Mom Central Consulting

The Mom-Borg Collective: Resistance is Futile!

Here at SXSW during a panel discussion yesterday lead in part by Peter Shankman (@skydiver), Shankman warned the crowd and brands tuning in to “Beware the Mom-Borg Collective.” And I took issue: 

Shankman says, it’s a complement. Really?

 

The “Mom Borg-Collective”? A compliment?

For any non-Trekkies among us, the Borg had one collective mind, one collective voice, and assimilated any alien cultures in their path. They would issue forth a warning to the population of an encroaching world in the path of their ominous black ship, “Resistance is futile! Prepare to be Assimilated!” Each individual Borg was called a drone, had no ability to think independently, and received commands from the central collective headed by the Queen Borg.

They represented the ultimate threatening invading force and alien enemy, conquering all in their path. The Borg had no desire for negotiation or reason, only to assimilate and move on, and thus posed the greatest known threat to the Federation.

So in Shankman’s theory, Brands become the Federation. Moms as Borgs become powerful brand detractors who can wreck havoc on a brand in their path - as in beware getting the unleashed the power of the Mom Borg focused on your missteps or miscommunications. Case in point from Shankman’s view: the Motrin Moms incident where Mom twitterers and bloggers rose up to protest babywearing ads and rapidly shut them down.

After a heated debate over Moms as Borgs, with photos captured by KD Paine @kdpaine

 

 

 

...Shankman and I buried the so-called Borg hatchet- caught on his camera as proof that the Mom-Borg hit on him should be called off:

Where does that leave us?

There’s no doubt that there’s no hiding from irate Moms. Case in point: what is currently happening with Nick and Mattel’s newly launched version of Dora as a tween 10-year-old where Moms felt the initial release looked too grown-up, with a too shapely figure and scanty clothes. Moms wanted a more wholesome image and looks like that’s exactly what will happen. Here’s the Salon take, “After the Dora Uproar, Nick and Mattel soothed Moms.”

So what’s a social media dude like Shankman, who created a great, but completely unrelated free service linking journalists to folks with answers, know about us Moms?

Most of the power of Moms online has seen in igniting us as brand enthusiasts. We love engaging conversations and sharing with each other tidbits about the products about which we feel passionate and that have made a positive difference in the everyday fabric of our lives or those of our kids and family. Thus the rush by brands to capture Moms’ attention: especially in terms of Mom influencers (Mom bloggers, website owners and editors, community leaders, forum leaders…the list goes on and on). As a viral word of mouth and social media consultancy, Mom Central Consulting has worked with over 150 national brands on Moms activating the Mom demographic: our slideshare deck. We have learned through running these campaigns that the key to engaging Moms proves getting them into the loop of a new product launch, valuing and listening their candid opinions and feedback, and finding those passionate about it to use their Sphere of Influence (SOI) to rapidly spread the word- thus driving both online activity and offline sales.

Perhaps a better slogan for the power of Moms online comes from Star Wars:

"May the Force Be with You!"

Current Economic Recession Significantly Affects Moms

In March 2009, Mom Central Consulting surveyed nearly 1200 Moms from around the country about the impact of the recession on their families. For the entire report please click here.

We learned: 

Moms are cutting back:

• Nearly 75% of Moms are cutting back spending on their children, while 26% say they’re making significant cuts.

Moms are teaching fiscal responsibility:

• 24% of Moms say their children think that money “grows on trees," and 71% say they expect their kids to work to earn spending money.

Moms are stressed and anxious in these difficult economic times:

• 32% of Moms are worried about the economy or their job stability.

How are they saving money and tightening budgets?

• 84% no longer eat out
• 76% no longer buy items for themselves
• 57% stopped going to the movies
• 56% forgo extravagant gifts on holidays/birthdays
• 49% have cut back on groceries
• 37% no longer take big family vacations

What are the top stressors for Moms?

• 66% say they feel stress from trying to save money in general
• 56% are stressed from trying to pay house bills
• 44% are stressed from trying to pay grocery bills

How are Moms teaching their tweens/teens about fiscal responsibility?

• 81% encourage them to “price shop” before buying to get the best value
• 72% shop at discounted stores
• 53% rent movies at home instead of going out
• 49% of Moms have opened a savings account for their tweens/teens
• 23% encourage them to carpool, walk, use public transport or ride their bikes
• 9% have given their kids debit instead of credit cards.

What do Moms consider the top 7 key habits to learning fiscal responsibility?

• 84% learning to save
• 83% appreciate with you have instead of what you want
• 81% recycle or donate old items
• 80% find ways of having fun that are not expensive
• 75% use coupons
• 73% appreciate the value of a dollar
• 71% work to earn spending money

Want to see the entire report?  Please click here.

