Sessions

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

WongDoody Marketing to Moms Session Descriptions

Skyler Mattson
President
Wong Doody

Setting the Stage Part 1
Tools to Keep up with an Ever-changing Mom

Modern moms are dynamic – constantly adapting to the ever-changing world around them. As marketers, we need tools and processes to get rapid responses from moms. Ways that allow us to connect with moms fast and often to get on-demand insights to understand her emotional life, beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. We also need to uncover the blue sky thinking that informs how we create technology, experiences and engagement that will resonate. In part one of a two-day presentation, we’ll outline our approach to getting the insights that move your business forward through an agile insights practice. One that that takes you from insight to innovation to market at the speed of mom.

Setting the Stage Part 2
Innovation Solutions at the Speed of Mom

As a follow up from Day 1, we’ll show you the process and output of our agile insights practice: an engagement approach co-created with Mom, and then tested and validated before final execution. This session will close the loop on the agile insights process from data to strategy to creative concepting and validation. You’ll leave with tools to drive innovation in your category in a way that is as iterative and dynamic as mom herself.

What Matters to Mom:
Identifying Micro-Insights that Inspire Her Preferences & Behavior

Amy Henry
President
Flashlight Insights

In a world in which data and information are easily accessed, it’s easy to feel like we know our moms and their families more than ever. But increasingly, brands are recognizing that they lack the kind of intimate, nuanced insights that come from observing life as it happens. In this presentation, Amy will share why getting close to your consumer is more important than ever, and how you can make more of your customer intelligence by identifying the micro-insights that inspire behaviors and preferences. We’ll reverse engineer our favorite micro-insights from the field to provide you with a new view on the moms you serve.  Expect specific examples from brands who seem particularly mom-intuitive in this best-in-class session with proven strategist and award-winning M2Moms^® speaker, Amy Henry.

Solo:
A Celebration of Women on Their Own Widows, Never Married and Divorced

Kathleen Fitzgerald
Photographer & Author
Kathleen Fitzgerald Portraits

Portrait photographer & author, Kathleen Fitzgerald, introduces us to her new work – a collection of women living on their own. Some have never married; others are divorced or widowed.  Their stories might remind you of women you know.  Collectively, these women represent resiliency, creativity and courage. In 2016 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 53.2% of women 18 and older were single. Plus, in our society, single moms are the new norm.

Kathleen’s book reveals the “single” phenomenon from the artist’s perspective …sharing their compelling photographic portraits and unique stories. They range in age from their 30’s to 90’s and come from across the country. As diverse as they are in ethnicity, culture, education, spiritual beliefs and socio-economic standing, one common trait is the women’s ability to tackle unforeseen situations with tenacity, strength, and resilience. Kathleen reminds brands that ‘single file’ is a dominant choice for many of today’s women and this session will remind you to keep them in your marketing lens.

Who Do Moms Trust?

Linnette Attai
Founder & President
PlayWell, LLC

What does it take for a mom to trust you with their child and feel comfortable knowing that the child will be safe with your product, experience or service? Navigating the complexities of marketing effectively and ethically to children, while keeping their and their parents’ data safe is not for the faint of heart. However, these days, this work is second only to protecting the physical safety of the child. Being able to strike the right balance and to communicate your practices clearly is critical to the success of your brand.

There’s no shortage of companies making costly missteps in this arena. With over 25 years of experience helping companies get it right, Linnette Attai will show you what it takes to stand above the fray and build and maintain the vital trust with parents that is essential for the staying power of your brand.

The New Moms On The Block: How Millennial Parents Approach Trying And Buying

Katherine Cullen
Director of Retail & Consumer Insights
National Retail Federation Research

Nearly two decades after the first millennial turned 18, this generation is embracing a new role: parenthood. Today, millennials lead more than half of households with children and are an important part of the $1 trillion that U.S. families spend annually on their kids. And these millennial moms and dads are setting new rules when it comes to how they want to shop, spend and engage with brands.

