More men taking the reins of the shopping cart

There seems to be a universal understanding in the grocery world that the household food shopping is done solely by women. Supermarkets and manufacturers are under this belief as well, as their advertising campaigns have been crafted to attract women, an perhaps children who can then tell their mom's what they would like them to purchase.  But is this belief actually correct?  Are these successful multi-million dollar companies actually losing money by continuing this advertising trend?

One only needs to look around the supermarket when they do their shopping to know that answer.  Who is it you see in the checkout line next to you?  Who is that you see taking advantage of that week's Buy One Get One Free selections? Men.  They are all over the store.  Selecting produce; ordering from the meat counter; choosing the cereal.  There are more and more men shopping every day.  They are not just shopping, they are couponing as well.  They are also scanning their store card for additional discounts.  There are a significant amount of single, divorced and widowed men in this country, and they are visiting supermarkets multiple times a week. 

According to the United States Census Bureau, in a data report released in 2012, there were 103 million unmarried people in America 18 and older. This group made up 44.1 percent of all U.S. residents 18 and older.  46.4 percent of these individuals were men.  That equates to almost 48 million Americans who are not being directly marketing to - that is if you ignore the beer and Beef Jerky commercials.

According to consumer-research firm GfK MRI and an ESPN report, 31 percent of men nationwide were the primary household grocery shoppers in 2011, up from 14 percent in 1985. Some estimates are higher. A nationwide survey of 1,000 fathers conducted by Yahoo and market research firm DB5 released early this year said 51 percent were the primary grocery shoppers in their household. Of that group, 60 percent said they were the primary decision-makers regarding consumer package goods, which includes packaged food.

"We're seeing more men doing grocery shopping and more young dads cooking with their kids as a way to bond with them at home," said Phil Lempert, a supermarket consultant. "It's very different from the whole metrosexual phenomenon of six, seven, eight years ago, but a much more down-to-earth (approach), not trying to show off, but trying to be part of the family."

Brad Harrington, executive director of the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, said "men on the homefront are where women in the workplace were 30 years ago," in terms of how they are portrayed on television and even in advertisements — namely, as disengaged or incompetent.  "If we portrayed women like that in the workplace, there would be an outcry," he said.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by Cone Communications new survey, 52 percent of fathers now identify themselves as the primary grocery shopper in their household, and while not all moms agree, about 35 percent say that over the past few years, dad has taken on more of the shopping.  "No doubt male shopping behavior is undergoing major change," says Tod Marks, Consumer Reports senior editor and resident shopping expert. "Back in 1995, studies have shown that only 10 percent of men identified themselves as the family's main grocery shopper. That number has been rising steadily."

The survey included 1,000 parents of kids 17 and under. Other findings showed that 63 percent  of dads make a detailed shopping list and 56 percent  collect coupons or read store circulars.  Additionally, dads are more likely to plan meals for the week ahead of time (52 percent vs. 46 percent of moms), and even more inclined to research grocery products (24 percent vs. 11 percent of moms).

But change appears to be under way.  Kraft scored with men in 2011 by way of its Philadelphia Cooking Creme, which was attributed in part to displaying it near chicken.  Guys impulsively bought that product, thinking that it was a way to try a different way of making chicken. Sales volumes of Philly Cooking Creme were 20 percent above expectations in 2011, the company said, after a $35 million investment in advertising, in-store promotions, coupons and product demonstrations.

The success of Philly Cooking Creme and other brands are case studies Kraft is presenting to the entire company, looking for other products where male-themed marketing makes sense.  Some local grocery chains are also looking for ways to get into the mix. A spokeswoman for Jewel said the chain is watching the trend toward more male shoppers but hasn't made any major changes. A Safeway spokeswoman said they have man-friendly marketing in the works but declined to provide specifics.

Other chains have seen a good share of men for some time. Maggie Bahler, executive marketing coordinator for Whole Foods Market's Midwest region, said the chain's shoppers are about half men, although the company hasn't been tracking shopping habits by gender over time.

Men have different shopping tendencies which are causing food-makers to look at a different set of opportunities, as men appear to be less hurried in stores and more prone to impulse purchases than women.

