For eCommerce merchants, Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to generate new sales. According to the NRF, pending on Mother’s Day gifts in 2022 broke records, reaching about $31.7 billion, and per-person spending peaked at $245.76. Suffice to say, there’s quite a lot of opportunity for brands that offer products or services that might be a fit for Mother’s Day celebrations.
So how can eCommerce brands get in on Mother’s Day marketing? By shining a spotlight on authentic customer experiences.
What shoppers are spending on for Mother’s Day
According to research conducted by the National Retail Federation, these were the top gift categories for moms in 2022:
- Greeting cards (75%)
- Flowers (72%)
- Experiences (57%)
- Gift cards (52%)
- Clothing and accessories (45%)
Don’t fall under one of those categories? That doesn’t mean you should just throw in the towel on Mother’s Day — it just means you need to get creative.
To help you get inspired, we’re sharing our top seven Mother’s Day marketing campaigns. See how these brands celebrated Mother’s Day (and made lots of sales).
Google Home Hub: #HeyMom!
Emotion is one of the most powerful drivers of Mother’s Day ad campaigns.
In Google’s 2019 #HeyMom campaign, we see the many ways kids of all ages turn to their moms for help, advice, and everything in between. The feeling of knowing you can count on a mother’s advice provides a nice parallel for how we turn to Google when we have a question.
Google took it a step further, though, by encouraging viewers to get involved. They shared the video ad on Twitter, asking followers, “What’s your favorite #HeyMom story?” and even responding directly to some who left comments.
Kay Jewelers:#LoveIsUnstoppable
Love in the time of COVID-19 isn’t easy. A recent Kay Jewelers campaign — released right in time for Mother’s Day — highlights the many ways we can show we care while still remaining physically distant from each other.
The video ad is part of Kay’s larger #LoveIsUnstoppable campaign. On Instagram and Twitter, Kay uses the hashtag to ask followers to share love stories. Kay then re-shares the most inspirational stories with the rest of their community, while simultaneously offering digital gifts — like “virtual hugs” — for their audience to give to one another.
Tesco:#EveryMum
British grocery chain Tesco celebrates Mother’s Day with a campaign that highlights the real stories of all the different kinds of “mums” out there, including stepmoms, foster moms, biological moms, adoptive moms, aunts, and more.
By promoting inclusivity on a holiday when many families feel overlooked, and by using real people rather than actors, Tesco’s campaign stands out from the competition, successfully tugging at viewers’ heartstrings.
Kraft: Mother’s Day Away
For Mother’s Day 2019, Kraft, working with a budget of $50,000, pledged to reimburse the cost of a babysitter for moms who wanted to take a break on Mother’s Day.
The campaign receieved extensive media coverage not just for its larger-than-life give-away, but for its honest message. Rather than creating a product tie-in of diapers or macaroni necklaces, Kraft helped bring to light a deeper truth, while also paving the way for an ongoing conversation with their community.
Discovery Nature: Happy Mother’s Day
Not all mothers are human. But all mothers deserve to be celebrated, and that is exactly what Discovery Nature did. The global channel released a video (with an incredible 6.5 million views) celebrating motherhood in different species, showcasing lionesses, deers, Kuala bears, and more, doing what moms do best — taking care of their babies.
While this video has nothing to do with products or even eCommerce at all, it serves as a reminder that the feeling of motherhood is universal. Brands should tap into that universal feeling by building meaningful and emotional connections with customers.
THE ICONIC: To Those Who Mother
The last couple of years have been hard for everyone, and moms were stepping up their game all over the globe. The Australian brand THE ICONIC decided to highlight all the ways moms “mom’ed” in a beautiful video, full of real mothers, just doing their best.
The result is an incredible, truly moving video, celebrating all the moms out there. The most beautiful aspect of this video is that it wasn’t trying to push any products. It was just a wholesome celebration of motherhood, especially in such a complicated time.
IKEA: What Mom really wants
IKEA kept it short, sweet, and effective with this video ad, which translated Mom-speak into Mother’s Day gift ideas. When Mom says, “I don’t want anything,” does she mean it? Of course not. By appealing to shoppers’ emotions with relatable content, the brand got their message across loud and clear, in less than 20 seconds.
Mother’s Day campaign pro tips
Mother’s Day is all about bonds. Forge closer ties with your customer base by amplifying their emotions.
- Reach out to your customers via SMS and make sure they remember Mother’s Day is coming and help them pick out the perfect gift
- Let your customers know what you’re offering by using hashtag campaigns to start conversations. Fans want to connect with eCommerce brands they love, and when the brand starts that conversation, it inspires lasting brand loyalty and even further customer engagement
- Encourage customers to purchase Mother’s Day special items for loyalty points. 84% of customers say they’re more likely to stay loyal to a brand that shares their values. Leverage this emotional loyalty by rewarding your customers when they purchase something for or during Mother’s Day.
- By showcasing real people and real stories, you have the ability to create a much more genuine emotional connection with your customers. Collect and display user-generated videos onsite to leverage exactly this type of authentic content
- Your customers are spending more time on their phones than ever before. This is the time to make the social media buying process as smooth as possible. Become a seamless part of their journey and make it easy for them to buy directly from social media platforms.
- Show your audience you understand what they’re going through. Offer timely and relevant value outside of just your products to turn casual shoppers into long-term brand loyalists
- Every season can inspire you! Take a look at some of the creative and clever holiday marketing campaigns year-round and the best Valentine’s Day marketing campaigns.
What will you come up with in 2023? Maybe we’ll feature you in our best-of next year!
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