New research from the National Retail Federation examines what makes these millennial parents different from parents of other generations. Join Katherine Cullen, Director of Industry and Consumer Insights at the National Retail Federation, as she discusses the findings from the study and what this means for retailers and brands today.

The Mother of All Opportunities

Katrina McCarter
Founder/CEO
Marketing To Mums

Mothers are the powerhouse of the global economy.  They’re responsible for 80 percent of consumer spending. However, there are key mum segments that are being overlooked and it’s costing brands valuable sales and profit. Plus, new technology and multiple cultural forces are changing the marketing-to-mums landscape. How do we prepare to take our brands forward!

In this presentation, Katrina McCarter gives an overview of those critical mum segments and then shares 7 key marketing to mums success factors to build brands over the next ten years – Rise of the Sharing Economy, Importance of Understanding Mums Moments, Growth of Femtech, Micro Niching, Role of Voice, Experiential Marketing, and Purpose. Brands who are able to tap into these 7 areas will win over the coming decade.

Fast track your brand and gain a competitive advantage in your category by gaining critical insights in these overlooked, and in some cases new and frequently untapped market opportunities.

Katrina, a conference favorite, was voted 2018 winner of the “Take the Cake” best speaker award. This year she launches her new book, The Mother of All Opportunities, on the 2019 M2Moms® stage.

The New Reality of Grandparenting

Patty David
Director of Consumer Insights
AARP

There are 70 million grandparents in the US today- many play a special role in the lives of their families.  The days of gray-haired grannies in rocking chairs passing out hard candy are gone. Today’s grandparents are dynamic. Many are tech savvy, still in the workforce, providing financial support to adult children and grandchildren, and are grandparenting from a distance. This presentation reflects these changes and many other new realities of modern grandparentin

Mothers of Invention: The Birth of a Business after the Baby

Nicole Feliciano
CEO
Momtrends Media

Moderator

Celine Cohen
Co-Founder & CEO
Allette Boutique

Panelist

Anjali Varma
Owner & Operator
Kidville Bethesda

Panelist

Randi Zinn
Founder, Author
Beyond Mom

Panelist

Susie Coulter
Co-Founder
Bronty Beauty

Panelist

Although 72% of all moms work, many of today’s moms are a powerful new breed of stay-at-homes. In addition to running their families, they are launching new businesses. Their reasons are many…work flexibility, more fulfillment, and financial necessity. Plus, they have an idea. Frequently these ideas get started in their roles as mothers. They see a need in their own family and proceed to fill it. Then they take that idea out into the world, and a business is born.

It is not easy. One study from the Kauffman Foundation called “Labor After Labor” chronicles how hard entrepreneurship can be for moms. Despite that, many are succeeding and inspire us all!

This panel showcases some successful mom makers and market shakers. We’ll learn how they got started and what they are doing to build business. Let’s listen for insights we can apply to our own brands.

Last year, Amy Henry spoke to us about the value of “surprise & delight” in marketing campaigns, not just for kids but for parents too. When Mom and her family are having the best day ever, is your brand a part of those experiences?

We’ve asked Amy to lead this panel of brand marketers who understand the value of creating experiences that can have lasting positive impact on everyone involved.

As you listen, ask yourself how more family fun can enliven your marketing to mom’s efforts. Perhaps it’s time to be an instigator of smiles, hugs and laughter in your next campaign. Think experience! Mom may love you for it!

Better Together: A Unique Brand Partnership That Uncovered Need & Drove Results

Agata Reyes
V.P. Strategic Partnerships

Destination Maternity

Rachel Curry
Director of Owned Channel Marketing

Volvo Car USA

Having a baby is considered a major life stage event that creates unique marketing opportunities as well as affects brand loyalties, perceptions and needs (both physical and emotional).

In this case study you will learn how two seemingly unlikely brand partners – one in fashion and the other in an auto industry, worked together to successfully reach new moms.

