Twitter Case Study: Motrin Moms
This weekend, there was a bit of excitement on Twitter as outraged moms around the world responded to this advertisement by Motrin:
The tone of the ad is conspiratorial. It’s supposed to be a mom talking directly to other moms who can identify with the the pain caused by carrying around her baby in various types of slings attached to her body.
I have not carried around a baby so I have no idea whether or not it hurts. But so far, I’m convinced by the ad. I mean, an extra 7-15 pounds (is that what babies weigh?) attached to my hips, my front, my back…I would imagine that would hurt after a while, no matter how ingenious the contraption.
Apparently, I’m wrong. And that, my friends, is where the value of market research comes in. And if you don’t do the research, that’s where the true value of social media comes in.
Apparently, there are many moms who have carried around multiple children on their back, their hips, their front. They were not in pain. In fact, quite the opposite. They are not happy with the Motrin ad campaign, and they want you to know about it.
Over the weekend moms on Twitter united in voicing their displeasure with the Motrin ad . They used "#motrinmoms" as the tag for the threaded conversation, making it easy for people to follow.
In less than 24 hours, this video was created as a response to the ad that intersperses the Twitter conversation with images of moms carrying their children in many of the states mentioned in the ad. It’s pretty powerful:
Also, you can see that the story was picked up by mainstream media as well and will likely appear in print tomorrow or the day after.
Motrin’s website was crashed by the traffic, and has yet to recover. Not good.
What’s surprising to most people is not that there was outrage over an ad that didn’t resonate with its target audience so much as the lack of response from Motrin (or its parent company — Johnson & Johnson). Either they are not monitoring some of the most important conversation channels for their target audience (mommy bloggers) like Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, or they have not empowered their advertising, public relations or communications teams to respond immediately.
This is far from played out. There are probably some who will argue this is being blown out of proportion. In some ways, I might agree. But let’s look at some initial lessons:
LISTEN : People are talking about companies and brands every day on a variety of platforms. It is the responsibility of the marketing and communications team to monitor these conversations, whether or not they choose to participate. While its not possible to follow everything, even the most simple tools (RSS, Google Alerts) will catch things like this.
BE TRANSPARENT : When you make a mistake, apologize to the community and learn from it. This is an opportunity for Motrin to better understand its audience and to begin a conversation that probably should have started long ago.
There are many more, and I’m sure we’ll all learn from how Motrin handles this in the coming days.
Further reading: Mommy Bloggers Assimilate Johnson & Johnson , Forbes , Pistachio
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Olle Ahnve // 11-17-2008 at 4:16 pm
Very well put together, Aaron!
I don’t get it - are Motrin trying to tell parents that they are in pain or discourage them from carrying their kids? Seems like this was not so thought through…
You’re right about the pain - I carried my son for seven months of paternity leave and I am still not convinced. Btw - where are the Twitterdads?
Aaron Uhrmacher // 11-17-2008 at 7:43 pm
I think the ad was tongue and cheek, but it received a very negative reaction from this particular (and vocal) group of moms.
Give it a day, I’m sure the Twitter dads will jump on board if they haven’t already. Maybe you should lead the charge!
tweetip // 11-17-2008 at 7:59 pm
1st Tweets ~ timeline & chart updated #motrinmoms… http://tweetip.us/lknkw
John Taylor // 11-17-2008 at 8:34 pm
Hi Aaron —
The Motrin.com site didn’t crash… the folks at Johnson & Johnson pulled the content which offended their customers.
What was your take on the apology from the VP responsible for the Motrin brand?
John
Aaron Uhrmacher // 11-17-2008 at 9:29 pm
John -
Thanks for the clarification. I kept getting a network error, not a message indicating maintenance.
Anyway, I think the apology was sincere and it’s a good first step.
My hope is that people who were upset by the ad are pacified by Motrin’s efforts and that they will now help Motrin to better understand what’s important to this particular community so that it doesn’t happen again. We all make mistakes and that’s how we learn.
