Motrin's Monday Aches And Pains
You wouldn’t want to upset your mother would you? How about thousands of moms in one sitting? That’s what Johnson & Johnson’s Motrin marketers did with their weekend. Motrin posted a video advertisement on its Web site targeting “baby wearing moms” that made some unpopular references and comparisons, to put it nicely. By Saturday, marketing melee had erupted in the form of a critical mass of angry mommy bloggers. True to form with most Internet marketing faux pas, the proliferation of angry comments went unnoticed by Motrin for several hours. A New York Times article notes that Motrin and its agency, TAXI, didn’t know this was occurring.
By this morning, of course, this instant classic case study has been well covered by many moms, bloggers, and social media analysts. Here’s my bit for the collection.
The Good
As a brief reprieve for Motrin, I think we can assume the brand and its agency had normal marketing intentions here – target moms who may seek relief for aches and pains experienced during the course of their busy days. It is reasonable to expect marketers for an over-the-counter drug – and many products and services for that matter – to view moms as an attractive addressable audience. They’re the ones who keep life glued together after all. Posting a video on the Motrin Web site (since taken down; YouTube video below) also seems like a generally sound move. Forrester’s Social Technographics suggest – and just about anyone under the sun will tell you – that Internet video is hot these days.
The Bad
From what I absorbed yesterday between football games, Motrin basically just dropped the ball during elementary campaign play running. Bad writing via ill-chosen words, the wrong happy-go-lucky tone in their commentary and, more specifically, poor planning and execution. All that was needed to avoid today’s headache was some good coaching and clock management. Unfortunately, a desire for graphic blandishment (i.e. the fast-paced text in the ad) and cool copy, without enough review and editing, appears to have contributed to the backlash.
The Ugly
Life 101: don’t piss off moms. Although Motrin may have intended to sincerely connect with moms, it fumbled big time with phrases like: “wearing your baby seems to be in fashion; in theory it’s a great idea; it’s supposedly a real bonding experience; these ‘things’ put a ton of strain on your back; it’s a good kind of pain – it’s for my kid; it totally makes me look like an official mom; and, if I look tired and crazy you know why.”
Ugh, these don’t work. How do you miss that in reviews and evals? And even though the attempt to connect with moms in a creative way may have had some good intentions buried within, perception is reality. Fuming mad moms on blogs, Twitter, and elsewhere have spoken.
Regarding recovery, this can be a learning experience for Motrin and online marketers in general. Motrin can recover by admitting their miscues and even addressing this topic gently in the future when it no doubt comes up in case study context. In fact, the healing has started. McNeil Consumer Healthcare’s VP of Marketing, responsible for the Motrin brand, sent a letter yesterday, November 16th, to select bloggers. (Here it is as posted on Amy Gates’ blog.) This time around the message seems well crafted, carefully reviewed, and sincere with Kathy Widmer relating that she herself is a mother of three.
Back To Good
… and here’s where it all can end. More observation is plentiful if you want it. Google “Motrin” or use Twitter Search to find #motrinmoms. Some of my favorite to-the-point analysis of Motrin’s Moment, by the way, comes from Pistachio’s blog.
Anyway, it’s Monday and time to return to normal. For my wife and kids at least, that means learning shapes and colors, chopping up turkey dogs into itty bitty pieces, activities with the mom’s group, wiping runny noses, and those sorts of things. There’s real work and child rearing to be done. (Thanks to my wife and all Moms for helping keep our lives in gear. Have a good one!)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mztymu72l7c]
