Jon Murray

Mar 13

[video]

Feb 26

Marketing to dads

Here’s some insights I found while researching the how to market to dads. (See previous post for moms.)

New Dads - Insights, by Google

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/infographics/new-dads-infographic/

• Dads feel ignored by baby product advertising that focuses only on the mom and baby.
• There are no recognizable “brands for dad.” Ads don’t even show dads in photos.
• Dads buy the big stuff (car seat, stroller, crib) and they want to dive into technical specs to find out why it’s safe.
• The role of dad feels uncertain in the first few months. Dads crave moments to connect with their baby and they want brands to help them do that. 
• Dads want to be more involved in feeding, diapering, and day to day care of babies and will look to blogs, websites, TV, books, and magazines for tips on how to become more involved.
• Dads think about the big steps in their baby’s life, rather than the day to day. They look at purchases in regards to their longevity.
• Dads buy for milestones like “first time at a game” or “first time riding a bike.” 
• Dads don’t have a website that speaks directly to them, even Amazon’s parenting section is called “Amazon Mom.”
• Dads choose products that allow them to express their love for their baby in creative ways. (Ex: Google Chrome commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk)

In Supermarkets, Dads Now Top Shoppers

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/176623/in-supermarkets-dads-now-top-shoppers.html#axzz2M2rZXEl0

• 52% of fathers identify themselves as the primary grocery store shopper 
  
• 35% of moms agree that moms have taken over shopping 
• Dads are slightly less likely to make a detailed shopping list (63% vs. 65% of moms)
• Dads are less likely to collect coupons or read circulars (56% vs. 62% moms)
• Dads are more likely to plan meals for the week ahead (52% vs 46%)
• Dads are significantly more likely to do background research on grocery products (24% vs. 11%)
• Dads are traditionalists in terms of media. Their top three channels for gathering information are:
• In-store promotions (57%)
• Advertising (50%)
• Newspapers/Magazines/Television (40%)
• 44% of dads surveyed use online sources

4 Tips to Better Market to Today’s Dad

http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/article/the-reinvention-mr-mom/1

• Dads are less likely to budget than moms 
• Dads reportedly spend 25% more on back to school shopping. Dads spend more if a product is “worth it.”
• Dads like to be seen as the expert, so make it easy for them to find the right information on their mobile devices at any time. Allow them to compare products on a mobile-friendly site.
• Include dad in the picture, literally. Dad’s want to be recognized for the key role they play in raising a child.

Digital Dads: I’m Not a Subsegment *2011

http://advertising.yahoo.com/article/digital-dads-im-not-a-subsegment.html

• 51% of dads are responsible for grocery shopping
• 41% are responsible for laundry
• 40% are responsible for house cleaning
• 39% are responsible for cooking

Dads are the primary decision maker:

• 60% for CPG products
• 55% for personal care products
• 54% for home goods
• 43% child and baby products

Key Takeaway: ”While moms may represent the sweet spot, dads are a ripe target for influence.”

What dads want from advertising:

• 68% of dads want more category information
• 61% of dads want an improved tone that makes them feel empowered
• 53% want to improve relevance to who they are as fathers
• 68% want ads to educate them
• Dads use their mobile phones for product research
• Twice as many dads say they have large social networks compared to men without children (49% vs 26%)

Targeting Dads: An Undervalued Market?

http://www.business2community.com/marketing/targeting-dads-an-undervalued-market-0283752

Marketing channels US Mom and Dad Internet Users Use to Gather Information on Grocery Purchases, May 2012

• In-store promotions: 69% moms, 57% dads
• Traditional media: 49% moms, 40% dads
• Advertising: 46% moms, 50% dads
• Word-of-mouth: 45% moms, 38% dads
• Direct mail: 19% moms, 24% dads
• Product website: 14% moms, 15% dads
• Online media: 12% moms, 18% dads
• Social Networks: 8% moms, 11% dads

• 59% of dads (15% more than moms) claimed that they used at least four information sources to make purchasing decisions.