Moreover, we should all recognize that Motrin responded very quickly given the size of the company and encourage them to participate more fully moving forward.
What do YOU think?
Christian // 11-18-2008 at 2:47 pm
Great analysis as always Aaron. My build on your comments is that this community is over playing its hand.
The ad never suggests that wearing your baby is a bad idea. They’re attempting to resonate with new moms who are under a lot of peer pressure and societal scrutiny to be perfect. I don’t think this is lost even on the most vocal detractors, but we may have lost our tolerance for humor.
Motrin certainly should have been aware of the collective power of “Mommy Bloggers” and missed an opportunity before launching the campaign to engage with them to get their buy-in, adjust the campaign accordingly or drop it altogether. But really, one would think based on the swelling rage from this community that Motrin has suggested a generation of moms should all be hooked on valium.
This community has been made very self-aware of its influence over the past few years, fostered by communications professionals seeking to harness that influence. From my view, the reaction has been disproportionate to the crime and they seem to be flexing their muscle for the sake of flexing their muscle. Aren’t there bigger issues to tackle than a perceived mischaracterization of a weary new mom?
Motrin needs to do their part for sure, and establish an more open dialogue than they what they have to date. And if there is third party data to support the claims in the ad campaign, they should surface it - surely some Moms suffer SOME strain and pain. If there is no third party data, they should indeed offer a public mea culpa, a la David Neeleman of Jet Blue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_PIg7EAUw
There is an opportunity for them to turn this around and establish some sort of “Council of Online Mommies” to serve as consultants.
hb // 11-18-2008 at 4:06 pm
Excellent post, Christian.
Wow, new moms, sanctimonious much?
Sara // 11-18-2008 at 5:19 pm
I seem to remember “wearing my baby” for 9 months while he grew and carrying around a lot more weight then. Guess that made me stronger. After he was born it was a piece of cake to carry him with the baby carrier. Maybe that’s nature’s way.
Aaron Uhrmacher // 11-18-2008 at 5:25 pm
Christian,
You’re totally on point. I think what makes this case so interesting is how quickly Motrin reacted by apologizing and pulling their video/print campaign. Surely this isn’t the first time that a company’s product publicity has been questioned, and I wonder what kind of precedent this sets.
Your recommendations for Motrin are good ones.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Steve Patti // 11-20-2008 at 3:55 am
Christian - you’re right on the mark.
I think the key lesson learned here is to first participate in the social media venues where you want to ultimately connect. If Motrin had spent time listening, learning, and participating with their target they would have had better context by which to deliver a message that connected with people and fostered positive dialogue exchange. OK, so that’s a lesson for all marketers — however, you’re right that this outrage is being over-played (which in itself demonstrates the power of social media).
For those asking where the “Motrin Dad” comments are, let me offer a real-life testimony:
When our 9 year old was only 15 months, we took a trip to Australia & New Zealand and I carried him in a backpack device designed for kids to ride and see forward (metal frame, nylon material, etc.) Sure, it was cool to walk around Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch, etc. with a 15 month old on my back. However, even for a guy with over a dozen marathons to my credit, 4 hours of walking around with a 20 pound kid on my back jacked my spine and I downed a couple Advil at night to ease the pain (OK, so there may have been a pint of Fosters just one night). Anyway, these heroic mom’s who claim they’re not feeling the impact of hauling around a 15 pound kid/device all day could be sandbagging just a bit.
Karthik S // 11-25-2008 at 3:41 am
Adage has a case study which suggests that Motrin/ J&J may have reacted too soon and too big…the case study talks about the relative strength of the online flash mob vis-a-vis broader audience. Interesting turn of perspective, but what is perhaps important here are,
a. the relative purchasing power of these always online moms
b. the powerful voice of these online moms and how their influence spreads fast
http://adage.com/article?article_id=132787