"The mindset has been that she shops, she really knows every inch of the store, she is really organized, has a list, is in a huge hurry," Calpino said. "We talk to a lot of these millennial guys about shopping, and the biggest headline is they're not as structured, not as hurried, much more experimental, more adventurous."

Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief strategy officer with Leo Burnett in Chicago, said men are slightly more inclined to shop around for the best prices than are women.

"Though men are very mission-driven, very grab-and-go, get-it-done, it's not at the expense of paying a price premium," he said. "They are very driven by finding best prices before making purchases, and they're not going to jettison quality either."

Abhi Hansoti, a 35-year-old management consultant, said that because he does most of his shopping at two stores, "I know prices at both places and I'll pick things based on the prices there."  Although Hansoti buys produce from Whole Foods because the quality is better "just from experience," he goes to Jewel for such items as bread and milk.

Hahn-Griffiths said men are less likely to ask for help finding an item but more likely to make a second sweep through the store, in case they've missed something.  "It's part of the hunter mindset," he said. "When you're a hunter, you're more likely to move from place to place and recircle areas you might have missed."  As a result, men might also be spending more time in stores than women.

Despite price sensitivity on shopping-list items, experts say, men are also prone to impulse buys.  Susan Viamari, editor of Times & Trends at SymphonyIRI Group, explained that they "have a little brighter outlook on the economy and their finances, and this is going to impact their purchase behavior and their openness to impulsive purchases, trying new products, things of that nature."

So.....what is my point.  I find it confusing that will all this research out there, why is it the that major supermarket chains for Jacksonville, Publix and Winn-Dixie do not market to the men of the First Coast.  It is true that they are the past and current sponsors of the Jacksonville Jaguars and they both run "tailgating" promotions in the fall, but they will not activate either of these ventures with our radio station that directly markets to men.  Our current advertisers are exceeding their marketing goals by running their commercials and participating in promotions on 1010XL.  Wouldn't it make sense that both Publix and Winn-Dixie would do the same?  If we have Carroll's Meat Shoppe selling out on the cuts they are advertising on our station, wouldn't the "Beef People" of Winn-Dixie succeed as well?  Wouldn't Jaguars sponsor Publix be a perfect participant for our own tailgating promotion?  Again, I find it confusing.

With that said, as we are about to turn the page to 2014....hey Publix and Winn-Dixie...have your people call my people.  I can give you a direct line to the Men of Jacksonville and help you increase your revenues....

Following Mo on my Phone

I grew up in New York, in a neighborhood that was located in the Bronx.  I was a big sports fan.   I followed all sports, but baseball was my first love.  I watched the great Yankee teams of the mid 70's and the painful Bronx Zoo teams of the early 80's.  I read magazines and baseball books.  I read the paper every day, starting with the sports section.  New York was a great place to grow up as a baseball fan.

When I got older, I had the opportunity to work in baseball, however it was for the New York Mets organization.   But that is a story for another time.  I also had the opportunity to watch the Yankees go to the playoffs every year.  From 1995 - 2007, they made the postseason and won four World Series Championships.  They missed in 2008, but won the World Series again on 2009 and made the playoff each year since until this year.   Considering the injuries, specifically to Derek Jeter and significant major components of their lineup,  they did remarkably well and came incredibly close.  A couple of games here and there they would've made the playoffs and possibly won the division.

The end the season brought to a close the careers of two great Yankees.   I had the opportunity to witness a lot of great Yankee baseball my lifetime and take attend a number of the games that they honored the team's legends.  I was in attendance when they paid tribute to Joe DiMaggio right after his death and the day they celebrated  Yogi Berra when he came back into the Yankee fold.  It was also the day the David Cone threw his Perfect Game.   The pomp and circumstance of what is Yankee baseball is truly an experience all its own.  The legends that played for the team line the walls of Hall of Fame and the team's own Monument Park.  The two men that retired at the end this year, rank among the team's best.   Andy Pettitte was one of the best left-handers to ever pitch for the team.   He holds a number of records with this remarkable team,  a remarkable post season performer, and, best of all, he was developed from the team's farm system.

 

 

Mariano Rivera was also developed in the Yankee system and became the greatest closer of all time. I had the privilege of watching his major-league debut on TV and being in attendance 60-70 games where the doors swung open, the sounds of Enter Sandman blared from the speakers and he took the mound to shut down the opponent.   He was truly remarkable, not only has a baseball player but as a human being and it was an honor to watch him play.