Social and Digital Habits of Moms

Here are some stats I dug up while doing some work research:

Infographic: Moms Embrace Social Media, Smartphones

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404329,00.asp

• 54% of moms owns a smartphone
• 3 out of 4 mothers (or 27.9 million moms) visited Facebook in March 2012
• Half of the moms on Facebook access the site via mobile
• One out of every three bloggers is a mother
• Moms are 27 percent more likely to visit Google’s Blogger site and 16% more likely to visit Wordpress.com than the general population.
• Moms love Pinterest: Nearly 5 million American moms visit Pinterest
• Moms make up more than a third of Pinterest’s monthly unique visitors

Why Marketers Should Be Targeting Social Moms On Twitter And Facebook

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-moms_b30266

• 80% of moms use social media regularly with 90% of those moms having visited Facebook in the past 30 days, and 37% visiting Twitter over that same period.
• 42% of moms have made a purchase as a result of a recommendation on a social network
• 59% of moms recommend companies and brands via their social networks

Moms Are Biggest Brand Boosters on Facebook

http://mashable.com/2012/06/29/moms-most-influenced-brand-likes-on-facebook-infographic/

• 58% of moms follow or like brands on social media sites
• 2 in 3 moms learn about brands via “likes” from blogs, with moms and 18-34 year-olds particularly influenced by brand mentions. 
• 60% of blog readers say that a promotion by a blogger influences their purchase decisions online.
• 49% of moms are loyal to brands online
• Most common reason moms like brands online: To show support for it

Infographic: The Digital Lives of American Moms

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/digital-lives-of-american-moms/

• Moms are 61% more likely to visit Pinterest than the average American
• Moms are 38% more likely to become a fan of or follow brand online
• Moms are 27% more likely to visit Blogger than the US average
• 3 out of 4 moms visited Facebook in March 2012
• 50% of all moms actively participating in social media access the platforms via mobile as opposed to 37% for females overall
• 1 in 3 bloggers are moms
• 52% of bloggers are parents with kids under 18-years-old in their household

also via Nielsen.com:

Top 5 Family & Lifestyle sites for moms:

1. Pinterest: 4.9M

2. Disney Online: 4.8M

3. iVillage Network: 4.4M

4. WebMD 4.2M

5. Everyday Health 3.8M

Top 5 Social Networks and Blogs among moms:

1. Facebook: 72.5% (27.9M)

2. Blogger: 24.3% (9.3M)

3. Twitter: 14.1% (5.4M)

4. Wordpress: 10.8% (4.1M)

5. Tumblr: 8.3% (3.1M) 

Moms and Media 2012: The Connected Mom

http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2012/05/moms-and-media-2012-the-connected-mom.php

• 72% of moms had a Facebook account in 2012 (up from 62% in 2011)
• 46% of moms visit social networks several times per day

Babble’s Top 100 Mom Blogs of 2012: 
http://www.babble.com/mom/top-100-mom-blogs/

Feb 21

(via Google Street Scene)

Google street view of some famous movie scenes. 

Feb 19

The New York Times Insights - The Psychology of Sharing -

Here’s a nice deck released by the New York Times last year that is worth a read-through if you’re interested in encouraging more sharing in your community. It’s from February 2012 and not too much has changed. 

