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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.

**According to a recent survey commissioned by Chick-fil-A.

The Motherhood Recognized by Industry Peers: Earns PRSA 2016 Agency of the Year and Best in Show

January 29, 2016 by The Motherhood

The Motherhood was named 2016 Agency of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America’s Pittsburgh chapter at its annual Renaissance Awards ceremony on January 28, receiving recognition for outstanding contributions to the public relations industry. The Renaissance Awards program is a gathering of the region’s top public relations and communications professionals from leading agencies, corporations, non-profit organizations and educational institutions.

Our work received the highest honor of the evening, Best in Show, for The Stork OTC campaign, which also won a Renaissance Award the Digital Social Media Campaign category. This entry was the only entry, out of nearly 90, that received a perfect score from the judging panel*. This award-winning campaign engaged 30 influential bloggers who had experience with fertility issues for a social media campaign to generate awareness of The Stork at-home conception device’s move from prescription to over-the-counter (OTC) availability. The program generated 57 million impressions, a trending hashtag and contributed to the device selling out at CVS/pharmacy online.

The Motherhood also received a Renaissance Award in the Online and Social Blogger Outreach category for the Brain Chase campaign. This 2015 campaign included a partnership with the team at Brain Chase, a new online “adventure learning” program for kids, aimed at helping them avoid summer learning loss. The Motherhood engaged a strong team of influential bloggers to help raise awareness and drive signups for the summer 2015 program. During the four-month campaign, the blogger team drove one-third of total sign-ups.

In both the Digital Social Media Campaign category and Community Relations & Public Service category, The Motherhood earned Awards of Merit for the P&G Power of Clean campaign. For this campaign, The Motherhood partnered with P&G and Ketchum to execute a campaign behind the P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program. Twenty bloggers initiated a conversation about “Power of Clean” and drove video views, helping to deliver a donation of 126,000 days of clean water.

The Motherhood’s entry for the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life Campaign was also recognized with an Award of Merit in the Community Relations and Public Service Category. For this campaign, we worked with United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life to engage 50 influential bloggers to participate in a “blog relay,” sharing inspiring quotes on blogs and social channels. Each comment, like or share of their posts triggered one vaccine donation, with an overall total of 60,000 donations in four weeks.

Our partner agency on the recent Bolthouse Farms Kids program, Smith Brothers Agency, also took home a Renaissance Award in the Marketing Communications category for the “Snack Mob Sampling Tour.” To elevate the Bolthouse Farms Kids brand in Pittsburgh and generate awareness of its new products in partnership with Smith Brothers, The Motherhood enlisted a powerhouse team of influential Pittsburgh moms to attend a series of local market #SnackMob truck events throughout the city and encouraged their readers to do the same. Bloggers also used their social media posts to spread the word about the #SnackMob contest and to document their own experiences with this one-of-a-kind snack truck.

The Motherhood team extends its gratitude for our brand partners and nationwide network of bloggers with whom we had the honor of creating this award-winning work.

Last night’s Agency of the Year and campaign recognition follows a very successful 2015 ceremony, during which The Motherhood took home the first-ever People’s Choice Award, after our campaign around Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood with The Fred Rogers Company received the most votes from the PR professionals in attendance. Beyond the ceremony, The Motherhood was also named the second-fastest growing marketing company in our headquarters city in 2015, as well as AMA Marketer of the Year.

Follow us at @TheMotherhood on Twitter and on our blog for the latest industry insights and leading research, or email us to learn more about our offerings.

*Entries were independently evaluated by a panel of judges from PRSA’s East Central District, comprised of chapters from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Western and Northwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Make Your Mark on Hunger during National Service Month

April 20, 2015 by The Motherhood

Child hunger is an issue near and dear to our hearts at The Motherhood, because we know 16 million kids in the U.S. are not getting the food they need. Without reliable access to healthy food and proper nutrition, children face developmental obstacles that can impact them for life.

Solving child hunger in America is not something we can do alone. That’s why we’re excited to partner with ConAgra Foods, the ConAgra Foods Foundation and dozens of amazing bloggers who are passionate about fighting child hunger for National Service Month in April.

Together with their children, our bloggers have been hard at work making their mark on hunger and using the opportunity to teach their kids about child hunger and the importance of community service. Take a look at just a few of their service projects:

Nicole, Mom Always Finds Out: “14,712 pounds of food were donated on that single Saturday.”

Mel, Adventures of Mel: “Helping out in a local community garden like this is just a really great way to get involved in the fight against child hunger. It’s donating time and effort toward providing nutritious, fresh foods to families in need.”

