The Motherhood

Back-to-School Shopping Trends Your Brand Should Know

July 20, 2016 by The Motherhood

According to eMarketer, retail sales in the United States will increase by 2.6 percent during the 2016 back-to-school shopping season. And although it’s only mid-July, consumers have already started their back-to-school shopping, making it an opportune time for brands to integrate a back-to-school approach into their marketing strategies.

Here are some quick facts for brands and bloggers to know about the back-to-school season:

There’s a 290 percent increase in pinning related to back-to-school from July to September.
85 percent of back-to-school pins are related to five specific categories: Food and Drink, Kids, DIY, Education and Photography.
In 2015, back-to-school search interest started trending up a week earlier than the year before and a whole three weeks earlier than in 2013.
31 percent of parents will complete their back-to-school shopping after the school year starts.
More than half of college students are using their smartphones to comparison shop.
Parents are planning to spend an average of $917 per child on back-to-school supplies this year (with about $343 of that amount for technology).

Three trends to keep in mind this back-to-school shopping season:

In-Store purchases dominate, but mobile supports:

More than 80 percent of college parents, 74 percent of college students and 77 percent of K-12 parents purchase their supplies in-store. Consumers use search and social media on their mobile devices to research the best deals before heading to the store. Searches related to “near me” spike in the back-to-school season.

Takeaway: Social and search trends during this season provide opportunity to drive in-store visits.

Products endorsed OR SHARED by influencerS are top of mind:

Shoppers said blogs and social media conversations weigh in as much as traditional ad formats when it comes to driving their back-to-school purchases. Social media assists 46 percent of college students and 30 percent of parents with school-aged kids as they search for deals and coupons on their smartphones.

Takeaway: Integrating influencer marketing into back-to-school strategies and creating social sharing incentives for consumers will help brands’ products rise to the top of consumers’ shopping lists.

Deals and visuals will draw consumers:

Video and visual posts are continually rising to the top of social media feeds, even more so since recent algorithm updates. Visual central platforms like Pinterest and Instagram continue to increase in popularity, generating high engagement levels. Reportedly, consumers rate discounts and deals higher than value (quality) and brand loyalty when it comes to back-to-school shopping.

Takeaway: Combining these two trends can lead to a high return on back-to-school marketing and content creation.

Summer DIY Never Looked So Good with Olympic Paints and Stains

July 14, 2016 by The Motherhood

For many of us, we kick off the summer with a list of projects we want to finish before the fall. By July, we may have lost our motivation to make it through the whole list. Most often, these projects include things we’ve been thinking about since spring, if not longer, so what we really need is a little inspiration just to get us started!

Earlier this year, we partnered with some incredibly creative, DIY-inspiring bloggers on behalf of Olympic Paints and Stains and challenged them to put their project ideas into action through beautiful, thoughtful mood boards that reflected projects they hoped to complete. We then armed them with their favorite Olympic Paints and asked them to document the process.

The results are AMAZING.

OFFICE, LAUNDRY ROOM AND BATHROOM MAKEOVERS

Kenda of Remaking June blew us away with her office makeover, taking a standard-looking home office and turning it into a dreamy, chic, streamlined space that we all want to work in!

Katie of Mom’s Favorites also revamped her office space with a modern accent wall that’s so beautiful it could double as art.

Christy of Thrifty and Thriving transformed her laundry room into a space where we want to hang out (and maybe even do some laundry)!

Vanessa of See Vanessa Craft lived up to her crafty name and reputation with a striking before-and-after.

DIY Furniture

Jenn of Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog turned four simple wood crates into a rustic yet polished-looking coffee table that would easily be a focal point of any room.

Sia of Thrifty Northwest Mom delivered this hugely impressive transformation of a simple bookshelf when she incorporated candelabras from her wedding and brought the whole thing together with a fresh coat of paint. We’re in love!

Olympic Paint understands the thought process and the preparation that goes into home projects, and it’s with this in mind that they designed and launched the new Olympic Paints and Stains Color Center at Lowe’s, which each of our bloggers visited and utilized as they planned out their projects.

The Center allows people to browse paints and stains in one place, where colors are organized to make finding and comparing shades easier than ever. You can shop in three different ways, depending on what works for your creative style, whether it’s by color (through the chips), lifestyle (through the lifestyle brochures) or project (using room and project brochures). If you want to see how a paint color will look before you head to Lowe’s, you can upload a photo of your room to the Olympic Paint Visualizer Tool.

The Motherhood worked with these bloggers as part of a sponsored campaign on behalf of Olympic Paints and Stains.

Hack the Summer: Tips and Tricks for Family Fun in Pittsburgh

July 11, 2016 by The Motherhood

In collaboration with Chick-fil-A Pittsburgh, The Motherhood teamed up with Brown Mamas, Pgh Momtourage and Sugar Aunts — and their friends, families and communities of readers — to create the ultimate list of tips, tricks and places to visit for family fun in Pittsburgh.

