The River

The personal professional blog of Pamela Parker -- musings on marketing, advertising, media and technology.

Personal/Family

Babycarrying and Online Marketing

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I suspect more than a few folks are scratching their heads about the whole #motrinmoms scandal du weekend. As my friend @fuzheado said, the divergence in reaction might make a good Mars/Venus case study. He didn’t get what all the fuss was about, but his wife honed right in on the problem.

Not surprisingly, I’m with the wife. Like the super-vocal moms who took such offense, I immediately “got” the problem with the ad — its tone. As a mom with a 5-month-old, I “wear” my baby all the time. But it’s not because it’s “in fashion,” because it’s “supposedly” is a good bonding experience or because I want to look like “an official mom”, as the Motrin ad implies. It’s because it works. The kid doesn’t cry and I can do whatever needs doing. And of course it’s a bonding experience, because any time you meet your child’s needs that’s the case.

And, yes, sometimes my back hurts. Others out there are admitting this, too, even though the conventional wisdom is that babywearing doesn’t hurt if you’re doing it right. So, I don’t think J&J is far off in targeting moms who wear their babies. They’re just going about it wrong. (And let’s not dismiss this as a Twitter crisis. For everyone that’s tweeting about this, there are many others that are hearing about it, or just seeing the ads themselves and having the same reaction. Twitter is just surfacing the word-of-mouth that would have been happening anyway. )

But all is not lost for the brand. Right now, everyone’s saying they will boycott Motrin. This bodes ill for their product for adults and may also impact their product for kids, given they’ve now offended the target that controls the purse-strings.

The silver lining is that Motrin has gotten everyone’s attention. They need to grab this opportunity, while they’re in the online spotlight, to connect in a positive way. They need to apologize and retool their condescending message about babywearing. To make sure it gets seen, an ad spend on mommy blogs is in order. Motrin have shown that they’re not the experts on babywearing, but they can certainly get involved with and sponsor conversations on the topic — a topic that inspires an amazing amount of passion. Whaddaya say, J&J?

Other links:

Sarah Evans on Mashable has a prescription for Motrin, as well.

Moving Back East

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Ah, it’s only been 3 short years since I last posted about moving. And… here we go again — in the other direction.

In an eerie coincidence, we’re probably going to be taking off within a week of our 3 year anniversary of moving West. And our new digs are within 1/2 mile of where we lived before (in Brooklyn). But, boy, have things changed (one 2-year-old boy changes everything) in the intervening time.

This move is also due to my husband’s job, but, thankfully, as occurred in my last move, I’ve got an office — FM’s NYC satellite — to land in, upon my arrival sometime in December. I’m really looking forward to seeing all of my NYC-based professional contacts again, and I’m excited about returning to the city I never stopped loving.

Five Years Ago Today

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Checking out the blogosphere this morning, I see a lot of people are posting their memories of that day, five years ago, when the unbelievable became reality. I’ve been dreading this anniversary in some ways, partly because coverage still makes me cry — the way I shed tears in Union Square (NYC) reading “Missing” flyers in the days after the tragedy.

I lived and worked in New York City on September 11, 2001. My office was on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. It was far away from the downtown events, but, because of the towers’ height and the geographical lay-out of the city, we could, and did, step outside our doors to look down Fifth Avenue and see the fatally damaged towers, while they stood, and the sickening black smoke after they fell.

Some other memories:


  • Despite just being a couple miles away, I found out about the WTC attack via instant messenger. We had an editor working from home that day, and he’d seen footage on CNN. He IMed those of us in the office and kept us updated regularly. We didn’t have a TV in the office, and the Internet (being totally clogged with traffic) was next-to-useless.
  • After doing what we could at the office, I walked home, straight down Fifth Avenue. Along the way, people were actually snatching up postcards of the WTC from tourist-oriented shops.
  • Restaurants started running out of food in the days after the attacks, as Manhattan is an island, after all, and shipments of fresh food and produce weren’t exempt from security restrictions that kept everyone out.
  • My brother reached me by phone after the first plane hit, but before the second one did, so he was able to relay news to my family that I was nowhere near the buildings. My then-boyfriend, now husband, still living in the UK, didn’t find out I was OK until he got to a place where he could IM me.

May add more as I get more time today.

Momentum and Momentousness

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Well, the day has finally come. Yes, there’s been a big build up, but it’s ending with a whimper. I’m here at the subleased office by myself, packing up the last of my stuff (including the famous goose). When I finally shuffle out the door and turn off the lights, it’ll be goodbye to ClickZ after nearly 5 years. And goodbye to daily news reporting about interactive advertising, which I started doing in 1999. (Well, I’ll be blogging, but, still…)

Instead of getting all sentimental, I’ll just keep it short and sweet. In my years at ClickZ I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most hard working, talented journalists and columnists (not to mention all-around good people) I’ve ever met. (See their blog here.) It’s been a great experience to be associated with such a strong brand, and such an influential publication, through the years when the interactive advertising industry has seen so much innovation. There were ups, downs, and, now, the resurgence. I’ll miss them, but I’m sure ClickZ, and the team, will be just fine without me. Goodbye!

P.S. I don’t expect this blog to continue the way it’s been going the past few days (with lots of personal and FM-promotional stuff). So, if it’s not to your taste (and even if it is), stick around.