t get picked. Yet 3 (count them 3!) of my friends did and 2 of them entered AFTER I did. Before you say I have sour grapes, I should mention that I have a kick-ass Saeco coffee machine (valued over $1,000) so I didn’t really want or need a machine. What irritated me was that no one truly understood that they were being judged on; obviously there must have been some other criteria than what they said otherwise I would have won.

3. RESULTS & MEASURABILITY: As I stated 3 friends have won machines. They received a nice long email from the PR company that stated they received 1 of 300 machines for free. But what shocked me was that they stated they ‘chose’ them because they “love to drink and talk all-things coffee and tea.” - which they don’t and that definitely wasn’t made apparent as part of the original criteria to enter into the contest. The letter goes on to say that they “did a search for active bloggers and social media enthusiasts in Canada and you were within our top list”. Hmmm, since when did tweeting that you want a free item make you an active blogger and ‘social media enthusiast’? What this says to me is they are looking for quantity over quality of results (assuming that results are defined as number of tweets, number of blog posts).

Sure, the PR company generated a bunch of twitter posts but they are all based on a FREE value proposition – which is an easy route to take and could actually hurt the company’s overall brand value. 

I also know that at no point in their communication with the winners has the PR company defined any obligation to post or tweet about the machine once they receive it. Perhaps they are hoping that everyone who receives a machine will do it, but I know from experience that unless you give people direct instruction and deadlines the novelty of the item quickly dissipates and so does the ‘buzz’ factor.

What are the measurements of such a program – number of tweets, number of blog posts? When I create a program I include those numbers as part of the measurement but I have quickly realized that the value of a campaign is in the quality of interaction and conversation with a brand – not in the amount of posts or tweets it receives. PR is about brand recognition and equity that is obtained through continuous, relentless and prominent presence in the media and key influencers. You cannot obtain this by ‘spraying’ a bunch of products into the twitter-sphere.

4. A "FREE" PROPOSITION DEVALUES A BRAND: At the core of my ‘beef’ with this campaign is the fact that when you give something away for free, you diminish its value. I’m sure this machine is great for rushed moms & dads who are trying to get out in the morning but instead of describing the benefits of how this machine will save time, save money and ultimately making these parents lives easier so they should consider BUYING a machine, they are doing us Canadians a favour and giving them away for free instead. In other words, why buy it when you can get it free!

As you can tell, I’m up-in-arms about this so I’m committing to the fact that my next post will be on how I would have done it differently. It will be a few quick tips so that hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes as these big players did. Stay tuned!

Report: Growing Number of Moms Using Social Media

Mediaweek.com just published some great insight into moms' social media vs traditional media habits thanks to a new research report released by BabyCenter.

According to the article and the report, 63 percent of women report being active on social networks. When compared to a similar study done in 2006 when just 11 percent claimed to be social net regulars, we can see that moms' priorities and community is continuing to change. Most also claim that as their personal time is constrained, they end up sacrificing time with magazines and newspapers compared to before they had children. BabyCenter data indicates that "women with new babies at home cut back on media consumption by as much as three hours, with print taking the biggest hit. According to the report 49 percent of respondents claim to read magazines less after giving birth, and 46 percent said the same about their newspaper usage."

The article and report go on to details that "moms develop two distinct friendship circles: their real friends and their mommy friends - who they may or may not have actually met in person. Because these women are so social, and so information hungry, they often meet other mothers in similar child-rearing stages on sites like BabyCenter and a variety of mommy blogs."

To read the complete article visit: Report: Growing Number of Moms Using Social Media

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Canadian Moms' Media Habits

New Survey Reveals Canadian Moms' Media Habits

Vancouver, BC/Toronto, ON (May 6, 2009) - With moms controlling 85 percent of household spending and more companies focusing their marketing efforts on gaining the attention and loyalty of this powerful consumer market, limelitePR, Canada’s first PR firm wholly focused on connecting companies with moms, has conducted a nationwide survey in conjunction with Toronto-based urbanmoms.ca to investigate Canadian moms’ media habits. Results reveal that moms trust and refer to websites and TV for current and relevant information, are most interested in local stories and receive more information digitally than by traditional mediums such as magazines and newspapers.

“In order to develop impactful campaigns for our clients, we felt it was important to determine the most trusted and valuable mediums for the mom market,” says limelitePR Principal Jeanette Miller. “What this survey has produced is a deeper understanding of where moms currently turn for relevant information. We strongly believe that Canadian moms’ reliance on digital sources will grow as younger Gen Y moms move up the ranks but word-of-mouth (aka word-of-mom) will continue to reign as #1.”

The survey garnered over 700 respondents from coast to coast and polled Canadian moms on the sources they most commonly refer to and receive in their home.

