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Meridith JaminManaging Partner Director of Consumer Insights Mediaedge:cia

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Being NosyBeing Nosy

The unappreciated skill of The unappreciated skill of eavesdropping …eavesdropping …

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It's at night as I'm falling asleep that the panic and sadness hit me that another summer is almost over - did we do everything we set out to do this summer? They slip on by so quickly....

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The biggest thing that we do is inventory our existing clothing and equipment. We make this into a fun sort of game so that the kids will try things on so that we can make certain that they fit. We have our Annual Family Fashion show. I buy some prizes and get some Burger King crowns.

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Tonight at the dinner table I went over table etiqutte. Not only because they are starting school, but they appear to have no home training. Seriously, watching them eat at the table these last few days I have been appauled at my own flesh and blood. The sad thing is--they have been taught. So, I had a vision that they wouldn't eat with legs hanging off the side of the chair and elbows on the table and talking with their mouths full.

Life is a lot harder, more stressful during the school year and again, I have little help. I have three kids going in six places. However, dinner for me is important because it should be the one time the family sits together and talks about their daily highlights. Yes, just like Leave It To Beaver. Of course, it is very hard to be the Cleavers when the kids look and act like zoo animals.

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I prefer not to shop with my two boys. My boys love to look at everything, figure out how things work, ask questions and my oldest one (8 years old) wants to touch everything. I love that my kids want to know how everything works, just not when I'm trying to shop, it slows me down and I look like a crazy mother answering questions, telling them to stop touching or saying "I don't know" just to get done.

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My main circle of friends right now is comprised of women from a local website. We find playgroups for our kids, share stories, give and get advice, tell each other about the best deals and provide support for each other.

There are over 300 women on this website. In any given week, there are 5-15 activites going on that people will meet at.

Most of these women are Internet savvy as this website tends to be sort of a blog as well at times.

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Not What… but Why?

What and … Why?

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• To explore contemporary Mom-ing in light of the evolving mediascape

– Understand the “whys” behind the behavioral “whats” – Explore the relationships Moms of young children have with new

technologies i.e. broadband, DVR, cell phone, web communities

Digital Moms are a harbinger of what’s to come

Explore Target Audiences In An Evolving Mediascape

• Broadband

• DVR

• Cell phone

• Web Communities

• Blogs

• Wikipedia

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Forum for Eavesdropping: The Medium is the Method

DigiFaces– Proprietary qualitative research method using blogging– Anonymous, communal, introspective, pro-rambling– Prompt blogging with themes

• Used to deep dive specific topics– In-Game Communications– The Power to Spend– Digital Moms

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The Medium is the Method www.digifaces.typepad.com/back_to_school/

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A New Chapter

• A new beginning– Measuring stick– Bittersweet

• Back to the routine– Re-grounding– Good and the bad of

schedules

• Triggered by– Tax-free weeks– School emails– Ads, ads, ads

• Intense, Expensive & Emotional

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What’s Behind Back-to-School?

• Getting it all done to budget

• And making this an emotionally gratifying time of year

– Holiday– Thanksgiving– Back to school

• Rituals provide:– Order & coping strategy– Create a uniqueness to her

family

Ritual Making

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Plugging In To Fuel Rituals

• Strengthening rituals – Getting ideas (community

forums)– Documenting family lore

(blogs, family sites)– Connecting (emails with

friends/schools, cell phones)– Together time (Tivo’d

programs)

• Elevating activities to a more emotional plane

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Modern Day Ritual Maker

ShoppingFeeding Play

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Shopping Ritual: Maximize Inspiration, Minimize Perspiration

• Time together– Precious time – Rite of passage to new

departments

• “Token” child involvement– Focused deployment of troops – Controlled “pester power”

• Goal oriented, not channel confined

– Zigging and zagging

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Online: Gather Round The Shopping Cart…

• Inspiration– Canvas all there is– Checking out store on-line

• Self & Kid Control– ‘By the list’ shopping– Harder for whims to win

• Assessment of real value– Ebay as invisible hand

• The fun/ ease of click & pick– The fun stuff, not the tedious– Ebay for the ‘thrill of the kill’

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To find out which styles and colors are popular this year we go to the mall and browse threw stores. Also I look on the Internet and read magazines. Usually when we start our shopping for school I take them to the mall.

Next I will get on the internet and get more clothes, shoes, socks, books, ect. I do like to purchase items from eBay especially their shoes.

