Influential Interactive Marketing

The Perfect Handbag

For a woman, the perfect handbag is an illusion worth chasing.  Handbags are not functionality, they are an expression of style and personality.  As a result, they are almost sacred.  From my numerous voluntary (and involuntary) discussions on the subject with many women, I have uncovered that there are five brands of handbags that are truly worth owning ... Prada, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry.  Unlike other elements of a woman's wardrobe, individuality is not rewarded here.  When people recognize your purse, know the maker and perhaps even have one of their own, that's a good thing.  What is most startling about this world of handbags, though, is how uniformly ugly they are (um, that would be my opinion, not what the women said of course).  The Louis Vuitton bags are a muddy brown color covered with clip-art style icons in a checkered pattern.  They are quite possibly the ugliest piece of accessory or luggage I have ever seen ... and everyone wants one.  The Burberry bags all look like their equally popular line of scarves, with plaid checks and a tan color so well recognized on their products, Crayola should rename it "Burberry Tan."

But despite my dislike or other's like of these designs, surely design cannot account for their immense popularity.  There is something more at work here.  As Tom Ford, former designer at Gucci said, "If a bag is attractive, it makes you feel good by default.  It's all about proportion, shape, line, finish, fabric, balance.  If all of that is pleasing it will sell.  More than that, it's like you've gotta have it or you'll die."  Fake or real, handbags are a must have -- more important even, than shoes to accessorize a woman's wardrobe.  Why?  Because handbags are more closely tied to a woman's aspirational personality than another other piece of fashion.  It is an expression of what group you want to be considered part of - but you have to choose a group.  In handbags, you don't start your own group.  As a result, handbags are a testament to the old mass market view where we all fit a demographic.

Contrast this with a woman's experience online, where she can choose how her screen appears, what her username will tell others about her, what photos to post online to create herself, and how to build a virtual identity.  Many women have vibrant online personalities, each unique and distinctive.  Online, individuality is awarded and celebrated.  But individuality is often at odds with the desire to belong to a group.  Most will agree it's tough to stand out and fit in all at once.  So perhaps there is room for both - and there is a place for the aspirational mass personality.  If only it wasn't symbolized by such ugly handbags. 

Read On - Why Print Magazines will Survive

I have been involved in enough campaigns to know that I am not my target audience.  Now that I have passed from my 20s into the 30s, I can no longer claim to understand teenagers and get away with it.  But just because I am not the target audience doesn't mean there isn't a value in getting into the mind of that audience.  Being an interactive marketing person, I love the Internet and use it all the time for research.  But for a full immersion in a new world, even I have to admit there is nothing like a magazine (a conclusion being marketed right now by the Readon campaign from the MPA - graphic at left). 

In an interview in the recent issue of MediaPost's Media Magazine, Niche Media Publisher and CEO Jason Binn has strong words in support of magazines:

We're not billboards.  We're not radio or broadcast or cable.  You want to reach a lot of people and connect with nobody, go buy those.  With magazines, you're buying into a world.

It's the same argument that I have usually used to support the power of the Internet - quite simply because it offers the most relevance in reaching the right audience.  But this idea of a world being signified through the content of niche print publications is real.  Could I have told you Delta and Kohler are two major faucet manufacturers before starting the process of redecorating a home and purchasing home design magazines?  Not likely.  Afterwards, I'm a whole lot smarter with far less wasted time hunting and gathering (a perennial down-side to Internet research).  The point is that even an Internet professional can sometimes find the best resources in niche magazines to really understand a target audience.  Now there's a conclusion you don't see on many interactive marketing blogs.

Online Moms and Travel Booking Online

On my way to a meeting in New York yesterday for a client in the travel industry, I started to consider the convergence of research reports that I have seen recently on both moms and travel booking online.  A Disney-commissioned audience segmentation I read some time ago noted the following key segments of moms:

• "Tech Nesters" (32%) - Web-saavy stay at home moms who feel the Internet has brought their family closer together, and visit websites with their kids (though they are also protective of what their kids do online).
• "Mrs. Net Skeptic" (31%) - Stay at home mom who is skeptical of the Internet and very protective of her kids going online and does not allow a lot of freedom.  Likely to focus on family activities and feels rules and disciple are important.
• "The Yes Mom" (15%) - Married or divorced moms that are also working, particularly in executive or managerial roles.  Likely to grant kids a lot of freedom when it comes to the Internet and does not know what she would do without the Internet. 
• "Passive Under Pressure Mom" (22%) - Likely to be divorced or single and stretched far too thin regarding responsibilities at home and at work.  Protective of kids use of the Internet, but more likely to be preoccupied with other things to be too concerned about the Internet all together.