The reason I bring this all out is because of how I participated in his ceremony at Yankee Stadium on September 22nd. If I still lived in New York, I would have been in attendance.   However as a father of three that now lives in Jacksonville, FL, I spent those moments at The Bolles School football field watching my two sons play in their soccer league games.   So I was unable to even watch the ceremony live.  Using the technology in front of me, I used my smart phone and the DirecTV app to record anything and everything I could have been able to watch.   That would be great for later, but I wanted to feel it live.  So I logged on to Twitter and became a part of the ceremony.   

The people in the ballpark tweeted.  The news media tweeted.  Those involved in baseball who have a love and reverence for Mariano Rivera tweeted.  Not only did they tweet, but they provided pictures and video.  They provided live commentary of this amazing event going on so I was able to see the activity and feel like I was part of it.  Even though I was in Jacksonville, FL.   

Twitter, and social media in general, have become tools that are necessities to my daily activity, that of 1010XL and the daily activity of companies around the country.  It is also an important distribution vehicle for sports information to be generated.   Whether it's the news reporter tweeting out information teasing his upcoming broadcast, or an announcement of a player injury.  Whether it's commentary from people watching games and giving their analysis or  used by teams to sell tickets and merchandise.  Whether it's just for branding and marketing purposes, teams, media outlets, fans are tweeting about games and major sports activity minute by minute.

Hashtags are set up for specific games and events.  Athletes tweet their feelings and thoughts and interact with the fans.  You get raw exposure.  Real personality.  Some very funny and behind the scenes pictures. 

At 1010XL we use Twitter on a daily basis and will tweet out information about guest that are coming on the show, big stories that we put on to our website and fun observations to have our listeners respond to.  Our on air hosts have their own twitter handles and tweet throughout the day.  And the station will then retweet them and interact with them.   We also use Twitter as a marketing tool to extend the relationship we have with our partners and for them to get additional exposure through our 4000+ followers.

What is more remarkable is the amount to Twitter activity that takes place during a major sports event.  A playoff game, a championship game.   Sports Illustrated just published this list of the five most tweeted sports events of 2013.  They are:

Super Bowl - 26,131,270

NBA Finals Game 6 - 7,796,860

NCAA Final Four - 4,592,598

BCS Championship - 3,989,642

Stanley Cup Finals Game 6 - 1,075,234

yes, those numbers are in the millions...

So...are you tweeting?  Are you following me or our station?  I am @hwolpoff and the station is @1010XL. 

 

 

 

Time to Rethink Your Message: Now the Cart Belongs to Daddy

Here is a powerful article that ran in Ad Age by Jack Neff.  If you had not already noticed, Men are becoming the primary food shopper for the family....and are not being advertised to properly...

 

Survey Finds 51% of Men Are Primary Grocery Shoppers, but Few Believe Advertising Speaks to Them

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Mom is losing ground to Dad in the grocery aisle, with more than half of men now supposedly believing they control the shopping cart. The implications for many marketers may be as disruptive as many of the changes they're facing in media.

Through decades of media fragmentation, marketers of packaged goods and many other brands could take solace in one thing -- at least they could count on their core consumers being moms and reach them through often narrowly targeted cable TV, print and digital media.

But a study by Yahoo based on interviews last year of 2,400 U.S. men ages 18 to 64 finds more than half now identify themselves as the primary grocery shoppers in their households. Dads in particular are taking up the shopping cart, with about six in 10 identifying themselves as their household's decision maker on packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases. Not surprisingly, given that such ads long have been crafted for women, only 22% to 24% of men felt advertising in packaged goods, pet supplies or clothing speaks to them, according to the Yahoo survey.

The Great Recession has thrown millions of men in construction, manufacturing and other traditionally male occupations out of work and by extension into more domestic duties. At the same time, gender roles were already changing anyway, with Gen X and millennial men in particular more likely to take an active role in parenting and household duties.

Of course, in the survey, men could be overestimating their own role in shopping for the family. Lauren Weinberg, director-research and insights for Yahoo, acknowledges that could be possible -- and that women don't see them making as much progress on that front. But she said the fact that so many men now see themselves as masters of the shopping cart not only reflects real shifts but also means any stigma once attached to men as shoppers is fading fast.