The limelitePR and urbanmoms.ca survey highlights include:

• 73% of moms receive 4 or more e-newsletters
• 43% of moms consider websites the most trusted, valuable source for accurate & relevant information
• 37% of moms subscribe to 1-2 magazines, with 20% receiving no print subscriptions at all
  40% of moms refer to TV programs as their source for news and current events
• Canadian moms are most interested in local stories (30%) but parenting/family stories and lifestyle stories (food, fashion, trends) also garner worthy attention at 20% each.
• Moms’ community of peers and friends (including online community) overwhelmingly influence moms’ decisions by being the primary source when looking for information and recommendations on products or services.

“Mothers and community is not a recent trend. Throughout history moms have been depended on each other for connection and information. However, technology now enables moms to connect and share virtually which provides a trusted voice with a vastly broader scope and reach,” says Jen Maier, urbanmoms.ca founder.

“The survey results demonstrate that moms refer to online sources for stories about their community and rely on their peers and network to provide them with practical information that will make a positive impact on their families’ lives. We believe that it’s important to have multiple points of contact in order to create brand loyalty in the mom market,” says Miller.

About limelitePR limelitePR is a boutique public relations firm that is dedicated to creating a buzz and connecting leading brands with moms across Canada and the USA. By conducting traditional media relations, blogger outreach, and creating influencer mom-market activities and programs, the limelitePR team develops an integrated PR approach that will generate brand awareness at a consumer level, which directly increases sales and maintains brand recognition.

About urbanmoms.ca urbanmoms.ca, founded by Jen Maier, Toronto marketer and mom of 2, is Canada’s leading online community for moms. Based on the philosophy that when a woman has children she doesn't magically conform to a one-dimensional world of motherhood, urbanmoms.ca provides women with a forum to connect and build relationships while directly influencing some of Canada’s leading brands.

For more information contact:
Jeanette Miller, principal limelitePR O: 778.786.1495 M: 778.552.2949
E : jeanette@limelitepr.com T: @limelitePR

One final note: Hatley was generous enough to donate one pair of adult rain boots and one pair of child rain boots for one survey respondent. We hope you love them as much as we do!

Moms Are All a-Twitter!

I started twittering just before Christmas 08 and quickly became a twitter-evangelist. Within 24 hours of creating a profile, I was "followed" by two Mom PR experts (based in the USA), made direct contact with a woman who runs a number of mom blog networks and within 48 hours I connected with two new (prospective) clients. It became quite apparent that twitter is the place to be to engage with peers, clients and like-industry influencers and monitor the competition.

For those companies who want to connect with the mom-market, twitter is the mom-mecca of social networking. As long as you are honest, transparent and actively engaged in the community, you will experience significant results.

When I spoke to Annemarie Templeman-Kluit, founder of yoyomama.ca and yoyobelly.ca, about the impact twitter has had on her business, she cited twitter as one of the biggest referrers of website traffic (more than facebook, which they’ve been on for years). Her participation on twitter was also the reason she was recently interviewed by Canadian Family Magazine. “We've connected with people we would have never found any other way - we've connected across Canada with experts like Ann Douglas and Alyson Schafer, we've been interviewed by Canadian Parent Magazine about mums & technology, we've gotten advice on what we can do with kids with colds & coughs now you're not supposed to give them kids' cough medicine - and it's all thanks to twitter,” said Templeman-Kluit.

Twitter also provides a porthole into the lives of mom bloggers around the world. There’s no way anyone can read the thousands of mom blogs each and every day but with Twitter, you can get quick updates on the daily lives of some of the top mom bloggers, engage with them directly by relating to their mom-life trials and tribulations, send them congratulatory tweets when they win something, and support them by re-tweeting relevant posts to my own followers. That’s one of the best first steps into developing a relationship with these key mom influencers.

Also consider that most media outlets are on twitter, especially those specializing in the mom-market. Twitter is providing a foot-in-the-door to your next media pitch! Most of the outlets use a logo as an avatar(something that does irritate me but that’s for another post), which gives them the freedom to have multiple people tweet and participate in tweet-versations however, in the rare cases like with @yoyomama_van, you will see a photo of the person behind the tweets. In any case, you learn nuances of the editor, writer or researcher that are almost impossible to obtain unless you personally know them. You will learn what they like/dislike, their own daily struggles and how they like to engage with their followers. I have seen media tweet a call for people to be interviewed and products to be submitted. I've also seen companies subtly pitch Annemarie and receive a warm response. Note of warning: do not spam the media by sending them a link to a press release via twitter! Twitter is about learning, sharing, and engaging with your followers. If you spam, you will quickly be blocked or un-followed.

Twitter is easily the best business tool I have found to network with peers, clients, influencers and competition. It does require time and effort but so does any aspect in building a company/brand.

What’s stopping you? Get on Twitter today and when you do, send me a tweet @limelitepr

PS - Having trouble getting started, read this post on "Think like a Toddler and find your voice on Twitter", by Darren Rowse.

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.