Mother's Day marketing review: You can be tough or sweet, but don't go the sad route

Mother's Day has just passed, and major manufacturers have also launched publicity and promotion. Among these event planning, which brands' publicity has aroused heated discussions among users, and which cases are worth learning from? The author has selected 7 brand cases and analyzed them, and recommends them to those who are interested.

Mother's Day in 2022 arrives amidst the resurgence of the epidemic and the May Day holiday.

Regardless of whether you are staying at home or not, everyone’s mood will not be very good at this time. Those brands that originally planned to rely on "tear-jerking movies" to sensationalize Mother's Day are estimated to have stayed up late and worked overtime to revise their plans before May. After all, life is already hard enough.

Nowadays, women, childbirth, family and marriage are all hot topics, which makes us more curious about Mother's Day in 2022. Which brands have contributed "effective publicity" that is both popular and worth discussing? Which brands have explored a different Mother's Day from serious topics or interesting creativity? How is the current trend of brand marketing changing?

Below are 7 selected brand cases. Let’s talk about them one by one.

1. Sweet representative: NetEase Cloud Music x Zhizu GQ "The Secret in Mom's Heart"

This year on Mother's Day, NetEase Cloud Music and GQ, which are always good at organizing events, jointly launched the H5 "Secrets in Mom's Heart", which uses illustrations to show the baby's growth record from the mother's perspective.

The mother's tenderness when the child was just born, the mother's pride when the child performed in elementary school, the mother's forbearance during adolescence, the mother's concern when the child was working away from home... As the child grows up, the mother gradually ages, and people can't help but shed tears.

At the end of the H5, there is a short video for Mother's Day titled "The Voice Messages She Sent That I Didn't Open". In the video, mothers from all over the country spoke in their familiar local accents about their daily lives, which their children listened to over and over again. What was revealed in these nagging and complaints was their uninterrupted love and care for their children.

2. Representative of the “strict” system: Meiyou’s “Pay Mom a Salary, Speak for Love”

Mayu has a long campaign for Mother's Day this year. In the preheating phase, its IP "Mayu Women's Report Research Institute" released a "2022 Survey on the Current Status of Workplace Stress among Chinese Women" in conjunction with Labor Day and Mother's Day in early May, investigating the current status, stress, physical and emotional conditions of different groups such as working women, working mothers, and post-00s.

On the eve of Mother's Day, the theme event "#美柚为妈妈发薪#" was officially launched. The 50,000 yuan "salary" red envelope will be distributed over 10 months. In the form of salary, it speaks for love and calls for attention to the actual efforts, feelings and health of mothers.

Then, the theme comic strip, a series of posters, and opinion articles were released, which deeply discussed that if it is natural to be paid for labor, why do mothers have to take on multiple "part-time jobs" without any salary? This resonated with many netizens.

The purpose of the activity, "to give a fair name to 'mom's sacrifices'", is in line with Mayu's brand proposition of "caring for women's health". The creative "salary" lottery format has also successfully hit the preferences of current netizens.

Who doesn’t love both mom and money? When forwarding the lucky draw, you can express your opinion on “recognizing mom’s contribution”, killing two birds with one stone.

3. Representative of the “strict” system: PROYA’s “Visible Only to Mom”

This year, PROYA is also calling for recognition of mothers' contributions. "Only Visible to Mom" ​​is PROYA's special plan for Mother's Day 2022. The video shows us a series of specific situations of household labor, such as tidying up the refrigerator, cleaning the living room, changing clothes, and packing school bags. However, in these situations, there is always only one person doing the work, and that is the mother.

The scenes are all ordinary family scenes, but they bring you and me, the audience, a new perspective on the division of labor in the family. The baby is hungry, the clothes are dirty, the living room needs to be cleaned, and the food needs to be served. These are obviously related to all family members, so why can only the mother see them? Or is it that in our daily division of labor in the family, we have already assumed that these are "what the mother should do."

This reality is somewhat embarrassing to reveal on Mother's Day. Just like what PROYA conveyed this time: Family responsibility is not only visible to mothers, but every bit of love should be present.

