Identify Your Target Audience
This week, our team was tasked to analyze Procter &
Gamble’s “Thank You, Mom” campaign in terms of its effectiveness in identifying
and engaging with its target audience – mothers. Procter & Gamble (P&G)
considers mothers to be one of their most important consumer bases, as they are
traditionally the ones who are buying and using P&G’s household products on
a daily basis. According to Marc Prichard, global chief marketing officer of
P&G, the company is “in the business of helping moms,” and the “Thank You,
Mom” campaign was a “global serenade” to mothers everywhere (Vega, 2012). In
these ads, moms are touted as unsung heroes, helping their children grow and
navigate the challenges of falling back down and getting up again – both
literally and figuratively.
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| P&G's dedicated "Thank You, Mom" Facebook page garnered more than 500,000 likes during the campaign's peak. Today, the page has more than 800,000 likes. (Image) |
By utilizing a variety of digital channels, from Youtube to
Facebook to Twitter, P&G was able to effectively share its message with its
target audience of mothers and those who love them the most. Hashtags like
#ThankYouMom and #BecauseofMom were universally relatable and even encouraged
people to reach out to their own mothers to say thanks (Mainwaring, 2014). According
to a 2015 study, more than 75 percent of parents turn to social media for
“parenting-related information” and “social support.” In this regard, P&G’s
integration with social channels is a clear fit to reach their target audience,
with nearly 81 percent of mothers using Facebook alone (Duggan, Lenhart, Lampe
& Ellison, 2015, also for image below).
P&G’s campaign was a well-executed example of using social
networks to target the right people through social media who are (or would
become) the company’s advocates (Kerpen, 2015, p. 38).
Focus on the Consumer
How is success defined in the world of marketing and public
relations? Scott (2015) discusses the disconnect that is often apparent between
an organization’s goals and the marketing and PR measurements used to define
success. From past experience working directly with clients at a public relations
agency, this story is sometimes all too true. In today’s growing world of
social marketing, we can no longer rely solely on measurements such as number of press
hits or impressions to gauge success. Instead, we should focus more closely on
the following metrics, as described by Pozin (2014):
- Keeping competition out of the media
- Relationship building
- Brand building
- Reaching the right target audience
- Seeking and obtaining the right endorsements
A former client of mine launched a speaker series with
the help of our agency, building every component of the event from the ground
up. Our contacts asked for status reports on a regular basis that tallied the circulation numbers, impressions, and other ad measurements, and would present those hard numbers/statistics to investors as “proof” that the series
was becoming a success. But what was far more important were the relationships that both our agency and the client were forming
with the thought leaders that would help promote the series, and the support
gained from various local organizations that helped shape the credibility of
the events. Ultimately, the client focused less on developing a social presence and more on
traditional metrics that, in my opinion, may have impacted the ability to most effectively reach their target audience and maximize success.
References:
References:
Duggan, M., Lenhart, A., Lampe, C., & Ellison, N. (2015,
July 16). Parents and social media. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/07/16/parents-and-social-media/.
Kerpen, D. (2015). Likeable
social media (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Mainwaring, S. (2014, January 7). How P&G is leveraging
the Winter Olympics to build its customer community. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmainwaring/2014/01/07/how-pg-is-leveraging-the-winter-olympics-to-build-its-customer-community/#2e6bd0ae7637
Pozin, I. (2014, May 29). 5 measurements for PR ROI.
Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2014/05/29/5-measurements-for-pr-roi/#31d6a5d41ca2.
Scott, D. M. (2015). The new rules of marketing and PR (5th ed.). Hoboken, New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Vega, T. (2012, April 16). Mothers will get the glory in
P&G’s campaign. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/business/media/mothers-get-the-glory-in-procter-gamble-campaign.html.
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! You really gave some additional insight to P&G’s #ThankYouMom target audience. Thank you for providing some additional statistics on Facebook likes. It truly shows the power of the campaign. I am glad you brought up how well P&G integrated social media into the campaign. The company had an in depth understanding of how and where moms were gathering to share parenting tips.