Yahoo's interest in the subject is obvious: The portal has a lot of inventory geared toward men, such as page after page of fantasy-sports content, that could use more advertisers. But its research on men nonetheless seems to describe a new and disruptive reality.

Behavioral research of shoppers shows a number more like 35% of grocery and mass-merchandise shoppers are now men, said Mariana Sanchez, chief strategy officer for Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi X. That number has been growing thanks to the economy and changing gender roles, she said.

And while that figure may be far from a majority , the fact that a third of a brand's shoppers are male is an awful lot to ignore. As a result, shopper-marketing efforts are increasingly gender-neutral rather than targeted for female shoppers, Ms. Sanchez said.

A subtle case in point came during the latest Procter & Gamble Co.-Walmart collaboration on "Family Movie Night" Jan. 8 on Fox. The program itself, "Change of Plans," did show a new dad more domestically impaired than a mom when unexpectedly thrust into adoptive parenthood. But in the commercial pod "story within a story" via Martin Agency, Richmond, the dad made a shopping trip to Walmart to load up on P&G and private-label Great Value products.

Such scenes could be a wave of the future for more categories as consumer packaged brands must elbow their way past car insurers, pickup trucks and erectile-dysfunction drugs into one of the surest and most-DVR-proof forums for reaching men: football.

P&G's Head & Shoulders and Prilosec already have become deeply involved in NFL marketing. But most P&G brands still primarily target moms, and it's not always easy to please both. While last year's tear-jerking "Behind Every Olympic Athlete is an Olympic Mom" Winter Olympics ads for P&G from Wieden & Kennedy were generally well received, the Twitter stream about them included an undercurrent of resentment from dads, who still make up the vast majority of volunteer coaches for youth sports.

The shift toward male shoppers, of course, didn't happen overnight, and that may also help explain why some brand managers for years have privately said more broadly focused network prime-time programming delivered better for their brands than more female-focused cable buys, regardless of the cost and what media optimizers indicated.

Perhaps favorably for marketers, Yahoo research finds men are more brand-loyal and less focused on promotions than women shoppers, Ms. Weinberg said. In advertising, they do more product research in packaged-goods categories than women, she said, and, because they're often newer to the categories, prefer ads with more information.

John Badalament, author of "The Modern Dad's Dilemma" and operator of ModernDads.net, does see more ads that speak to men, including recent ads for P&G's Old Spice and Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Huggies. But many ads featuring men still portray them as hapless domestically, which he doesn't believe helps marketers. He likens such ads to the once laughable, now anachronistic grocery scene from 1983's "Mr. Mom."

"Men," he said, "need to be something other than invisible or buffoons in advertising."

As the Jaguars Go, So Do The Men of Jacksonville

So as a fan of the Jaguars, I attended Sunday's season opener.   In all honesty, it was one of the most painful games I have ever sat through.  While the team's management did a great job in getting the stadium ready, making improvements and adding amenities, providing more staff than I have ever seen to offer help and directions, the game itself was brutal.  2 points...That's right, a safety on a blocked punt early in the first quarter..that's it.  11 Punts.  A new team record.  The Jaguars only crossed midfield twice, and not until the middle of the 3rd quarter.  Starting quarterback Blaine Gabbert was ineffective and went out in the 4th quarter with a hand injury, after coming back from another hand injury to even play in this game. 

 

It was not the way the team wanted to start the season. 

 

And the fans were angry, disappointed, concerned, frustrated...all of the above.  And they had their opinions about the game and the challenges yet to come this season.  So what did they do?  They turned to 1010XL on Monday to hear our analysis.  Were you aware that the combined years of providing sports news and information of the on air talent on 1010XL exceeded 165 years?  Our own Sports Authorities have been talking sports in Jacksonville for the equivalent of over 16 decades! 

Not some listeners, not just more than a usual Monday...an abundance of listeners. A Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena full.   How do we know?  Aside from the high demand of calls from people trying to share their opinion on air, and from the activity that we had on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, we set a station record for online streaming.  We did not just break our daily record, we shattered it. 