Perhaps only when all family members shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the family together, mother will not be trapped in the daily routine of firewood, rice, oil and salt, and her eyes will be able to see a wider sky and a bigger world.

4. Representative of the “strict” style: EMXEE “Singing the opposite tune on Mother’s Day”

On Mother's Day, Manxi released a set of posters using the gimmick of "singing against the tide", advocating that everyone should not send burdened compliments, but only encourage and support mothers to love themselves.

It is also proposed to change Mother's Day to May 25, so that mothers can remember to love themselves on May 25. After all, before becoming a mother, every woman is herself first. The identity of "mother" should not only mean greatness and dedication, but also mean another rich possibility of life.

The poster copy reconstructs the traditional words of praising mothers, such as "omnipotent", "great", and "hardworking": Do you think mothers can do everything? But she can never "love herself". Many praises and eulogies have become invisible shackles in mothers' lives.

In an era when self-emphasis is placed on the present, we need to have more positive imagination and attempts about the act of “becoming a mother”.

5. Sweet representative: Telunsu "A Better Name"

This is a story that you can easily guess the plot of just by looking at the title, but because it is so common for a woman to be called "XX mother" after giving birth, the film is still very touching.

The film unfolds from the perspective of a little boy named Jiale. In the eyes of a little boy, his mother is just his mother, the one who takes care of him and accompanies him every day. But when he goes to his grandmother's house, his mother seems to be different. His grandmother calls his mother by another name, as if his mother is a child. This discovery makes the little boy curious and interesting.

The video points out that mothers are not just “mothers”, but also let us see the warmth and beauty brought by the identity of “XX mother”. It emphasizes that breaking the stereotypes and prejudices about mothers does not mean denying the experiences and feelings under this identity. For individuals, the experiences behind each name and each identity are equally precious.

6. Sweet representative: Meituan Waimai "Mom loves flowers, we love her"

Meituan Waimai's Mother's Day short film is one of the few that takes a funny route. The theme of the film is quite direct - Meituan sells flowers, and my mother loves flowers. Look, this is a coincidence!

All the clips in the video revolve around the theme of "Mom loves flowers". Under the relaxed and interesting lens, there are also many subtle observations of mom's daily life: the avatar is a flower, the earthy emoji package is a flower, there are small flowers on the jewelry, there are big flowers on the silk scarf, and even the toilet seat at home has lace! Seeing that mom loves flowers so much, it would be inappropriate not to send a bouquet of flowers on Mother's Day, right?

If you think "yes", the purpose of the short film will be achieved.

Especially looking at the aunties in the film, they are very skillful in doing housework, they always wear flying scarves when taking travel photos, and they are kind and cute in front of the camera. It turns out that every age can have a different kind of flower-like beauty.

7. Sweet representative: BEAST x Shanghai Animation Film Studio "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" ​​Limited Series

"Shopping, buying, buying" is also one of the ways modern people express their feelings. In addition to the usual hot-selling items such as "New Year Limited" and "Valentine's Day Limited", some brands have also arranged "Mother's Day Limited" this year.

On the eve of Mother's Day, BEAST and Shanghai Animation Film Studio jointly launched the "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" limited series, using the IP elements of the classic domestic animation "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" to carefully create a variety of ink-style limited gift boxes such as floral art, fragrances, home textiles, and silk products.

Combining the national style and trend that young people love nowadays and promoting traditional culture, "The Tadpole Looking for Its Mother" is also a classic story well known to mothers' generation. The child's dependence and concern for the mother can also be accurately conveyed to mothers through the gift box.

On Mother's Day, there is a rare warm and gentle atmosphere on the Internet. At this time, if the brand can be attentive and accurately understand the pain points of users, it is indeed a great opportunity to break the circle and enhance the favorability of the three generations of "old, middle-aged and young".

The annual day of "expressing love" to mothers and showing gratitude for maternal love is still very important to Chinese people. From small things like making a phone call or sending a message to big things like giving gold and silver jewelry, people always show their appreciation.

Looking forward to more hot-selling products on Mother’s Day next year.

Author: Ninety-nine Eighty-seven