The Diversity of Motherhood

Ariel Segal
Head of Insights

Foursquare

No two mothers are alike—and in our personalization-first world, generalized media targeting and standard demographic descriptors of ‘moms’ don’t work anymore. Instead, motherhood should be viewed as a modifier, since moms have rich lives and diverse interests in addition to raising children. Today’s leading brands are using location technology to personally and seamlessly connect with moms across cultures on an individual basis, enhancing their lives and building true brand loyalty.

Beyond proximity targeting, savvy marketers leverage location to fit more intuitively into moms lives, segmenting specific audiences of moms based on life stage and lifestyle rather than age or ethnicity, and captivating them with moment-based messaging and contextually-relevant creative. In this comprehensive report, location technology platform Foursquare provides deep, data-driven insights that both support marketers’ suspicions and reveal unexpected tidbits about this important, nuanced audience.

Forget Mascara, We’ve Got Babies!

Elle Walker
Co-Founder of What’s Up Moms Parenting Channel on YouTube

What’s Up Moms

In a world where there were a million videos on how to apply mascara, why were there none on how to fly with a toddler? That’s the question that encouraged Elle Walker and Meg Resnikoff to launch What’s Up Moms. Now these two moms and entrepreneurs will return to the couch where it all started (this time not in spit-up-covered-sweats) to discuss how they’ve succeeded, with very little budget, in forging connections with millions of moms – even when large corporations with budgets to match have fallen short.

Setting the Stage on Day One!
The Evolution of Motherhood

Mandy Arioto
President & CEO
MOPS International, Inc.

In this funny and captivating talk, Mandy shares how understanding where we have been will give us insight into where we are going. Looking at the power of influence, and the latent power of networks, this talk will examine the science and sociological implications of why and how moms truly run the world.

Setting the Stage on Day Two!
The Surprising Message that Will Change the World

It is the last thing you would expect, but the single most effective strategy for creating positive change, and marketers will be at the forefront. In this talk Mandy will give insider tips on how to maximize the three most effective new communication techniques in order to gain consumer trust and revolutionize the marketplace. With a mix of neuroscience, historical data and captivating storytelling, this is a message that will transform everything you know about marketing.

Today’s Girls are Tomorrow’s Powerful Women

Jennifer Kendra
Senior Director, Cause Impact Partnerships & Employee Experience

Save the Children

Save the Children works to ensure every child grows up healthy, educated and safe.  Yet, girls around the world still face discrimination for being born daughters and not sons, denied the opportunity to craft her own future and realize her full potential.

Jennifer Kendra, head of Cause Marketing at Save the Children, will share how they work to address girls’ needs and rights by partnering with key stakeholders. By providing girls, young women and mothers with the skills, resources and self-confidence they need to achieve their full potential and address gender norms and barriers, we can create lasting change and impact at scale for girls and the future of women around the world.

Examining how from global brands to startups, the companies that help reinvent parenthood for Millennials will be the ones that succeed

Catherine Merritt
Co-Founder

Spool Marketing and Communications

Through a shared vision of making parenting easier for the millions of millennials who are starting and growing families, hear how Kids II, a nearly 50-year-old company that owns brands such as Baby Einstein, and Be Curious Partners, a VC that invests solely in tech-enabled parenting startups, are finding new ways to reinvent parenting.

In this panel we will meet the marketing leader at Kids II, the co-founder and head of operations for Be Curious Partners, to discuss the candid challenges, pivots and evolutions they’ve experienced with the common goal of making parenthood a little easier through new, innovative and inventive ways.

While Kids II has an enviable pedigree, it’s the future that inspires their vision. We will learn a bit about how this is all coming to life from the perspective of a global brand and that of an investor in parenting startups. They will discuss how larger companies can bring nimble, more agile ways of operating into their own organizations. Perhaps you’ll want to take a page or two out of this playbook and breathe new life into your own portfolio of brands!

A Conversation with Fred Rogers Productions

Cooper Munroe
CEO

The Motherhood, Inc.

During this 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the life and legacy of Fred Rogers are on many people’s minds. Paul Siefken, President & CEO of Fred Rogers Productions, sits down with Cooper Munroe, CEO of The Motherhood Inc., to talk about the company’s work today, its mission, and its commitment to children and families.