 

On Monday (September 9^th ) we recorded the most-listened to day in the history of our web streams with 18,596 combined listening sessions on the AM and FM streams combined.  The previous record was on January 10^th, 2013 with 14,673 (Jaguars GM David Caldwell’s introductory press conference).  For reference, the previous Tuesday (the previous Monday was Labor Day) totaled 11,106 combined listening sessions.  That’s a strong number, a number driven by the opening weekend of college football and it falls far short of this Monday’s. 

This Tuesday, we had 12,164 combined listening sessions as our Googans, our name for our passionate listeners, continued to be interested in the story.  All the numbers aren’t in, but it’s almost certain this will be the most listened to WEEK on the streams as well. 

 

And this is just the online stream.  It does not take into effect those listening in their homes, cars and offices on the radio. 

This provides me with additional confirmation, and hopefully tells you as well, that we have a passionate audience that lives for football and wants to listen to and participate in the conversation.  And this is just week one.  Wouldn't you want to be in front of an audience this passionate and large?

There are great ways to participate in the conversation - Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/1010xl), follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/1010XL), or follow us on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/user/1010XLVideo).  You can also listen to us on 1010 AM or 92.5 FM or on one of our live streams that can be found on our website (www.1010XL.com).

Or you can call (904-638-2103) or email me (howardw@1010XL.com)

Dads feel ignored by advertisers

This article, by Helen Leggett, addresses issues dads everywhere have been experiencing.  Advertisers have not realized the shift in the shopping and decision making in the family unit and the lack of targeted ads have begun to alienate men.

Advertisers aren't keeping up with the times. Despite playing a larger role in family decision-making over past years, Dads continue to be ignored in favor of the traditional family purse holder, finds new research.

Moms have long been a valuable target for advertisers. They have traditionally been seen as in charge of the household purse strings and major decision-makers in a family unit.

However, times have changed and Dads play an increasing role in the running of a household. Some fathers choose to stay home while their spouse works and some, perhaps caught up in the recession, have little choice but to do so.
Either way, more Dads now have a bigger say in the purchase of items such as household products, clothing, toys, baby products and consumer packaged goods, probably due to their increased exposure to and interaction with them. After all, why would you be interested in the ease-of-use of an oven-cleaner if you never had cause to use one?

Despite this change in family dynamics advertisers continue to focus on Moms. A recent survey from Yahoo found Dads feel invisible. For instance, despite 80% identifying themselves as the primary or shared decision-maker for baby and child care products, 57% felt ads in this category weren't targeted at them.

They're probably right. How many ads show a man powdering a freshly-changed baby's bottom (and I mean serious ads, not tongue-in-cheek, Three Men and a Baby-esque ads)?  It looks like change is on the horizon. Several brands have identified the growing importance of the "family man", most recently Proctor & Gamble. Following in-house research that revealed men turned to female-oriented websites for tips on topics such as cooking and homecare, the CPG company launched "Man fo the House".

The website contains the usual male-oriented content in the form of sex and gadget advice, but "Dad-ifies" it with articles covering subjects including cooking, cleaning and raising kids. Current topics include "What to do with Stale Bread", "The Art of Naming Kids", and "Must Have Vacuum Features".

"What we are trying to do is speak to the whole man," Jeannie Tharrington, P&G spokeswoman, told the New York Times. "Certainly, relationships and sex are part of an adult man's life...For us, it's part of it, but it's not the whole thing. What we try to do is be tasteful."

Featured Article - Why Package-Goods Companies Should Market to Men

From time to time, I will share some of the great articles that I come across that address the need for businesses to focus their marketing attention to men.  Today, I am sharing a great article by
Abigail Posner that was published in Advertising Age on February 9, 2009

A great societal shift is under way, and no one is taking advantage of it. Numerous trend reports, even the 2008 census, show conclusively that men are more and more involved in taking care of their children and homes. So you'd think package-goods marketers would jump at the chance to include them in their marketing mixes. But you'd be wrong.  "Men don't shop as much as women." "They don't enjoy shopping." "They're not interested in consumer-package-goods messages," many marketers say. Those are all valid points. It's understandable that with shrinking marketing budgets and a potentially deep recession, companies would tailor their innovation, communications and media strategies to the lowest-hanging fruit, women. But this female-only approach, logical as it may seem, causes us to miss a huge opportunity.

