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The Mama Genre: Zulily, Teleflora, Pampers Weigh In

While plenty of advertisers cater to mom all year long, the week leading up to Mother’s Day is typically a maternal marathon. Among the standouts this year are new videos from Zulily, the mom-centric online retailer. The Seattle-based company is introducing a new campaign across social channels, making it clear it's got something for all women, not just moms and kids.

The first spot is All dressed up, a sweet — and practically wordless — multigenerational look at how girls of all ages still like to play dress-up. A spokesperson for Frank Unlimited, the Seattle-based agency that created the videos, says it’s full of casting authenticity. The five-year-olds are real-life best friends, for instance. The prom teen and mom are also for real, as is the toddler-grandmother duo. 

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But a second spot, It’s the thought that counts, is full-on snark, lampooning the dad who always — always — gets gift-giving wrong, from nosehair clippers to vacuums to bad lingerie. 

Teleflora is going the reality-TV route, with four long-form videos. A kindly delivery person shows up on mom’s doorstep with a tablet, so she can videochat with far-off kid. Right when mom is bowled over by their “I miss you!” sincerity, the kid steps out from behind the truck and surprises her in person.

Sears, too, is opting for reality, with an extensive makeover for three deserving moms, coached by fashion blogger Audrey McClelland. The campaign is running on social media, including an outreach from 100 social influencers. It is also including a More for Mom Mother’s Day contest, offering a vacation, a $500 spa getaway and a shopping spree.

But for its Kmart brand, Sears has gone in a different direction, with a send-up of the world’s worst dancing mom, and her equally ungifted son.

For straight sentimentality, however, Procter & Gamble’s Pampers is way ahead. Starting with all the dignity that can come from the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin D. Roosevelt, it boils everything that’s special about the day into two simple syllables. See it here.

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