“There is no one mom.”
Those were the words that Dick van Motman, Gobal President of Dentsu Brand Agencies used in his introduction of Advertising Week speaker, Merlee Jayme.
For years now, we have been trying to understand the psyche of millennials. What makes them so unique is that they have grown up at the same time digital media was growing up so their connection to the digital world and the millennial world is very strong. But marketers seem to have a hard time getting into how to understand them. Merlee Jayme heads Dentsu’s MamaLab, a specialist agency by moms for moms, in Asia Pacific and she helps break it down for the audience at #AWAsia 2018.
Beyond the millennials are the momillenials – mid 20’s-30’s. 1 out of every 5 moms is a millennial. Last year in the United States 90% of 1.5 million are new mothers. Millennial moms are the more balanced versions then the baby boomer moms and the GenX moms who were primarily “helicopter moms”
Momillenials have so much information available to them at any given time that their OWN moms are usually the last to get asked anything. For example, they are in stores with their moms buying a TV. The older mom knows it’s a great TV because they have one, but daughters will go right to their phones to research and check reviews. They are big on social media obviously but in Japan not so much on Facebook. Sometimes Momillenials need to have a disconnect. Why? Because by putting all of yourself and your family out there it leaves so much more room for judging.
Which leads us to what do Momillenials hate? They hate being judged. They hate it when marketers think they are dumb when it comes to technology they also hate the hard sell ad. Moms are very authentic and can tell when something is being pushed on them or if things are fake. They also don’t like it when marketers don’t do the research and go all out for their needs.
They do like new things and when marketers take the time to research new gadgets. They are always in search of creative engagement. It’s no longer just about the product, they are looking for the experience to go along with it. It’s so different from older times when you see moms on TV and they don’t have the experience to go along with purchasing the product.
Rachel Spiegelman came up with ‘Assistive Parenting’ – holding the hands of your kids leading them to the path of success. Of course momillenials are going to look at their screens more. Before you go and judge them you have to understand it’s because they treat the phone as a life assistant. It’s the source of advice, of solutions, it’s the source of discount coupons.
Marketers need to do a better job getting into the psyche of the moms – after all, they are raising the future.