Changing consumer behavior

 True, men are still not the primary shoppers or shopping influencers of household goods. But that doesn't mean we can't alter their current consumer behaviors. Of course men are going to ignore products and messages that address women's concerns, attitudes and sensibilities. But if we developed products that suited men's needs, created communications that spoke to men's problems or desires, and designed the store experience to be more engaging to men, then they would have more interest in products that serve their families and homes and, thus, more desire to buy them. Take Wii. At a time when video-game equipment was squarely targeted at gamers and teens, Nintendo bucked the trend and went after families. The result: Wii sold more units in the first half of 2007 in the U.S. than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined.  Another example: Spike (also known as Spike TV), the first TV network for men that went beyond just sports. At the outset, Spike President Kevin Kay told me, "We faced a lot of resistance. They would say, 'Men are always going to watch sports, but how are you going to create [other] programming for men?' Or, 'Men don't buy; only women buy.'" Spike thought otherwise. And it was right. Not only has the network grown its base of men 39%, but it appeals to a broad array of advertisers and is better recognized as a network for men by young males than ESPN.

New product ideas

 Tough economic times demand innovation to motivate people to buy. And bringing men into the marketing equation doesn't just give you a larger group of consumers; it means a new set of benefits, a new story to tell and even new product ideas.  When Spike decided to target men, new programming, such as "Manswers" (a guy trivia show), the "Scream Awards" and the sports reality show "The Ultimate Fighter," followed. So, too, Wii has continually developed video games that defy the typical kill-or-be killed options. Thanks to its broader target, Wii offers video games that range from "Dance Dance Revolution" to "Wii Sports," the most successful video game of all time.  We all know that as members of the media and marketing community we don't just reflect culture; we actually change it -- sometimes very quickly and tangibly. In the late 1970s, scientists found a link between a high-fiber diet and a reduced risk of cancer. Few people, however, changed what they ate. But when cereal companies a decade later advertised a relationship between high-fiber foods and protection against cancer, people woke up and actually began changing their diets.

Men as caretakers and shoppers

 Given this power of communications, there's no reason we can't appeal to an otherwise unattainable consumer group and maybe, just maybe, affect that group not just as consumers but as people. Marketing to men and portraying them as caretakers of and shoppers for the family can attract additional consumers to a brand while encouraging men to become greater participants in the maintenance of their families and homes. And the more men are accepted and accept themselves in that role, the more they'll be interested in brands that solve the needs or enhance the enjoyment of home and family care. And, of course, the more they'll shop for those products.  Basing strategies for tomorrow on current marketing data, sensible as it may seem, is shortsighted, even dangerous. If the American automobile industry teaches us anything, it's that stubbornly clinging to practices that have worked in the past but don't address a changing environment can have disastrous financial -- even societal -- consequences.  Reaching out to a seemingly less lucrative, smaller target market such as men isn't quixotic but rather a strategy to attract more consumers, encourage greater innovation, and even affect the roles men and women shape for themselves, now and in the future. Instead of emulating those Detroit execs who ignored or resisted change, why don't we embrace, guide and, ultimately, benefit from it?
Abigail Posner, Advertising Age. February 9, 2009

We are now JAX...Officially

Something remarkable happened in Jacksonville this week.  And it had to do with sports, with a little social media mixed in.  Now Jacksonville gets unfairly maligned as a sports city.  The national media, and in turn the national sports fan, does not see our city, and our sports teams, the way we see them.  We love our Jaguars.  We are proud of how we have responded to the call for the sale of season and individual tickets. Even though our city was hit hard by the economic downturn, we still have managed to rank 20^th in home attendance.  We do not have the blackout issue that many other cities have.  However, we have been portrayed as a city that cannot support our teams.

That could not be farther from the truth.  Aside from the strong showing at EverBank Field, one of the largest stadium in the NFL, the people of Jacksonville have strongly supported the AA Suns and the ABA’s two time defending champion Giants.  They have also come out by the thousands to watch The Players and regional tennis tournaments.  Our support of soccer matches here has brought us a NASL team that will launch in 2015.  Our support of the Jaguars is should truly be commended, as we have had to watch some underachieving teams over the past few years.  But as disappointing these teams have been and as disappointing our national media coverage has been, nothing has been more disappointing, and extremely disrespectful, as the abbreviation the NFL has used for our city name.