A few handy notes that I jotted down:

Six Personas of Online Sharers

Segments are defined by: 

• Emotional motivations 
• Desired presentation
• Role of sharing in life
• Value of being first to share

1. Altruists: Helpful, reliable, E-mail, thoughtful, connected “Sending along a nutrition article to a friend with health issues.”
2. Careerists: LinkedIn, Valuable, Intelligent, Network, “Sharing business interests and exchanging ideas to improve a companies offerings to our customers.”
3. Hipsters: Less likely to E-mail, cutting edge, creative, identity, young, popular, “Sharing is a part of who I am.”
4. Boomerangs: Reaction, validation, empowered, Twitter, Facebook, “When I post controversial things, it makes me look engaged and provocative, and I want to be perceived that way. If I don’t get a response then I know I’ve missed my mark.”
5. Connectors: Creative, relaxed, thoughtful, making plans, E-mail, Facebook, “I got a deal to the bar at the Gansevoort Hotel E-mailed to me. I forwarded it to a bunch of friends and we turned it into a girls night out.”
6. Selectives: Resourceful, careful, thoughtful, informative, E-mail, “I only share things with someone specific if I think they will enjoy it. If they aren’t relevant to the material, there is no point in sharing it with them. 

Key factors to influence sharing:

1. Appeal to consumers’ motivation to connect with each other, not just with your brand.
2. Trust is the cost of entry for getting shared.
3. Keep it simple and it will get shared and it won’t get muddled.
4. Appeal to their sense of humor.
5. Embrace a sense of urgency.
6. Getting your content shared is just the beginning
7. E-mail is still #1

Download this presentation here.

Jan 31

[video]

Jan 29

Will Twitter’s Vine app take off?

It only makes sense that the next evolution of short message sharing should go from text (Twitter) to photo (Instagram) to video (Vine). For some reason though, short video sharing phase seems to have trouble getting any traction. While apps like Cinemagr.Am and Flixel aren’t technically video, they’re animated so I consider them “video with training wheels.” Those apps are fun, but I don’t see many of my friends using them. The classic Google+ problem.

When I fired up the Vine app, I noticed the same thing. Only a couple of my early adopter buddies were on there and no one seemed to be sharing anything. I do struggle with the idea of short video sharing in a Twitter/Instagram-like feed as I tend to fly through streams, looking at each Tweet or photo for maybe 3 seconds. With video, I’d need to stop, watch, maybe listen? I dunno. I have things to do.

Well, the Vine app makes this a little more interesting. It actually feels very similar to Snapchat, in that you hold your finger to the screen to shoot video, and release your finger when you want to stop. However, in Vine, you can press your finger again and record more video of something else, and you can do this until you’ve filled up 6 seconds of video. I tried it out by grabbing some video of a few coworkers. Coworkers love being filmed.

A couple issues have popped up that has Vine in the headlines, for better or worse. There’s the Facebook problem and the porn problem. Where should we start? Porn.

A couple days ago, if you were to say, search for the #porn tag on Vine you would get an eye full, or maybe less than an eye-full depending on which jerk had posted his junk that day. I did another search this morning, in the name of research, and while there are still Johnsons to be found, there seems to be fewer dongs and more people just remixing porn clips from the web.

The Facebook problem seems boring in comparison, but let’s cover it quick. Twitter and Facebook, being the heavyweights of the Social Media world, tend not to get along. One of the handiest parts of downloading new social apps nowadays is that you can connect with your Facebook account and immediately start looking at your friends’ shares. Well Facebook has blocked that functionality so that you cannot see which of your Facebook friends are using Vine. That leaves you with your Twitter friends. So now you’re stuck with following those people.

Whatever, Facebook. Vine is a fun app, AND it has porn. Win-Win. Vine enables our short attention span generations to create a little cinematic piece and share it with the world. Within one Vine post you can:

• Open on your face
• Cut to a sandwich
• Cut to a closeup of your eyes getting wider
• Cut to the sandwich shivering in fear
• Cut to a shot of you licking your lips
• Cut to a crumb-filled plate

Oh man I would watch that over and over. 5 stars.

See you on the Vine (uh, iPhone users.)

Originally posted on LA Snark

Sep 15

#DumDumGirls #LALobsterFest (Taken with Instagram at Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival 2012)

Jul 23

cinemagr.am (Taken with Cinemagram)

Jul 18

#lettherebedragons (Taken with Instagram at Arcana: Books on the Arts)