For additional information, please contact Tracey Hope-Ross at tracey@momcentral.com

More Than Just a Phone: Cell Phones Keep Moms Connected

For busy Moms, a cell phone can be more than just another gadget. Many Moms see their cell phones as a necessity, a lifeline to their families, friends and children.

Mom Central's research team surveyed 1400 Moms with cell phones to reveal how Moms are staying connected in an increasingly busy world.

Moms are using cell phones for more than just calls:

• 84% of Moms use their cell phones to take pictures, 42% do so several times a week or more.
• 81% of Moms use text messaging, 35% do so every day.
• 37% of Moms access their email through their cell phones.
• 35% download music using their phones, 19% do so several times a week.
• 27% use their phones to access social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
• 57% use their phone to browse the internet, though only 10% do so on a daily basis.

Moms connect with friends and family differently depending on who they're communicating with:

• 40% of Moms text message their friends several times a week, while slightly fewer (38%) text message their partners with that frequency.
• 64% of Moms of teenage children text them once a week, while only 32% of Moms of tweens text them that frequently.

Want to see the entire report?  For additional information, please contact Tracey Hope-Ross at tracey@momcentral.com

How Do Moms Feel About Their Cars?

 

Between running errands, trips to the grocery store, and dropping the kids off at practices, meets, and recitals, many Moms are full-fledged road warriors. We asked over 1,100 Moms about their driving habits and how their cars make them feel. Here are some of the highlights:

• Nearly 75% of Moms consider their car "messy" or "very messy."
• 45% of Moms consider their car a reflection of themselves.
• Nearly 40% of Moms would rather other adults didn't see their car's mess, and 26% say they are embarrassed by their car's messiness.
• 35% of Moms spend between 6 and 20 hours per week running errands in their cars. Commuting and driving children to and from activities are also responsible for much of Moms' time spent in the car.

Moms Are Changing the Face of Micro-blogging

 

The power of Moms on Twitter was revealed this November when an ad for the pain reliever Motrin connected babywearing with back pain. Many Moms were offended by the ad's perceived snarky tone. Using Twitter to spread the word, hundreds of Moms voiced their displeasure, which resulted in the ad being pulled and an apology from the brand.

Mom Central's research team surveyed 327 Moms who use Twitter to reveal how and why Moms are flocking to the popular micro-blogging site. The report reveals that Moms are not only tuned in to micro-blogging, but recognize it as a vehicle for empowerment.

They expect brands to meet them where they are online. And while there they expect brands to follow the rules of the road:

• 69% would be affected by a brand or company's inappropriate or poor use of Twitter.
• 64% of Moms follow at least one brand on Twitter
  • 30% follow three brands
• 51% have a better perception of companies that use Twitter for customer service.
• 49% feel brands should engage them on Twitter.
• 48% would be more willing to use a product or service from a company who used Twitter.

Moms connect with friends, family and one another through multiple social media sites, not only Twitter. In January 2009, Mom Central surveyed nearly 2,000 Moms, illuminating their overall web habits.  We learned:

• 60% of Moms are active on Facebook
• 40% are active on MySpace
• 39% are active on Yahoo Groups
• 37% use YouTube
• 25% have their own blog
• 14% use Flickr

CES with Panasonic!

With much excitement I will be attending the CES conference in Vegas this year from January 8th – 10th as part of the Panasonic team! Joining me will be an impressive and eclectic group, all gurus in their own spaces, including Chris Brogan, Melissa Pierce, Steve Garfield, and Cliff Ravenscraft. A little more about all of them:

Chris Brogan
I get to give Chris Brogan another hug- after all he has been declared by some to be the mayor of Twitter! Kind of Obama for us social media addicts. One of the best conference speakers I have listened to and an all-around great guy who loves connecting people. Just started sailing his own pirate ship.
Web: http://www.chrisbrogan.com
Twitter: @chrisbrogan

Steve Garfield
Fellow Bostonian and amazingly nice guy! Steve is a video blogging pioneer (started in 2004 as the first video blogger) and citizen journalist who produces several personal vlogs and contributes to media outlets such as CNN iReport and Rocketboom. Steve teaches at Boston University at the College of Communications and love that he does Qik videos from his classroom.
Web: http://stevegarfield.com (good interview on his About Me page)
Twitter: @stevegarfield

Melissa Pierce
Melissa is a creative coach and documentary filmmaker, currently working on her own independent film Life In Perpetual Beta. Love that she always has kids running under feet during conference calls, fellow Moms braving the social media waters. Life In Perpetual Beta is “a documentary about authenticity and the creative process, that asks the question: Is the planned life worth living?”
Web (Life In Perpetual Beta): http://lifeinperpetualbeta.com
Web (personal blog): http://www.melissapierce.com
Twitter: @melissapierce

Cliff Ravenscraft - Cincinnati
Cliff is a full-time podcaster, whose GSPN network produces nearly two dozen podcasts including series devoted to Hannah Montana, LOST, Heroes and other popular television shows. Committed to building a community where relationships are formed and built upon shared passions. Runs GSPN along with his wife.
Web: http://www.gspn.tv
Blog: http://www.ravenscraft.org
Twitter: @gspn

Convening this group and joining us at CES is a core team of Crayon, a dynamic marketing company working virtually from Boston, Westport, and New York.