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My kids cannot wait until they get their respective winnings in the mail. . .When I get a package (from an item I won in a bid from Ebay) all the kids try and guess who won that package--we always look at the origin--it is so interesting that we get things from all over the world! They (I have three) clap and cheer when the package is for them. . .Everyone ooh's and aah's. . . I know it sounds crazy, maybe we are easily amused--but the internet, particularly Ebay, has brought my family closer together.

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I make it a point not to shop with my kids in the public arena. I think this is the very reason I do shop mostly online. I will get the opinion of my child. I think it not only makes him feel special, but it helps me make decisions. I have even let him look up clothing websites:http://www.abercrombie.comhttp://islandsurf.comhttp://www.boardtactics.com

He gives me ideas of what he likes and I find it on Ebay. : )My oldest son has more power over me in the real store. That is another reason I rarely go out to shop with kids in hand. . .

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Feeding Ritual: Full Tummy & Feast for The Soul

• Back-to-school: – Brain food– Food as family touch-point – Planned meals on the go– Nutritionally oriented – “Kid’s choice,” sort-of

• Motivated by the pull to the table

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Online: Nurturing the Food Rituals • Inspiration

– Nutritional advice– Recipes and ideas– Kindred spirit - community – Tips– Feel close when they’re away

• Preparation– On-line list– Menu preparation

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I have a 2 hour commute each way to work, so my husband makes dinner. But I discovered that his cooking repertoirre does not contain a wide variety. So I went on-line and found a place called Dinner Studio (I think the website it dinnerstudio.com). The menu is posted on line for the month, and you make an appointment to go in and make different meals. It adds variety and convenience to our dinners, without having to resort to processed foods or eating out all the time.

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I love that fact that my girls use their imagination on the computer, whether it be building a house on the Millsberry (General Mills) website or creating a menu for their "play" restaurant.

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Having a prepaid lunch card has made it easier and faster for my daughters in the lunch line. I periodically check their lunch accounts online which tells me excactly how much they have spent each day and what they items they bought!

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Fun Ritual: Play in The Everyday

• TV is an important de-compressor

• Embracing TV for family time

– The family playground– Looking ahead to the new

fall schedule – Fine line of the right amount

and the right stuff

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With DVR TV Regains Stature

• Tivo to manage her kids desires – Vetted programming– What they love, not just what’s on– Activities and homework don’t

come in last

• Gather round tech-hearth– Carefully planning entertainment– 1hr Tivo’d shows in 45 min– Stay current without staying put

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My daughter has leapfrogged into the 9:00 bedtime zone, add in our 1/2 hour reading time together which means lights aren't going to be out till 9:30. This conflicts with my shows that start at 9, so in order for me to stay up to date with the conversations the following day at work, the DVR is in order.

TV viewing is allowed once homework has been completed, shower has been taken and dinner table has been cleared off. I realize that I must sound like some type of dictator to everyone that has been reading my blogs, but if you saw the well oiled machine in action, you'd realize that there is so much loving and together time spent.

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The great thing about this amazing piece of technology is that when I get the syllabus for my children for the upcoming semester, I know what they will have reports on. I look at Discovery Kids first and record everything related to the subject.

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Not an Early Adopter, but Resourceful Adapter

“It’s funny though, once he introduces me to something, I become the main user. He is constantly teasing me because of it.” MichelleSanDiego

• Her relationships are highly emotional and not static

• Technology facilitates freedom, inspiration, sanity

• At back-to-school, she layers in additional rituals on her time and terms

Control

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Control Elevates her Quality of Back-to-School Life

• Control over the shared Mom-child shopping experience– Less pain, more gain– Bonding over the good parts, not fighting over the bad– Stand true to family values– Double thrill

• Control over dinner, successful foods for better bonding– New platform for socializing and sharing tips – Connection with kids– Engaged connection with relevant brands, find new oracles

• Control over TV time – Work before play, without sacrificing play– Better TV, better timing

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Planning for Back-to-School…

• She seeks greater control over her back to school life. Offer her tools and services that increase her sense of control.

• She works back-to-school as another opportunity to create enduring family rituals. Enhance her existing rituals & create new opportunities for quality time.

• She is a go-to-mom and she talks about you behind your back, transmitting what she finds relevant. Use her as the new “advocate” – put her in your media plan.

• It pays to be nosy.