Dawn, The Frugal Mom: “My mantra is: ‘Help when you can, where you can!’ The 16-person team packed over 2,000 meals in just three hours!”

For inspiration on how to help solve child hunger in your area, watch this video of kids sharing their ideas on making a difference. More resources are also available at www.childhungerendshere.com or our Pinterest board. Tell us how you’re making a difference using #FightHungerTogether in the comments below or tweet us at @TheMotherhood.

Featured image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Flickr)

4 Tips for Spring Cleaning to Feel Refreshed

March 20, 2015 by The Motherhood

After the year of record-breaking snow and bitter cold many parts of the country experienced, it’s safe to say that we’ve been counting down to March 20 — the first official day of spring! Several months after many people made (and perhaps dropped) their New Year’s resolutions, the spring season brings a welcome sense of energy and desire to refresh many areas of our lives.

Here are four of our favorite ways to feel renewed as we usher in spring:

1. Do a Closet Clean Out

Take inventory of our closets and weed out unused clothing. Organization experts suggest eliminating wardrobe items that don’t meet the following criteria:

It currently fits
You have worn it in the past 12 months
You’re likely to wear it again
It’s in good condition (or you are willing to get it repaired)
It accurately represents your personal style
It makes you feel confident

If you can’t check those boxes for it, that item doesn’t make the cut! Make piles for items to keep, items to sell and items to donate to streamline your clean-out process.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons user Emily May.

Another fun option for pieces that are still in good condition is to host a clothing swap! Gather a few friends and ask them to bring a suggested minimum number of items. Create a festive party atmosphere with fun food and drinks (check out www.sweetswaps.com for some great ideas), and let the swapping begin! To make sure everyone gets a turn to shop, draw numbers and take turns picking one item from the selections. After a few rounds, you can open it up to a “free for all” so every item can find a new home.

2. Tackle Digital Clutter

Now is a great time to delete unneeded content and back up important files that are on your mobile devices. Not only will you feel more organized, but you’ll have the security of knowing your digital memories, such as special photos and videos, aren’t in danger of being lost forever. There are several simple ways to back up your files, and a quick search of some of these methods will yield some easy-to-follow instructions:

Import files to your desktop
Store your photos in the cloud using Dropbox or Google Drive
Upload your images to Flickr

3. Revamp Your Recipe Repertoire

A pantry clean-out is a great spring cleaning idea, but another way to refresh your kitchen this spring is to add some new recipes to your rotation! We love the idea of making simple lifestyle changes, such as swapping full sugar for SPLENDA® Sweetener Products in recipes, to find balance and enjoy the sweet life.

Through the SWEET SWAPS™ Initiative, the SPLENDA® Brand is dishing out creative ways to swap full sugar for SPLENDA® Sweetener Products in order to save calories. SweetSwaps.com is a treasure trove of creative and delicious ways to use SPLENDA® Sweetener Products no matter what type of dish you’re preparing!

To celebrate spring and enjoy the sweet life without all the calories of added sugar, we’re loving the citrus flavor of freshly made lemon chiffon pie that swaps full sugar for SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener!

4. Develop a “Spot Clean” Strategy

Every house has a “hot spot” or two — places that always tend to accumulate clutter. Common areas include your dining room table, kitchen island or entryway. To stop tripping over backpacks or feeling overwhelmed by piles of paper, take charge of these hot spots and develop a cleaning and organizing system that works for your family. By installing a mailbox organizer with a labeled slot for each family member, or placing a coat rack and bench with individual cubbies or even some canvas storage cubes just inside your front door, you can help stop clutter in its tracks.

We’d love to hear your ideas for simplifying your life this spring! Leave us a comment with your favorite tips.

This post is part of the SPLENDA® Brand Sweet Life blogger program by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. All opinions are our own.

The featured image at the top of this post is courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons user Tristan Martin.

Keep Kids’ Minds Active This Summer with Brain Chase

March 18, 2015 by The Motherhood

Every year, kids nationwide look forward to that final bell indicating that school’s out for the summer.

As parents, we’re usually less pleased when our kids begin their mid-year months of “freedom,” because we’ve seen the research showing that kids lose ground academically over the summer (according to a 2011 RAND study).

Help has arrived: Brain Chase, a five-week, summer learning challenge disguised as a virtual treasure hunt to keep your kids interested and motivated to learn, as they search the globe for a real treasure in the form of a $10,000 college scholarship fund.