Joseph Jaffe
President & Chief Interruptor, author of Life After the 30-Second Spot and Join the Conversation, and popular marketing blogger/podcaster
Web: http://www.jaffejuice.com
Twitter: @jaffejuice

Greg Verdino
Crayon’s Chief Strategy Officer, marketing blogger
Web: http://www.gregverdino.com
Twitter: @gregverdino

As a guest with Panasonic I will blog, vlog, and twitter about the CES conference. In addition I’ll attend Panasonic’s latest announcements and get a firsthand look at all of the company’s newest products (and even get to try out some like their new HD Camcorder!). So look for some cool pictures, video, and blogs from behind the scenes. The Panasonic team dinner on Wednesday night will also offer us a great chance to sit down with Panasonic leadership and hear more about of all the amazing things they have going on. Particularly of interest to me is their focus this coming year on families living in HD, part of an ongoing community effort.

Key invite: Friday night, January 9th, Panasonic hosts a Tweetup that you are invited to attend. I will keep everyone updated on where the event will be held so that you can come join us. To keep up with live happenings like this at CES, check #LiHD on twitter.

If you are going to CES, let me know so we can meet-up! I’ll need some friendly faces in the sea of people that populate the often-crowded and never-ending booths of this vast conference.

TJMaxx Blogger Retreat

15 fashionistas hit the campus buildings of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in Boston today, along with one not-as-fashionable Mom Blogger (me) for a corporate blogger retreat. OK, I have to start by confessing that I am a card carrying member. Of their Visa that is, and for the past fifteen years: thanks to monthly $20 merchandise coupons. So I guess that makes me a passionista?! So with that biased perspective in mind, I arrived at the sprawling modern red-brick and sleek glass campus of TJX headquarters.

So what does Marshalls and T.J.Maxx most want us Moms to know? Here’s what Karen Coppola, Senior VP of Marketing has to say (to the extent my fast typing could keep up with her energetic pace and passion), “We get talked about in the discount bucket of retailers: which can be negative, because while we get associated with great value, people also tend to think cheap goods when they think discount. But in reality we carry the quality and labels of Macy, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales at discount prices. Granted you have to have fashion confidence to shop at our stores: unlike someone dressing you and picking perfect accessories at a boutique or department store. It’s all about discovery of great brands. Most people do not realize we carry amazing brands, and you can find the labels you love to find. Where you find $24.99 blouse at Target, it was manufactured to sell at this price. Whereas our $24.99 blouse was manufactured to sell around $70. We are even very conservative in our compare prices on our tags on the clothing. We want to be believable.” When I asked her how she would describe her brand in one line, Karen offers up: “Quality goods at the best prices on the planet.”

Shares lawyer and skeptical fashion blogger Stephanie Rahlfs of Stiletto Jungle: “I look for high quality goods when I shop, so I had not shopped your stores as I thought it was lower quality goods. And first thing I saw when I went in to the check out the store in anticipation of this blogger retreat was $200 Theory top for $70. Who knew?!”

So the blogger day unfolds with a focus on shifting the brand perception of Marshalls and TJX.

Next up, a PowerPoint presentation by Laura McDowell, Manager of Media Relations and behind-the-scenes of off-price retailing. Some facts I found cool:

• Their stores get 10,000 new items each week. That why the old TJMaxx logo was “Never the same place twice.” This rapidly changing assortment is a key differentiator for them.
• Their buyers shop the world, with over 10,000 merchants in 60 countries. From Italy to Hong Kong to Morocco to Africa to hand-milled soaps in Provence. All merchandise, food and perfumes come direct from vendor. Some fragrances like Holston, which they no longer sell in the department stores, but they work with the vendor to produce the product. It’s all first time to retail.  NOT cast-offs (which I must confess I sort of assumed).
• How do they do it? Opportunistic buying. Flexible stores and flexible pricing; a department store just cancelled an order, or I am doing a 80,000 run for Macy’s and can run an extra 20,000 for you. Buyers craft deals directly from the manufacturers, and have huge buying power with over 1,600 stores.
• Moreover, unlike department stores that reserve the right to return unsold merchandise, TJMaxx and Marshall’s own all their merchandise, and as featured in Business Week they pay on time- apparently a rarity in the fashion industry.
• All of which leads to their treasure hunt experience. Who knows what Italian pottery or designer jeans arrived at the stores today. As a result, business has been up since this summer.