The curated list of “summer hacks” includes many free and low-cost activities that will appeal to family members of all ages and are located all across the region. The best part? Even the most in-the-know Pittsburghers may find a few hidden gems that have escaped their knowledge!

Which one will you visit first?

Family Fun in Pittsburgh Starts with Food

The inspiration for curating these tips for family fun in Pittsburgh is the launch of Chick-fil-A One — a digital app that brings together mobile ordering, mobile payment and surprise giveaways!

As the tastiest of all summer hacks, Chick-fil-A One offers families benefits including a super-easy way to customize each person’s order and the ability to pay in advance and skip the line at the cash register. What parent wouldn’t love that benefit, especially during busy lunch or dinner times? We’re guessing the 82 percent of parents who responded to our survey to say they’d do almost anything to avoid long lines when they have their children in tow will be heading straight to iTunes or Google Play to download Chick-fil-A One.

Bonus hack: for an easy and fun way to get in on the Chick-fil-A One action, just tweet #CFAOne with the horizontal cow emoji ???? to receive a prompt to download the app from Twitter directly.

Chick-fil-A is about to make all of your chicken sandwich dreams come true just by ordering with your phone. Chick-fil-A will thank customers who order using Chick-fil-A One with free food offers for their favorite menu items. Sign. Us. Up.

Share your Hacks

We’d love to hear your ideas for creating family fun in Pittsburgh — and other cities across the country! Comment below with your tips, tricks and places to visit in your own hometown.

Hack the summer ART created by alison mckown, graphic designer for the motherhood.

Dads Feel Ignored By Parenting Companies, And They Aren’t Happy About It

June 30, 2016 by The Motherhood

How a Kickstarter campaign to build the first dads’ clothing line can change the game of parenting

Guest post by Andrew Bentley, Father + Figure, CEO

For several years before my wife became pregnant, we discussed wanting to be equal parenting partners. We were going to be like swaddling superheros back-to-back, fighting the evils of teething and poopy diaper monsters. We bonded over it.

But when she became pregnant and we moved from discussion to actual preparation, I started to feel left behind. The vast majority of books, classes and equipment were geared towards mothers. During birth, I read, dads are supposed to stay out of the way and try not to faint. And for the first time I was conscious to the deluge of commercials, TV characters and books that paint dads as helpless parenting punchlines. My superhero dad cape withered.

I had a hunch I wasn’t alone in my disappointment with parenting resources and cultural norms, especially after hearing similar sentiment from my new dad friends. To better understand the new father experience, I conducted a survey of 350 millennial dads. Turns out, 84% of them wish parenting companies better understood their needs. I expected lots of dads to feel left behind, but this large majority blew me away.

The lack of attention given to new fathers has consequences. More than three quarters of dads surveyed feel they aren’t valued as parents when products and services aren’t geared towards them. Personally, it made me feel like a second-class parent.

Inspired by dozens of dads sharing their stories with me and becoming a father myself, I am building a startup to support and inspire dads. My company, Father + Figure, is developing the first clothing line designed for new dads. The clothing combines fashion and utility, with built-in features to help dads care for their children.

Why clothing? When my wife started wearing maternity clothes, I noticed they weren’t only practical but also helped her get in the mindset of carrying and caring for a child. Feeling prepared is an important component of confident care-taking of a newborn. Father + Figure’s clothes are fashionable uniforms for dads to put on for the big game.

The line includes a t-shirt, a long-sleeve denim shirt and bandana print burp rags. Stylistically and functionally, they are inspired by classic american workwear, with features like loops to store burp rags or attach toys. Father + Figure’s shirts are made from the softest materials I could find. They include extra soft patches where babies are most often held, such as along the forearms.

After designing and testing for more than a year my dads’ clothing line is ready to be produced here in the USA. In order to do that I am raising funds for our first product run. If you want to join this movement to support dads please back our Kickstarter project here. We’ve gotten tremendous support but still need more.

Britt & Britt Share Their New Mom Must-Haves

June 23, 2016 by The Motherhood

As colleagues, friends and first-time moms, The Motherhood’s Brittnee and Brittney often turn to each other for advice, recommendations and support on everything related to raising little ones. New mom must-haves is a common watercooler topic in our office!

With summer being the top season for births in the U.S., Britt & Britt thought now would be the perfect time for a round-up of favorite items that they often share with others. As members of an award-winning social media marketing agency that connects influential moms with top consumer brands, we are in a unique position of learning about the latest and greatest products and services that make families’ lives just a little bit easier, and several of our favorite partners are included below.

