Posts Tagged "Moms"

We’ve all heard the terms bridezilla, ecotourism, and juvenescent (right?)…but what about brattle? Dictionary.com gives brattle the unbiased definition “to scamper noisily.” Lizzie Skurnick’s “That Should Be A Word” column in last week’s New York Times Magazine gives brattling a new definition: “to discuss one’s children, often at length.” We somehow didn’t think she was giving the word a positive connotation and our suspicions were confirmed after reading her definitions for spamily (Facebook or Twitter updates about kids) and spawntourage (a group of approaching strollers).

Do you agree that incessant chatter about kids is annoying or should Ms. Skurnick lighten up? And do you ever brattle about your own kids?

We did it! We held our second annual Bloggers Brunch earlier today and based on the feedback from guests and sponsors alike, I think we can say that a good time was had by all! Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for this special event.

The Bloggers Brunch, held at a private club in New York City, was designed to enable bloggers to connect in person with our clients and each other — as well as to enjoy a lovely brunch (complete with “momosas”), great giveaways and raffle prizes that could not be beat.

I would like to say a special thanks to a  long list of folks who joined us today:

First, to our panel of leading mom bloggers, who addressed the topic “What Does a Mommy Blogger Want?” offering insights into the issues and trends that affect the momosphere today, as well as advice on how best to interest mom bloggers in your brand. Major kudos to: Debbie of Mamanista,  Kimberly of  Mom in the City, Liz of Cool Mom Picks, Jo-Lynne of Musings of a Housewife, and Melissa of Real Moms Guide. Great job!

Second, to the members of the Child’s Play Communications review network, Team Mom, who joined us for the day. What a pleasure to see everyone in person.

Third, to the folks who traveled from out of the NYC area — New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Boston, Virginia, Maryland and even Florida! We hope you found the journey worthwhile.

And almost last but not at all least, to all the sponsors who helped make this possible. In alphabetical order: Cuisinart, FujiFilm, Goddard Schools, Good Housekeeping, Joy Berry Enterprises, Nickelodeon, the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Toy Industry Association. And, of course, to Lord & Taylor, which arranged for Louis, of Laura Mercier, to provide makeovers for our guests.

Love you all. Can’t wait until next year. Photos and video soon to follow.

Millennial Mom 101, a new study by Mr Youth and RepNation Media, compares moms’ and college students’ use of social media and finds that the two groups are similar in 4 key ways:

• They multitask with multiple technologies. Both groups view technology as a way to easily integrate all the different aspects of their lives. Moms see technology as a solution for managing home life efficiently, and they welcome tech just as much as college students do.
• They build communities to ease transitions. Those communities provide them with support systems, as students in one case and parents in the other. Interestingly, moms are more likely to be on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter than the general population, and the majority are likely to visit social networking sites several times a day.
• They seek peer advice over experts’. According to the report, “Gone are the days when What to Expect When You’re Expecting was the definitive bible. Today, social sites have blown open the doors to more personal parenting advice and niche ideas.”
• They overshare. Though they communicate very different types of information, neither group hesitates to convey very personal information to strangers. The report cites as an example moms’ uproar in response to Facebook’s  effort to ban breastfeeding photos.

Yet along with the similarities between moms and college students come some notable differences which should be of particular interest to marketers. While college students “hardly ever” post a review about products and services, moms are “most likely” to do so “once a week.”

Moms, do these findings describe your experience? Marketers, what surprises you about these results?

For more on this insightful report, visit here.

I am SO excited to share the news: This week alone, Child’s Play Communications has won three more awards, including one for PR Innovation of the Year, for our Team Mom blogger network.

The awards include:

PRSA-NY, Big Apple Award, Winner — Innovation & Technology

Bulldog Reporter, Silver — PR Innovation of the Year

Bulldog Reporter, Bronze — Best Use of the Internet, Consumer 

Stephanie Azzarone receives PRSA-NY Big Apple Award

Team Mom is the agency’s network of mommy bloggers — influential, social-media-savvy women who blog about the agency’s clients on a regular basis. This active network of moms reaches more than 1 million other moms per month.

This week’s awards are in addition to last month’s SABRE Awards Certificate of Excellence — PR Agency Initiative, also for Team Mom.

The PRSA-NY (Public Relations Society of America, New York Chapter) awards program has become the standard of excellence for the New York-area public relations industry. Bulldog Reporter is a leading public relations industry publication. The SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation) Awards are managed by The Holmes Group, a global public relations publishing operation. All of the awards recognize leadership in public relations.

I’m thrilled to receive these prestigious awards and especially pleased that they acknowledge innovative thinking — Child’s Play was the first agency to launch its own network of mom bloggers. My goal for 2009 is to make Child’s Play not only the leader in social media outreach to moms,  but also to creatively expand and integrate digital and traditional PR practices to produce the highest-impact connection between our clients and their target audience.

To all the members of Team Mom — a huge THANK YOU for making this possible!

Say it ain’t so, moms.

According to an April online survey conducted by MomLogic.com and Insight Research Group, one in three mothers are turning to vices like overeating, drinking, drugs and gambling to cope with the recession.

In addition, of mothers whose partners have lost their jobs, a full 80 percent say they are feeling overwhelmed.

Significantly, for 27% of moms 25-34, the recession is impacting pregnancy plans: Although they want more children, they are going to wait.

The survey involved 450 mothers ages 25-55.

For more on the survey, visit MomLogic.