• by Les Luchter , 2 hours ago

“IDGAF is in the dictionary. Matresence isn’t,” reads the headline of a full-page ad in Sunday’s New York Times.

Placed by Peanut, a seven-year-old community-building app for mothers, and Tommee Tippee, a 61-year-old marketer of baby products, the ad defines “matrescence” as “the physical, psychological, and emotional process of becoming a mother.”

The ad does not define “IDGAF,” and that’s part of the point  -- since, as the headline notes, you can find that meaning “in the dictionary.”

“It’s time to GAF about mothers,” the ad continues, providing a QR code for readers to “join the movement to make matrescence mainstream.”

The code takes users to a petition that they can sign on behalf of the word, which, notes Peanut President Michelle Battersby to Marketing Daily,  has been around for over 50 years, 

“We all know the word ‘adolescence’ and expect teenagers to go through certain things,” she explains. “Then, mothers go through matrescence and we don't approach it with the same grace or understanding.”

The petition, which Battersby says will be sent specifically to Merriam-Webster as an adjunct to ongoing discussions with that publisher, is also designed to get matrescence added to other dictionaries – as well as to the autocorrect functions of Apple, Google and Microsoft.

“It’s not just about having the word added to the dictionary, it’s about cultural recognition,” says Battersby.

“You transition into becoming a mom and it shifts you physically, psychologically and emotionally.” The name, Battersby explains, “makes you feel much more seen and understood.”

Those neuroscientists and other matresence experts “who have been researching and writing about matrescence for years” will play a role in an educational component as the Peanut/Tommee Tippee advocacy campaign continues beyond the  Times ad. Other elements, Battersby says, will include celebrity and influencer partnerships, and social media content, which will included mockups of out-of-home billboards and subway ads.

Peanut and Tommee Tippee have been working together on brand partnerships for the past five years, Battersby says (the CPG company also advertises on her platform) and since “we were both talking about matrescence, we wanted to come up with a campaign that could pull that word into a global spotlight.”

“This is about ensuring that we can name something, build around it, and help women through what is literally the largest neurological transformation an adult human brain ever goes through,” she states. “And most of us don’t know what it’s called.”

In addition to the number of signatures on the petition, Battersby says Peanut and Tommee Tippee will measure campaign success by how reach, reshares, comments and the “virality” of their social media.

“We’re really hoping we will be able to create a viral social movement off the back of this and rally the people who cared and activated this before our time,” she elaborates, “but also create the “Oh my god, I can’t believe it’ moments for people who’ve never heard the word before.”