Real Time Banter: Mother’s Day Marketing during COVID-19

Art Director

In the fourth Real Time Banter webinar, LiveIntent SVP of global marketing, Kerel Cooper, and VP of marketing, Nick Dujnic, share strategies for Mother’s Day marketing during COVID-19.

Key insights

According to eMarketer, only 28% of US internet users feel brands shouldn’t advertise as normal during the coronavirus outbreak – meaning most people still want to see marketing. This should alleviate concerns among brands that are worried about brand safety. The lesson isn’t to stop advertising, but to perhaps change their tone or messaging in light of the global crisis.

A study by Kantar found that 77% of people want advertising to talk about how the brand is helpful in this new everyday life, 75% want advertising to inform them about the brand’s efforts to face the situation, and 40% said brands should avoid humorous tones.

Here’s what LiveIntent discovered from our network of over 2,000 publishers’ email newsletters:

Top publisher categories for Mother’s Day 2019:

  • Shopping (scale + CCR)
  • News (scale + CTR)
  • Arts & entertainer (scale + CCR)
  • Food & drink (scale + CTR)

Top publisher categories for Mother’s Day 2020:

  • News (scale + CTR) – 120% YoY increase in impressions
  • Shopping (scale + CCR) – 80% YoY increase in impressions
  • Food & drink (scale + CTR) – 99% YoY increase in impressions
  • Arts & entertainment (scale + CCR) – 3% YoY decrease in impressions

Top advertiser categories for Mother’s Day 2019:

  • Shopping (spend + CCR)
  • Arts & entertainment (spend + CTR)
  • Health & wellness (CTR + CCR)

Top publisher categories for Mother’s Day 2020:

  • Shopping (spend + CCR) – 36% increase in spend
  • Health & wellness (spend + CCR) – 150% increase in spend while maintaining strong CTR and CCR
  • Style & fashion (spend + CTR) – 18% increase in spend

Best practices for Mother’s Day marketing

  • For shopping, test simple creative concepts rather than pile them on. Use a straightforward CTA so people know what they’re clicking into and they’re ready to take action when they get to your page.
  • For arts & entertainment, use strong and bold colors that establish your brand, enhance messaging, and influence behaviors. Use clear messaging that captures attention, demonstrates value, and sets expectations. And use a softer CTA like “Books to Give Mom,” since some people are not financially able to make purchases at this time.
  • For health & fitness, consider using a mobile layout since 55% of LiveIntent impressions are served on mobile. Optimize ads for viewing on various devices and keep branding and logo visible, and make sure it complements the overall design.
  • Offer gift cards or home delivery for gifts such as plants, wine, flowers, and food.
  • Focus on flexibility and how you can make mom’s life easier. Internet users want to know how you’re helping people adjust to this new normal.
  • Use content marketing for the soft sell. Educate and inform rather than push. People also have more time to click through and digest content.
  • Stay above the fold for brand recall and recognition. LiveIntent has specially Curated Deals that feature above-the-fold ads, which provide branding and awareness opportunities.
  • Create Lookalike Audiences modeled off of last year’s best customers, using your data to drive performance.
  • Build a Custom Audience of last year’s best customers and target them directly. You can even expand that audience with probabilistic modeling so you can find consumers even if you don’t have their exact ID. This is a great strategy for driving repeat purchases year over year.

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