The first-ever Brain Chase Summer Learning Challenge occurred last year. See how it turned out for the 2014 winners:

You can sign your kids up now for a summer of educational fun! The treasure hunt begins on June 22. Get early-bird pricing until April 15, and use this code to take an extra 15 percent off: MOTHERHOOD15

Brain Chase requires kids to complete weekly structured math and reading challenges on sites like Khan Academy and myON, along with writing exercises that receive feedback from credentialed teachers, in order to unlock original, animated webisodes with a story line featuring a team of kid treasure hunters. Each webisode contains clues to help kids find the location of a real buried treasure (and $10,000 scholarship fund).

Parents get weekly progress reports on kids’ work throughout the five-week challenge, and in addition to the normal assignments, Brain Chase sends three “bonus challenges” through the regular mail. Last year’s challenges required kids to work with a decoder ring, compass and “magic” seeds to solve additional clues.

Based on a survey of last year’s participants, 93 percent of parents say that Brain Chase helped their children stay sharp over the summer, and 83 percent say it was more effective than other summer learning options they were aware of.

You can see the sneak preview for the 2015 Brain Chase Summer Learning Challenge here:

Let the “adventure learning” begin for your kids this year, and share your progress with us along the way! You can sign your kids up here, and don’t forget to use the discount code MOTHERHOOD15.

Disclosure: The Motherhood is working with Brain Chase, along with a team of fantastic bloggers and their intrepid, treasure-hunting kids, on a blog campaign between March and June. Opinions are our own.

The Motherhood Client Partnerships Receive Top Honors at PRSA Awards!

January 30, 2015 by The Motherhood

The Motherhood is proud and honored to announce that several campaigns we created and managed in 2014 were recognized by the Public Relations Society of America’s Pittsburgh chapter at its annual Renaissance Awards ceremony!

Our work for OshKosh B’gosh received a Renaissance Award in the Digital/Social Media Campaigns category, and a partnership with The Fred Rogers Company won in the Online/Social Tactics category, as well as the first-ever Renaissance People’s Choice Award!

OshKosh B’gosh and The Motherhood Bring Back-to-School Trends to the Blogosphere

The Motherhood's Kayla Geahry with the Renaissance Award. — The Motherhood’s Kayla Geahry with the Renaissance Award.

In summer 2014, as back-to-school shopping season approached, beloved kids clothing brand OshKosh B’gosh engaged The Motherhood to help them reach an audience of moms online with key details about their fall fashions.

OshKosh B’gosh, an iconic brand famous for durable quality and emotional connections across generations, wanted to communicate that they offer stylish clothing grounded in the belief that kids have fun being kids.

Through the partnership, top mom influencers learned about the on-trend back-to-school fashions for kids available at OshKosh B’gosh and shared those messages with their communities.

The overall program resulted in more than 17 million total impressions and provided OshKosh B’gosh with a robust presence on blogs and social media, including 42 blog posts with nearly 600 comments and 4,800 giveaway entries!

The Fred Rogers Company and The Motherhood Make Daniel Tiger a Nationally Trending Topic

The Motherhood team celebrates our Renaissance Awards and People's Choice Award. — The Motherhood team celebrates our Renaissance Awards and People’s Choice Award.

To help The Fred Rogers Company generate holiday excitement for its Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood toys, The Motherhood engaged 30 amazing bloggers for a social media outreach campaign that generated 26 million impressions, earned a spot as the #1 hashtag on Twitter’s U.S. trending topics list and contributed to the toys selling out in stores around the country!

This is certainly shaping up to be the year of the tiger – Daniel Tiger, that is. The Fred Rogers Company was also recently named the 2014 Pittsburgher of the Year for their use of new media technologies, reinvigoration of a beloved legacy and passionate advocacy for children.

We are honored to call The Fred Rogers Company our neighbors and we’re proud of the remarkable legacy they’ve built!

Celebrating Award-Winning Work

Judged by the Philadelphia Chapter of PRSA, the Renaissance Award entries were submitted by public relations professionals in more than 20 categories. As one of the top-scoring entries, the Daniel Tiger program was eligible for the first-ever People’s Choice Award, and after receiving the most votes from the PR professionals in attendance, was selected as the winner! This win comes on the heels of a very successful 2014 ceremony, during which Cooper Munroe was named Communicator of the Year.

Our most sincere thanks to OshKosh B’gosh and The Fred Rogers Company for their partnership and to the amazing bloggers who helped to bring these award-winning programs to life!