Brittnee’s Top Picks

VTech montior: one of our new mom must-haves — Image courtesy of Meghan, JaMonkey

When she was expecting, Britt put a video monitor on the very top of her shopping list. However, once her son became more mobile, he thought he’d demonstrate his growing strength and dexterity by pulling the camera off the wall and throwing it across the room, rendering it useless. When Britt was researching replacement options, VTech monitors* rose to the top of her list. The VTech Safe and Sound Pan & Tilt Full Color Video Baby Monitor checked all of the boxes of features she was looking for: high-res video, pan/zoom/tilt capabilities, night vision and a talk-back option. She’s already scouting locations in her house to install additional camera units, which will be incredibly helpful as her little one puts his newly acquired walking skills to use!

The MamaRoo by 4Moms was an absolute live-saver for Britt! Her son loved the rocking and swaying motions (the “kangaroo” setting was his favorite), and it was often the only way she could overcome his resistance to nap in those early days.

Many a skeptical parent has resisted this one (Britt even originally removed it from her registry because after reading about it she couldn’t fathom using it!), but she later ran out and bought one at the start of her little man’s first cold. She learned firsthand the NoseFrida “The Snotsucker” Nasal Aspirator is a must. Don’t ask, just do it.

When baby’s tummy was upset, Colic Calm was the gentlest, most effective, all-natural solution Britt found. She now gifts this to every new mom she knows! Pro tip: put a bib on your baby when delivering the drops. The product is very dark and can stain clothing.

Those first few months with a newborn can be difficult, beautiful, magical, frustrating, confusing and sometimes isolating — all at the same time. Britt recommends taking a look at the Covey app* for help. Covey is a way to meet other parents based on interests, location and kids’ ages. It’s a nice low-pressure way to connect with others, get advice and share experiences in a supportive, online environment. If you want to take your digital friendships to “real life” friendships, it’s easy to find info on local playdates, family-friendly activities and meet-ups. Covey is available on iTunes and Google Play.

Brittney’s New Mom Must-Haves

MiMedia: one of our new mom must-haves — Image courtesy of Julie, Mommie Cooks

When you take a series of 40+ photos of your child’s first taste of solid food and you can’t bear to delete a single imperfect shot even though your phone is nearly out of space, there’s an elegant solution to this storage dilemma: MiMedia*, a personal cloud that organizes and stores digital files in one safe, secure spot. Britt has been using MiMedia for several weeks and notes that it’s the most simple, user-friendly solution she’s found — and she’s tried many! It’s unbelievably easy to use, even for the most sleep-deprived of parents. It’s well-worth taking a few seconds to sign up online and download the app. Use the code TheMotherhood for a free 10GB account!

Speaking of apps, Britt and her husband couldn’t live without the Baby Connect app, especially during the first few months after their daughter was born. BabyConnect provides a super simple way to track daily activities from feedings to diaper changes, as well as milestones and growth stats. You can even download charts and graphs so you can see trends and patterns over time. The list of features is impressive, and data can sync to more than one mobile device.

After taking turns staying awake holding their newborn all night for the first week after they came home from the hospital, Britt and her husband knew they had to find something their daughter would sleep in. The flat bassinet earned a hard “no” from their daughter and the crib in the next room might as well have been a mile away. However, once they tried the Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, the game was officially changed. Parents, the reviews are true: the Rock ‘n Play is indeed made with sleepy dust!

Butt Paste: one of our new mom-haves — Image courtesy of April, April Golightly

No diaper bag or changing table is complete without Butt Paste*. These colorful tubes of ointment kick rash like nothing else! Free from harsh ingredients, Butt Paste saves those baby buns from the 3Ps — parabens, preservatives and phthalates — earning it an A+ in Britt’s book. She always includes a few tubes into baby shower gifts. Are you a #ButtPasteMom, too?

We know 82 percent** of parents would do almost anything to avoid long lines at fast food restaurants when they have children in tow, and Britt is one of them! When all she hears from the back seat of the car is “Snaaack! Snaaack!” Britt knows she needs to find some waffle fries and chicken strips NOW. One of Britt’s best mom-to-mom tips is to download the Chick-fil-A* ONE mobile app. This awesome app allows you to order and pay for food in advance, meaning you can bypass the line at the register or minimize time in the drive-thru. This is a seriously awesome perk, especially if you visit during busy lunch and dinner times, because everyone knows toddlers don’t wait for food. Click over to iTunes or Google Play and download this lifesaver today!

What are your new mom must-haves? We’d love to hear what you couldn’t live without. Share your suggestions via the comments. Another mom out there just may discover her new favorite product.

* Indicates the brand is a partner of The Motherhood. All opinions are our own and none of the content is meant to be medical advice. Be sure to contact your healthcare provider for recommendations specific to your family.