While Mommy bloggers continue to be a marketing trend, many fathers are now jumping on the blogging bandwagon with Daddy blogs. Coming in after Mommy bloggers in many ways presents a creative advantage – no one wants to be a one-trick pony in the marketing game and Daddy bloggers have the unique opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Mommy bloggers before them.
This past weekend this new group showed up in full-force for the first ever national Daddy blogger conference - Dad 2.0 Summit in Austin, TX.
This past weekend this new group showed up in full-force for the first ever national Daddy blogger conference - Dad 2.0 Summit in Austin, TX.
Notably, however, the power of Daddy bloggers was heard even before the conference kicked-off in the form of an attack campaign in response to Huggie's “The Dad Test” Campaign (view one of the ads here).
“The Dad Test” came with this tag line: “To prove that Huggies diapers and wipes can handle anything, we put them to the toughest test imaginable: Dads, alone with their babies, in one house, for five days.”
The comical concept stuck just the wrong cord with this newly influential group that is fighting to have their voice heard and recognized.
Chris Routly from www.daddydoctrines.com, went as far as launching a Change.org petition called “We’re Dads, Huggies. Not Dummies.” It drew over a thousand signatures. And other dads sent emails, tweets and letters to Huggies expressing their disappointment with the stereotyping.
Reacting quickly to the complaints, Huggies has responded by not only revamping their entire campaign (see their facebook for the new “Dad Friendly” version) but also scored brownie points with the dad’s at the summit by attending the conference and addressing the complaints in-person.
Stereotyping in advertising is nothing new but it’s important to look at a campaign from all angles before sending it out in the world. In this case, both Huggies and dads seem to have come out ahead in the end.