Don't Feed the Millennials: Mother may I?

So often research focuses on teenage and college age millennials, but as the first part of the generation moves through their late 20s and early 30s they are also becoming parents.

When you think about advertising targeted towards this group, what is the first image that pops in your mind? For me, it's typically a mom who is dutifully preparing a snack or getting a stain out of her well-behaved, albeit messy child's clothes.

Electrolux commercials mentioned by Katherine Wintsch in the Forbes article

Although not a mom myself, I am not alone in this perception. In early 2011, Forbes magazine profiled Katherine Wintsch, lead strategic planner of the Wal-Mart account for The Martin Agency. After realizing the disconnect between advertisements and real life, Wintsch founded a think tank called The Mom Complex (Goudreau, 2011, para 2-3). Research revealed that 3 out of 4 moms - or approximately 34 million - feel misunderstood by marketers (Goudreau, 2011, para. 3).

As times are changing, and a greater proportion of tech-savvy millennials become moms, it is even more critical for brands to connect effectively with their consumers. A quick internet search can reveal ten of thousands of 'mommy blogs', a number indicative of the fact that moms are the biggest group of bloggers and social networkers (Goudreau, 2011, para. 10). Word spreads quickly amongst these networks so understanding what moms are looking for is key.

As we've heard before with millennials, authenticity is a non-negotiable. (Goudreau, 2011, para. 9). To capture this in Walmart's advertising, Wintsch and her team focused on life's everyday events. The commercials that came out earlier this year are much more relatable and should strike a chord with young millennial parents who are still figuring things out, as opposed to picture-perfect parents presented by companies in the past.