Since the Jaguars inception, the NFL has used the three letters JAC to identify the team on schedules, press releases and in other league information.  However, we here in Jacksonville know that we identify ourselves as JAX.  Our airport is identified as JAX.  But for some reason, this was first implemented incorrectly, and remained incorrect for sixteen years.

Jaguars fans have tried for years to get the National Football League to change their team's abbreviation.  On Thursday, their request was answered.

ESPN reports that with help from a persistent social media campaign and the Jaguars digital media manager Chris Burdett, the NFL has agreed to change its official abbreviation for the team.  Burdett says he's been trying to get it changed since the end of last season. Since he joined Twitter several months ago (@digital_jag), he'd get hits with requests and complaints from fans. He told ESPN there would always be at least 10 to 15 fans direct tweeting at them asking when it's going to change.  On Thursday, fans reportedly took to Twitter and inundated Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) with tweets asking that the NFL change the team's official abbreviation from JAC to JAX.  This included tweets from Jaxson DeVille, who himself is an active Twitter user.

 

 

Well, the NFL finally listened and instituted the change in our identifying abbreviation to JAX.  A victory for Jacksonville and for social media.

ARE DAD'S SEEN AS THEY ARE OR AS THEY ARE PERCIEVED?

Last year, the diaper brand Huggies challenged the capabilities of dad's in handling the needs of their babies when they ran a TV ad campaign called the “Dad test”.  In this commercial, five Moms left their babies with their husbands for five days. Huggies called this ‘The Ultimate Test’ and they showed these Dads in various states of confusion while their wives were out having some well-deserved girl time.

After the ad hit the airwaves, hundreds of stay-at-home Dads went on social media to express their disappointment in the ad and to share the many ways they not only take care of their newborns, but their entire family as well.  After the Twitter/Facebook onslaught and additional online petitions, Huggies pulled the ad. 

There are many marketing questions to ask from this PR debacle.  But could it be that Huggies was actually using this campaign to target Dad's and their decision making role when it comes to buying power in the household?

A look at the most recent census and additional data shows that Dad's have evolved over the decades.  The Dad of the 50's came home from a long day at work, and accepted a drink from his wife while he sat in his chair.  She took care of the rest.  The cooking, the cleaning and the household decision making.  In this century, many things have changed - most importantly the role Dad plays in the decision making and purchasing. Dads are spending more time at home with the kids and in 1/3 of the homes in this country, Dads are the primary caregiver. Whether this was a result of job loss from the economy or the sociological shifts which are occurring, it’s pretty clear that Dads are a new target audience for childcare products, and any additional company that is marketing their products for the house and household.

However, many marketing agencies and companies still subscribe to a number of Dad myths:.

·         Dads don’t shop - Research shows that men are not only taking care of the kids but doing other ‘housewife duties’ including the weekly shopping, managing the budget and taking care of the house.  

·         Dads don’t do brand research - Many agencies still believe that ‘if it's not about cars, sports or games, men don’t really care.’ Today’s fathers use of online research for household and childcare related products are higher than men in a previous generation. The research suggests having kids affects how both parents make purchases, not just Moms.

·           Dads are just the babysitter for the day - Most consumer brands continue to target Moms and show Dads as a bumbling follower in the house. Research, and common sense, confirms that this is just not true.  (Inner Socialmedia-ness Februay 20, 2013)

So how does this information help you as the business owner?  If you want to grow your business and your revenues, you need to market to Dad.  You need to reach him where he is, both at home with the kids and also out enjoying sports and the recreation activities that they enjoy.  You need to have the conversation with them and let them know that they have a very important voice.  You want them to have access to as much information about your product and the easy ability to find it and purchase it.

And you know what?  1010XL knows how to speak to Dad.  In Jacksonville, we are the radio station that Dad is listening to.  We have the personalities that Dad has a relationship with and can be an influential part of his household decision making. 

Want to learn more about how to reach Dad?  Send me an email and I can share with you some great examples and show how you can start conversing with Dad's.  I'm at howardw@1010xl.com.