Reviews From The Radio

Here you’ll find items for moms (or any woman really!) - some are friends of the SV Moms Blog, and some items are from the blog moms themselves.  From funky ice cream sandwich molds (I am getting these!) to mesh baby slings, all are favs!

Every mom that blogs thinks about this topic. Even more marketers and advertising agencies are compiling statistics about it. Those of us involved in the social media curve talk about it. One thing everyone has realized across the board is it is not business as usual. I’m sure I’m not adding too much to the conversation, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

The more you read the more you realize that there is no one way to pigeon hole females that have reproduced and control $2.1 trillion dollars in the US economy alone. I’m not going to start listing bullet points of who we are, what we spend, or what we are interested in. Google “marketing to moms” and you will find plenty. What I’m more interested in is HOW they** craft television commercials, magazine print ads, website banner ads or even sneak into blogs. It’s the creativeness of pulling out our insecurities and weaknesses in order to purchase a product that I find interesting. The products are the same more or less, and as a mom our needs are still the same - we need things that get our family fed, healthy, & happy, things that save us time, money, & our sanity. How they** represent these products & get the message out is changing. Why is the message changing?

Decades ago mothers were represented in the media as these perfectly dressed-with-pearls, stay at home moms who whip up wholesome meals for their kids and have a newspaper and slippers ready for their traveling salesman husband. The thought of that makes me dry heave. That’s not what my mother or grandmother was. They are real women, just like me. Different backgrounds, educations, life situations, but our needs and goals are the same. PROVIDE FOR OUR FAMILIES. We want the best way to do that, and products to help us. I want to see advertising and products for the ‘everywoman’, someone like me. How do marketers do it since I can’t be stereotyped?

Besides wanting to find products that actually fit my lifestyle and family, they** have to come talk to me where I hang out (blogs, podcasts, Target, Shoprite - the liquor store on a bad day). And not talk to me when/where I want to be left alone. Even a great product and ad will tick me off if presented at the wrong time or place. I mean, can you imagine informercial ads on plasma screens for life insurance at a funeral home? Just sayin’…

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now, and I’ve really taken notice of the advertising around me. Some stuff really resonates with me, some makes me laugh, and some is downright insulting. Two that I’ve noticed (for the better)…

Zyrtec - I’ll get “2 hours I didn’t have before” just by taking their drug. Wow, I don’t even have indoor/outdoor allergies and I’m tempted to pop a pill! Now this 30 second spot isn’t marketed to ‘moms’ per se, but come on, what mom couldn’t use another 2 hours in their life? Do allergies really steal 10% of my time? No, but Zyrtec is the only allergy med out there that I remember, mostly because I want my 2 hours back dammit! On further inspection of their website, I can join Zyrtopia and get more information about my allergies. Or maybe they will give me ideas on what to do with my extra 2 hours.

Suave - Non-size 2 moms (hurray for women with hips!) with mismatched clothes and ponytails and kids at their feet. (Were they following me around?) Let’s hear it for a makeover in a bottle that takes only a few minutes. I personally love this set of advertising because they break with the conventional views of women’s appearance. Their website is forward-thinking too, so I’ll be trying out their products. I’ll let you know if my hair turns into a 5-minutes-to-sexy-mom hairdo.

What ads have you seen lately that hit home with you or totally pissed you off?

Technorati Tags: marketing to moms, marketing, women, family, zyrtec, suave, mommy blog

**aka the big huge advertising cogs working for the big huge corporations trying to sell stuff

Originally posted at Lynette Radio

How exciting, right? Hell yeah it is (for me)! Like I mentioned in the last post, for Valentine’s Day my husband got me a new cell phone. It’s a HTC Mogul on Sprint and it’s *sexy*. I swore I’d never call a piece of technology sexy, but it fits! The only thing I need to get to work better is the sync between my MacBook Pro and the Windows Mobile 6 OS on the phone. I use a product called Missing Sync, but it has a little way to go to be ‘great’. Also, the WM6 won’t run .EXE files or pretty much anything else (so I need to use .CAB files directly) because M$ thinks we are all stupid and may actually install a program that we really need to use. So far I’ve gotten Skype to work (not tried voice yet), IM, Twitter, my work & Google email, Google Maps, and a few other vital apps for me. As a geeky, on-the-go mom, this phone totally rocks. The thing really is a mini-laptop.

We were seriously loosing faith in Sprint because of their lack of cool phones. We both signed on with Sprint in our area before they had hardly any cell towers in this section of the state, and we’ve both stuck with them through multiple 2-year contracts - 11+ years to be exact. Who stays with a cell company that long, especially now that you can bring your number with you when you swap? Their data/texting plan is great, and because we both use a lot of both, Sprint makes the most sense for us. Let me tell you, AT&T and the iPhone was very tempting for me, but we stayed with Sprint even after a few MAJOR faux pas with billing and customer service. This phone has totally redeemed Sprint in my eyes.

Now I’m on the hunt for a Blue Tooth headset - any suggestions? I normally shop Amazon, especially for the reviews, but most headsets in my price range (under $40) have reviews all over the map. I’d prefer a headset that can charge from a mini-USB port (not take batteries) and that sounds great. The fit is important too, as I’m seeing that women tend to like one set of headsets, and men another.

On that note, I’ve been wondering for awhile now how one becomes an ‘official’ mommy-blogger that gets cars to test drive and BT headsets to try? I’ve got to have some sort of connection in the blogosphere to get me hooked up with some advertisers!! I was thinking about splitting/copying off all my parent/kid related posts here and starting a mommy-specific blog, but not sure it’s worth the extra upkeep at this point.

Technorati Tags: missing sync, blue tooth, headset, sprint, mogul, mommy blogger

Originally posted at Lynette Radio