I had a chance to conduct some more research and found an interesting article on the P&G website. P&G did a great job of utilizing Facebook, YouTube and Twitter but the company also launched a “Thank You Mom app” back in 2012 that allowed people to thank moms by sharing personalized content in videos, images and text messages (P&G, 2012, para 7). Another cool way P&G integrated social media into their campaign!
References:
P&G. (2012, April 7). Proctor and Gamble Launches Global Thank You Mom Campaign. Retrieved from:
http://news.pg.com/blog/thank-you-mom/procter-gamble-launches-global-thank-you-mom-campaign
Hi Jannelle,
DeleteI thought that the "Thank You Mom" app was a great addition to the campaign - it added another layer that allowed customers to get truly creative! In combination with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, P&G selected the right channels to get to their target audience in a meaningful and engaging manner. Thanks for a great discussion topic this week!
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThe P&G campaign was a brilliant effort at creating energy and emotion. A recognized authority on brands, David Aaker, the vice chairman of the agency Prophet, noted that the answer to successful brand building is to "find driving ideas in the form of human values that are universal, that everyone can relate to" (Aaker, 2013). The prestige of being tied to the Olympics was also critical to the campaign's success. P&G also had an answer to critics who said the campaign slighted dads and their importance by simply communicating that everyone has a mother and/or can relate to a mother figure in their life. And then there is the fact that data show that men lack behind in the purchasing decisions for everyday products. P&G successfully identified its audiences for this campaign and it understood them. It tapped into their emotions and most importantly, it made its content easy to share on social media and other communication channels.
You bring up a great example of a successful campaign in your work experiences. A speaker series is an effective marketing tool. It helps build brand awareness and captures the attention of new audiences. And, as with the P&G campaign, a speaker series is easily shareable on social media. We offer a number of speaker series here at the college through many different departments and we partner with many external organizations. The relationship building and networking that is generated through these series creates an energetic atmosphere. It provides shareable content across many different audiences.
Reference
Aaker, D. (2013, January 23). P&G's "Thank You, Mom" is a Model Campaign in a Global World. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from https://www.prophet.com/blog/aakeronbrands/124-pgs-thank-you-mom-is-a-model-campaign-in-a-global-world
Good points about tying in the social media parents used and comparing that to the #ThankYouMom campaign. It is great to come up with a social media campaign, but if the target audience does not use the media platform, then what good is it? In the case of #ThankYouMom, it made sense to use some of the top social media sites for adults, like Facebook. But if they focused on using something like Snapchat or Vine, they may not necessarily reach the expected target audience. So it winds up being much more than just knowing the types of people they are trying to reach but also their social media habits, which is even more amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThe social media stats you provided for parents and for the “Thank You Mom” are very informative. What I think works so well about this campaign is the fact that the concept is sustainable and can be used on a global level. Procter & Gamble can choose to sponsor the Olympic Games or the Special Olympics every two years to continue telling this story and it will still be relevant. They can also leverage the campaign in between Olympic events because finding opportunities to thank moms is something that can be done every day of the year.
You bring up great points regarding your former client’s approach. Both of our texts highlight how challenging it can be to convince clients and senior management to abandon the old ways of marketing and public relations. Thought leadership and influencer marketing are becoming increasingly more important when trying to reach consumers. Cheryl Conner of Forbes (2016) explains, “For every influencer you ‘influence,’ their opinion impacts dozens (or hundreds or thousands) of others in a personalized ‘she should know, she’s an expert’ or ‘she’s another mom like me’ kind of way” (para. 2).
This type of authentic discussion and credibility is stronger than anything a brand can say about itself. Hopefully more companies (including my own) will realize the importance of reaching the consumer this way and will start to approach marketing and PR plans and measurement differently.
References
Conner, C. (10, February 2016). 7 steps to dominate the influencer marketing game In PR. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2016/02/10/7-steps-to-dominate-the-influencer-marketing-game-in-pr/#322aaa70524c