Why did P&G’s Mother’s Day communication create emotional resonance?

On this Mother's Day filled with love and gratitude, brands have expressed their respect and care for mothers in various ways. However, in this era of overflowing emotions, how to touch the hearts of consumers and make care no longer just a formality has become a topic worth pondering. P&G, with the theme of "Love in Everyday Life is Extraordinary", joined hands with JD.com to present us with a different Mother's Day through a series of real and warm scenes and stories.

Every Mother’s Day, brands will invariably express their love and understanding for mothers, either by singing the praises of mothers’ greatness, or by bravely encouraging mothers to be themselves, or by guiding everyone to express their love and gratitude to their mothers… It’s just that there are more and more “heartfelt” content, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get into the hearts of users.

It is true that everyone’s gratitude, guilt and love for their mothers are real, and they have never been forgotten or outdated. Many advertisements can indeed express the audience’s feelings, rather than selling cheap emotions. However, after a round of vigorous love-showing, most mothers’ lives have returned to their original tracks. P&G, aware of this, has launched a highly resonant topic seven years ago: “Love in daily life is extraordinary” , and has been doing long-term communication around this theme, hoping that more people will integrate their love for their mothers into their daily lives.

This time, P&G and JD.com worked together to convey the brand's values ​​through a series of real scenes and stories, successfully aroused the empathy of "children", and built a strong relationship with users. Mr. Bingfa also felt P&G's sincerity and dedication in the process of disassembling the case.

1. Insight into the real daily life of mothers, and exchange thinking illuminates the glimmer of empathy

We always discuss how to express love on Mother's Day? Should we post a photo of our mother on WeChat Moments, give her a bouquet of carnations specially made for her mother, or take her out for a fancy meal or buy luxury goods? These methods are all right, but not all of them are right.

In fact, if you think about it from another perspective, you will find that "maternal love" is a true expression of emotion. Even if most mothers have not expressed their love for their children at a specific time or in a specific way, everyone can still feel the mother's strong love from the subtle details of life. And the "love" that mothers remember may not be limited to expensive gifts and high-profile confessions on holidays. Every meal, every trip, every companionship, and the companionship and care in many daily bits and pieces can truly move them. This is why P&G has always emphasized "love in daily life" on Mother's Day.

Moreover, this year, the brand also broke the conventional form of communication and chose to throw out emotional "hooks" in the form of "copy marketing", allowing more people to interact and share those moments of loving mothers, while feeling the true weight of "unusual talent". Not only that, P&G also boldly "subtracted" in the choice of copywriting - there are only a few words on the posters of each product, but the public can see many daily and concrete scenes through these golden sentences, triggering strong emotional resonance.

This set of posters shows us that love is not only on Mother's Day, but also what mothers really need in daily life. The brand has been encouraging everyone to express love not only on Mother's Day and mother's birthday, but also in every little thing in life. The brand attitude of integrating love into daily life is really touching.

2. Only communication from the outside to the inside can really tap into the user’s mind

In the era of information fragmentation, the public's attention has long been diluted by the fragmented content. Those broad and general expressions from top to bottom are like talking to oneself and it is difficult to retain the public's attention. Therefore, P&G chose a multi-channel and multi-dimensional layout, established emotional connections through rhythmic communication, and hammered the communication theme into the minds of users.

Online site renovation + offline large-screen display, thoughtful copywriting creates a festive atmosphere

Precision delivery under big data can easily lead to the "information cocoon" effect, which will miss many potential consumers and related actors, experiencers and communicators who may influence consumer decisions. In order to reach a wider circle and let the brand information explode in a specific time, P&G chose a two-way collaborative communication model, leaving a more recognizable mental imprint.

Online, P&G revamped JD.com, replacing the main product header images with the thoughtful copy in this poster, creating a strong visual impact and creating a strong Mother's Day atmosphere. Offline, P&G put the copy on large screens in many cities, and the copy can be seen in key business districts in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and other cities, infiltrating the communication theme into more scenes.

Use "small incisions" to leverage "big content" and stimulate more real emotional resonance

At the same time, P&G has also chosen a small incision with low threshold and high sharing desire among the complicated information. The brand also used the hot topic #妈妈节滴爱在日常# on Weibo to collect consumers' warm daily life, and also made the natural hot search #让妈妈天天过母亲节# popular . The brand launched a story collection message board in JD.com store, encouraging everyone to share "daily care for mothers". Highly praised messages will also receive "Mom Love Gifts" from the brand. The most popular message will also replace the product theme in the store, making consumers' "Mom Love" full.

Under the relevant themes, we can also see many warm and delicate stories. There is no extreme sensationalism and tear-jerking, no empty slogan-like expressions, behind each story is a real mother, many details are warm and not clichéd, which can inspire the participation and resonance of ordinary people.

3. Integrate into users’ daily life and leave a recognizable brand image

This year marks the 7th year of P&G JD Mother’s Day #Love in Daily Life is Extraordinary#. In fact, looking back at P&G’s Mother’s Day communications in previous years, we can find that the “change” and “unchange” in P&G’s Mother’s Day marketing are the real reasons why the communication theme can truly be integrated into users’ daily lives.

What has changed is the way of communication. From the campaign "Let Love Not Just Be in Moments" in 2018, to the campaign "Let Love Not Just Be on Mother's Day" in 2019, to the "Happy Mom Academy" in 2021, P&G can always find a more resonant entry point based on the current real-time environment to get everyone involved. And the way of presentation is slightly different. In addition to this year's copywriting marketing, H5, short videos, posters and other forms have also been used. For example, the H5 "Mom's Payroll" launched in 2020 allows more people to feel the dedication of their mothers in a concrete way.

What remains unchanged is the core attitude. Although the communication methods, content, and carriers have changed, the awareness of awakening people to "care for their mothers in daily life" has not changed. Through long-term heartfelt communication, P&G has closely linked the expression scene of "maternal love" with the attributes of products. These products have been given more emotional value and become key props for expressing love. JD.com's Mother's Day IP has also built a field for deepening intimacy with consumers in its cooperation with P&G, making it easier to convert the attention accumulated in the early stage into real sales and achieve true integration of product and effect.

Facts have also proved that good content is indeed easier to leverage both parties to gain more resources. Just like this time, P&G and JD.com jointly created the largest resource-level campaign on the entire site. Consumers can be exposed to all-round and multi-dimensional content when they open JD.com, such as the upgrade of the opening screen and screen-dominating dynamics, and the deformed and cool shapes, which can attract consumers' attention and increase the click-through rate. Not only that, the all-round configuration of homepage resources and the linkage of multi-channel resources also convert "traffic" into "retention" while ensuring the traffic of this cooperation.

4. Final

Standing at the singularity of information fragmentation, no brand does not want to differentiate itself. Everyone wants to put forward a new proposition to express a unique concept, but few people can break away from the inertia of thinking and are easily trapped in the homogenized creative track.

Therefore, from the very beginning, P&G took up the banner of breaking the stereotyped marketing ideas for Mother's Day, and through subtle observations from different angles, it refined the real needs of mothers in life one by one, while raising the value to a "high" level, and at the same time, it was able to penetrate into the hearts of the public in the form of a small incision. In addition, P&G's products have always been integrated into mothers' daily lives and can help them reduce their burdens. This brand sincerity revealed in the unity of knowledge and action is more powerful than any unilateral persuasion.

Author: Mr. Bingfa

Source: WeChat public account "Marketing Art of War (ID: lanhaiyingxiao)"