In the Motherhood

Toiletry brand Suave and mobile phone company Sprint had the common aim of wanting to appeal to busy mothers. They wanted to come up with a communication strategy that would interact with and entertain time-poor parents. In 2006, Unilever re-launched Suave with advertising encouraging mums to put beauty back on the ‘to do list’. Suave wanted to promote its range of hair-care and personal products, while Sprint wanted to pitch its range of mobile phones as the ideal phones for busy mums to help keep their family organized. From extensive consumer research, Suave learned that mums were tired of brands telling them what to do, but welcome the opportunity to connect with other mothers on the internet. The brands came up with the idea of creating a mother-focused social network called “In the Motherhood” (inthemotherhood.com) where they could help create entertaining content while sharing child-rearing stories and tips with peers. The best ideas were incorporated into a web-series which looked at the lives of three women and their hectic but amusing lives as mothers. The webisodes were written by Hollywood screenwriters and featured actress Leah Remini. The show could also be seen on mobile television site Sprint TV and Suave.com. The series was also publicized on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and promoted in People magazine and on MSN, as well as mum-focused sites and blogs. Retail promotions of Suave at Wal-Mart stores steered moms online to watch webisodes and make a direct link to the brand. The third evolution is underway, with “In the Motherhood” crossing over into broadcast television. Overall, Suave’s share increased 4% over the campaign run, a large jump for a category leader and consideration for Sprint increased 30%. There were 21m video views and 12m microsite visits and www.inthemotherhood.com became the number 1 parenting site visited by mums.