• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

Following the furor over a recent Callaway Golf/Good Good Golf ad that showed the latter’s CEO knocking a female golfer to the ground, Coterie has brought a female viewpoint to male golfers with the first-ever baby care-ad in the 76-year-old history of Golf Digest, whose readership is over 75% male.

On the magazine’s back cover, no less, the plain-text ad states that its distinction as the first-ever such placement “is a symptom of a culture that, despite dads being more involved than ever, still treats moms as the default parent.”

The ad then states the following statistics in bold face: “Moms carry 71% of the mental load: 193% more scheduling, 177% more child caring, 166% more chore managing, 94% more meal planning.” And that’s “even when both parents work outside the home. 

“If we just keep talking to moms, and never put diaper ads in golf magazines, we’re perpetuating this status quo,” the ad continues. “So, this is for the dads who can help us change things -- diapers included.”

“When we looked closely at our own audience that skews mostly female, we realized that our own marketing can be part of perpetuating the problem by only speaking to moms,” Brittany Deems, vice president of brand marketing for the largely D2C premium diaper brand, explains to Marketing Daily. “This was our opportunity to expand our audience and welcome more fathers into the Coterie community. Because if dads start noticing what’s on the never-ending to-do list and talking about it, that’s how a cultural shift begins.” 

Noting that golf is the “quintessential ‘dad sport,’” Deems says “the sports content men are already engaging with serves as the campaign’s Trojan Horse for an overdue conversation about sharing household cognitive labor.” 

That broader awareness campaign, designed to support moms by reaching dads, features    

six-time PGA Tour winner Max Homa, whose Instagram following is 95% male. In a video posted on both his and Coterie’s channels, he draws comparisons between golf and parenthood (both requiring lots of anticipation and planning), asking dads questions like, “Do you know the kids’ clothing sizes? Diaper sizes? When’s their next pediatrician appointment?” “What’s for dinner?” 

Coterie is also hosting a giveaway of signed Homa  gear on its Instagram page.

“The campaign is really a campaign for moms, but it’s not meant for moms to see at all,” reports Deems. “The heart of the message is that women shouldn’t have to keep asking for support. Even in male-dominated spaces, when women aren’t in the room, we want men to be considering and talking about issues that disproportionately affect women.”

Coterie does want to “diversify our predominantly female audience,” Deems notes. “We’d love to see an uptick in male followers, and in turn, male subscribers.  This campaign is the first step in widening our consumer base, and influencing the future state of our marketing calendar and initiatives to regularly speak to dads outside of Father’s Day.”

For now, Deems hopes the campaign “ignites real, actionable conversation between partners -- cultural shifts at a granular level ---that oftentimes can’t be measured by KPIs. Much like some of the questions in Max’s video, our objective is to have dads start asking the questions that take the load off moms.”

Deems continues: “At the end of the day, this goes way beyond selling diapers. It’s about building genuine brand love by advocating for moms and bringing an invisible household issue right into the mainstream.”

In addition to Homa, Coterie has tapped a few other athletes and creators to further target the male audience. These include former NFL player Isaac Rochell, who will provide “a play-by-play of ways to step up their mental game at home,” and podcaster/author Danny Pellegrino, whose marriage partner is not a mom, but another dad, who will speak “to the perspective of two dads sharing the mental load,” Coterie says. 

Speaking -- and acting -- out on social issues has been in Coterie’s DNA since its launch seven years ago. Citing the brand’s mission as “actively supporting parents and aiming to make their lives easier,” Deens says, “to us, childcare and the mental load are two sides of the same coin. At their core, they stem from a lack of structural support.”

Coterie’s other social impact moves have included a partnership with Moms First, announced earlier this month, to advocate for affordable accessible child care, plus the creation of a fund with Peanut, the community-building app for mothers.

The Homa content was shot on a Phoenix golf course by Omaha Productions, with Coterie donating diapers from the set to a local shelter supporting mothers who’ve faced domestic violence.

All other campaign materials were done in-house, with Coterie working directly with Golf Digest on creative, copy, and ad placement.