Further conclusions drawn from this analysis can be read in the transcript of an Ad-Tech interview with Ken Goldstein, EVP and Managing Director of Disney Online.

For our clients in the travel and other industries looking to target moms, we have already started to take the next step beyond this segmentation of moms by attitudes to the Internet and focus more on Moms as influencers.  Word of mouth marketing has huge applications for this audience ... a fact that companies like BuzzAgent can attest to based on the composition of their members (BuzzAgent is more than 70% female and more than 50% are married with kids). 

The recent phenomenon of targeting these "Alpha Moms" even has support through a new TV network that focuses on providing content for moms that are described on the site as "mavens of mommyhood."  Coupled with the strong growth of online use among moms, as well as the recent reports about email's potency as a way to reach moms ... identifying the right influencers in online communities could be the strongest single tactic for connecting with moms that are in the midst of making their families travel plans for the next big vacation.

Lessons in Online Marketing to Busy Moms

MarketingSherpa released a case study today about how Gymboree revised their website to better meet the needs of busy moms shopping for children's clothing online.  Some interesting lessons in here for any campaign targeting moms, including:

• Moms are multi-tasking at certain times of the day - "moms are so busy that they're hopping online as they're getting breakfast for the kids (the site shows a major spike in traffic at that time), during the early afternoon when kids are eating lunch/napping (another spike), or after bedtime."
• Don't ask too much, but do ask - Gymboree used a single question popup on their site asking "What one thing would you change on our Web site?" - sacrificing data collection for responses ... and they got them.
• Popups do work (gasp!) - When [the Gymboree] team realized that Google wasn't allowing ads linking to the home page due to the pop, they changed the offer to a banner-style ad on the site. "We definitely got more response when it was a popup," she said. "It didn't bother people because it was just one question."
• Make the user experience faster - Probably a no-brainer, but they did pay attention to the tasks that were taking moms the longest (entering sizes, finding pieces to match outfits, etc.) and then made these easier.  Lesson: it's not just the shopping cart that you need to make easy to use.
• Listen to moms and let them contribute - Having an easy to find feedback link on each page titled "Gymboree Listens" has had a great effect on helping them to build a dialogue and community with their users.  It's the same principle iVillage, BabyCenter, and AllRecipes have built their sites on ...

The article is available for open access at MarketingSherpa until June 10th - http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2998

Statistics about Parents & Moms Online

Below is a list of helpful resources all about parents online, including who they are and how to reach them:

Report on Parents Online - published in 2002 from Pew Internet

Child and Family Web Guide - List of resources online compiled by researchers at Tufts University (primarily about child development)

Purchasing power of Moms - Stats on the purchasing power of moms, straight from Babycenter.com

Mom's and Technology Use - Stats on Mom's and technology use

80% of Moms use the Internet to save time - Lots of great information and stats from an extensive survey about Moms' use of the Internet, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for America Online in 2004.

Bugaboo markets strollers online to parents

While in New York this weekend, I passed an interesting bus stop poster with a picture of a unique looking baby stroller, and the URL http://www.bugaboodaytrips.com - nothing else.  As a new parent, I buy the same crap all parents do.  Graco stroller, Baby Bjorn, those new plastic baby food containers (because glass jars are soooo 2004).  Yep, unlike any other time in my life that I can remember, I'm a total sucker.  Most new parents are.  Because we're amateurs.  Ask any parent of older kids or multiple kids ... they laugh at us.  And we all know single people laugh harder - watching us struggle with all this stuff.  Parents don't travel light.   Except in Sex in the City, apparently.

The site promises to offer ideas for parents "who want to spend an inspiring day with their child that does not include eating sweets or watching Shrek for the 322nd time." The site has printable PDF downloads for the urban parent - venues like Chinatown in NYC and the historic canals of Amsterdam.  Having gone through Chinatown earlier today with our normal amateur stroller - it was rough in places.  And their site made me want one, for when I happen to be walking around Dublin, or Edinburgh, or LA.  It's an aspirational luxury item.  Perfect for marketing on the web.  Even though I know I'd only use it for a few months before my kid outgrows it ... $700 bucks doesn't seem so bad.  Ok, I guess I'm still a sucker.