Connecting With Millennial Moms to Create Opportunities

Rosemont, Ill. — Millennial moms differ from the generations before them in many ways, including how they shop both online and in-store, according to Julie Walker, senior consultant at The Mom Complex. They’re digitally savvy in everything they do, are proud of their flaws and are looking to marketers to give them ideas and solutions to make their crazy lives a bit more manageable.Speaking at the Path to Purchase Expo in September, Walker explained how brands should embrace these differences and change their thinking for this target, which controls 85% of all household purchases and holds hundreds of billions of dollars of spending power in their hands.She said today’s young moms are less apologetic about the reality of family life than any other generation, making it that much more important for companies to work with their product developers, brand teams, agencies and retailers to unmask the realities of motherhood. “Portray motherhood in an authentic way if you want to win with the Millennial moms,” she stressed.The Mom Complex approaches its research in non-traditional ways to dig deeper into what moms are thinking and what their struggles are. “If you just ask questions about what they do, they’ll tell you what they think is the right answer, but the reality is under the surface,” she said. “And there is a lot underneath that is very valuable for marketers and brands.”One method is “opinion parties” that a mom hosts at her home with friends. The company has found a lot of success in getting moms to talk in a more comfortable environment around others she knows. Another is the company’s digital ethnography Passion & Pain app. Typically 40 respondents nationwide participate in any given study, spending 10 days recording high and low moments. Finally, Maverick Mom workshops are innovation sessions in which brand teams and retailers work with moms, side by side. “It provides amazing inspiration for things we can actually do a better job of as marketers and product developers,” said Walker.So where are we today? Diversity is the new reality, she said. “There’s no such thing as a traditional family. You have to reflect that in your advertising.” Millennials see things in such a different way than what we see on TV or in any kind of media, and they are very quick to respond to authentic representations of family – of all kinds of family.What’s more is there is just that – so much more with Millennials. More than 76% of them are working women, but they also spend twice as much time with their kids, and dads spend six times more time than in the past. Also, 68% of moms feel pressure on social media to be perfect. “They don’t want to be perfect, but they feel like they’re being judged by other folks on their parenting decisions,” said Walker. “They have so many more fears today, whether it’s playing outside, sending their kids to school, food concerns or health concerns.” But the good news is dads are helping, too, and Millennials have redefined parenting as a team sport.Through its research, the company defined pain points that can turn into profits for your brands. “If you can actually get in and help lessen the pain for a mother – through any of your solutions, programming, products, etc. – there are profits to be had,” said Walker.She cautioned that marketers shouldn’t hide the hard parts in activation ideas and briefing other teams. “Look beneath the surface for creative briefs, activation briefs and shopper marketing programs, and touch on what it’s like to be mom.” There’s power in those pain points and in the difference in today’s modern family life.The more helpful companies are in solving those pain points, the more interest they’ll draw to their brands and shopper marketing programs, and the more successful they will be.

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