Characteristics of their shoppers: 25 to 54 years old, middle to upper middle income, shops high end department ad specialty stores, loves value positive outlook on life, creative, imaginative, open-minded exploratory, classic and trendy. Ummm…I now begin to understand my TJX passionta roots. Sort of a personality mapping test. Wanted a copy of the PowerPoint slide to show my husband of twenty-one years to explain my character roots and demystify my TJX allegiance. 

Now comes game time: can you guess the price of this merchandise? One item at a time, with bloggers guessing the price from a Michael Kors evening dress to pearl bracelets to American Eagle sweatshirts. Closest without going over wins the item. And all I can say is that these fashionistas clearly shop a lot and know their prices!

Michale Macmillan, President of T.J.Maxx and Marshall’s stores, then shares in his faint Scottish brogue about 23 years of experience and vision going forward from shoes to beauty. Michael shares, “The key to our company is excess merchandise. We found out that beauty industry throws out merchandise not sold once packaging changes. We’ll buy that, we’re not proud! It’s an opportunity for us. Same product, just different look. From hair to skin care to spa products, with many more to come.” So Look out DSW and Sephora! Michael’s passion: improving client service: from perceived sloppy shopping experience due to disorganization in the store or having to shop with your hands, picking through racks, rather than shopping with your eyes. Also- how better get the right goods to the right stores in the right season, accommodating different shopping preferences from Dallas to Chicago.

Intriguing observation: I was the only blogger there with a laptop. Not fashionable for the fashionista? A Mom tendency to type and twitter as we go? Will have to mull this one over. Any thoughts about why?

We next had a splurge or steal fashion show: could we tell the department store outfit from its virtual twin outfit picked up a TJX.

But wait…there’s more. What I can only dub the “Men of Marshall’s” came wheeling in shoes on dessert platters, laden with the latest shoe fashions. On they were cute. Oh…the shoes I mean, of course!  But wait…we net got to play a TJX video game, “Designer Dash” where you zip around a store mock-up to collect designer duds. But you can throw purses at your opponent to stun her, collect the items in her cart and rush to check-out. Having seen way too many video games at home played by my kids, I passed on this one.

Gifts handed out to the bloggers: copy of the book How to Be a Budget Fashionista by Kathryn Finney and connected t-shirt “ Frugal is the New Black, pink cashmere shawl, shoe-shaped chocolates, and $250 merchandise cards to shop at the end of the afternoon at the local TJMaxx and Marshall’s stores.

What happens to merchandise that does not sell? Off to charity.

Insider info: trucks arrive only during weekdays. Markdowns tend to hit on Wednesdays. And avoid the weekends: not fresh merchandise, and only part-time sales associates.

By the way, they just struck a deal today with one of the country’s hottest designer, and bought 300,000 units for the holidays. “Outstanding product!” proclaims Michael. Expect this mystery to arrive in the stores around December 12th. And bring your sense of adventure.

The Society Winner!

Congratulations Kim Fritz!!!!  Kim, a Mom Central Community member, has won a 5-night getaway to Villa Las Olas in Cabo, compliments of Lifestyle Villas.

Kim mentioned she will taking her family along as well as extend an invitation to her best friend and family.

To win the free vacation rental home, Kim explained she attempts to master her daily 3-ring circus; work, home, and family.

“I try to keep the plates spining, the lions fed, and the clowns in order…”.

Hear her reaction!

       

The Society would like to thank everyone who entered to win week 1 and remember they have 9 more homes to giveaway and your registration puts you right back in the mix for next week when we giveaway the magnificent Lone Eagle in Keystone, Colorado donated by our Luxe Alliance member Summit Cove Rentals … They have also extended a $500 gift certificate to the winner toward luggage and/or equipment shipping to Keystone!!

If you haven’t registered, go to www.thesociety.com/giveaway to submit your entry or extend an invite to your friends and family!!!

Comparing Oranges to Oranges Through Twitter

Tropicana (Pepsi-Cola) burst into the social media scene this morning with a creative new website harnessing the power of Twitter.  AnOrangeAmerica.com visually illustrates the "conversational election landscape" by tracking live banter through tweets (posts to Twitter) and providing a place for you to "compare oranges to oranges" in real time!

"Bubbles" represent frequently used terms - the bigger the bubble, the greater the number of tweets.  The color of each bubble reflects associations with each candidate: if the bubble is mostly red, it strongly relates to John McCain, and vice versa: if more blue, Barack Obama.

At last glance, influentials are split down the middle. Perhaps this election will stay too close to call?

Curious? Check it out.

But take note, tweets keep cycling through, so anything you say may be included!

Stacy SMT

Stacy traveled to New York City this past Tuesday to participate in a SMT for Martha Stewart Create, preparing after-school snacks together like mini hot dogs from Oscar Mayer and even give parents advice on how they can manage the tug of war between work and home and make better use of their time on the go by using Windows Mobile Smartphone.