This Mother’s Day, brands' turn focus on health, virtual gifting, social media marketing

This is the second Mother’s Day that is being celebrated under the shadow of COVID-19. As most of India remains confined to their homes once again amid a more virulent COVID-19 spread, family continues to be the prime focus. The bonds love for one’s family and friends has grown even as we maintain social distance. This is reflecting in the care we take to make our loved ones feel safe, comfortable and appreciated.

When it comes to our mothers, we Indians have always been a sentimental lot – more so in the pandemic times. Brands are taking into cognizance the closer bonds developing within the family and are accordingly coming up with products and marketing strategies keeping in mind the current consumer sentiments.

Also read: Mother's are the real Warriors #HappyMothersDay

Adgully finds out what strategies and activities marketers from a cross-section of categories have lined up for Mother’s Day this year.

For Mother’s Day, Kiehl’s India’s media marketing strategy revolves around pampering the mothers and offering them the best they deserve. Shikhee Agrawal, AVP, Kiehl's India, shared, “We are catering to healthy skincare with efficacious products powered by nature and science for targeted solutions. We share our finest formulas for all the supermoms, who deserve nothing but the best. A legacy to behold, and passed on from generation to generation. We take this occasion to introduce our supermoms around the country to the 170-year-old brand.”

Healthy and personalised gifts are what Nourish Organics are focussing on. Seema Jindal Jajodia, Founder, Nourish Organics, informed, “This Mother’s Day, we have introduced a special Immunity Boosting Hamper in light of the current times. The specially curated gift hamper is a bundle of joy for a mother’s immune system – a combination of health benefits, flavour and the much needed protection she needs. It’s time to power up her defences with our limited edition of ‘Immunity Booster Hampers’, containing Chia Turmeric Cookies, Ginger Oat Cookies and Amla Bars. These products will definitely make your mother want to boost her Immunity everyday!”

The night curfews, weekend lockdowns and intermittent lockdowns in different states and cities are adversely affecting e-commerce deliveries. But did you know that “cakes” fall in the essential services category. So we can eat our cake and have it too! This has been a huge boost for Ferns N Petals, which has been able to continue their operations and make deliveries for Mother’s Day. Manish Saini, Chief Operating Officer – eCommerce, Ferns N Petals, said, “Since the sentiment of 100% contactless delivery is striking strong in the current situation of the pandemic, the company has built a dedicated division of digital gifting to design innovative and exciting ways of celebrating love, emotion and happiness. Apart from this, to make Mother’s Day extra special while being far from her, Ferns N Petals is also offering some new and heartwarming virtual gift ideas, without worrying about the delivery on the doorstep.”

Even though brands are managing their deliveries through different mechanisms, online retail platforms are struggling to keep up with the increase in demand and strict travel restrictions that are limited only to essential services, especially for Mother’s Day.

Speaking about managing the deliveries during Mother’s Day, Sujata Gupta, Founder, NandniStudio, said, “We are a small team and are staying put to be able to deliver as per timelines. We have blurred the boundaries of our roles and responsibilities and are contributing as per our capabilities. Every morning we have a call to assign the work responsibilities and we take a stock of the situation before closing the day. We prioritise as per the need of the hour.”

Keeping the current situation in mind, social media marketing has the potential to bring a lot of people under one umbrella and most brands are strengthening the customer relationship by social media engagement.

Explaining about Tring’s Mother’s Day campaign, Akshay Saini, CEO and Co-Founder, Tring, said, “We are running a promotional campaign for the week leading up to Mother’s Day, wherein we are encouraging our users to avail of a 15% discount by using the code (MOM15). They can then use this code to book a personalised celebrity wish for their mother. What’s even better is that one lucky customer stands a chance to win Rs.1.5 lakh by simply recording and sharing a video of them surprising their mom while she reacts in awe to the celebrity wishing her.”

Along with engaging the customers via social media, influencer marketing, too, has gained momentum during the lockdown and several brands have shifted towards bloggers and influencers for marketing their products. Praveen Rao, President, d’Mart Exclusif, shared, “For Mother’s Day, we have come up with various campaigns and deals. Our marketing strategy revolves more on the online format. We have tied up with lots of Bloggers and Influencers and a bar code has been given to all of them for promotion. Once the customers buy through them, a particular discount percentage too is given, which is beneficial to us too and people who market us as well.”

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