Mother’s Day 2024: Four Impactful Campaigns

Published 10 May 2024

Author

Chelsie Hares

6 min read

Mother’s Day (May 12 for most of the world this year) remains a commercial win, with US consumer spending alone expected to hit $33.5bn (NRF, 2024). From Teleflora’s film on loss of identity to motherhood, to Walmart’s star-studded ‘Moms Ask Moms’ TikTok series, we unpack four effective Mother’s Day campaigns.

At A Glance

Innovation Platforms

Convenience Culture

Topics

Regional Focus

Teleflora Tackles Loss of Identity to Motherhood

Seventy-four per cent of American mothers feel their identity shrinks to just 'mum' after becoming a parent (Peanut, 2023). In response, US floral delivery service Teleflora is honouring them with its emotionally charged ‘MotHER’ campaign.

Reaching six million views in its first week, the YouTube commercial comprises home-video-style clips and images from the 1950s to the 90s of women graduating university, travelling and climbing the career ladder pre-parenthood, as well as laughing with friends, dancing and kissing their partners.

An accompanying Instagram series sees the format made more personal, with videos featuring high-profile mother-daughter duos. Participants include actresses Demi Moore and her daughter Rumer Willis, and Asian American beauty influencer Aylen Park, who is known for frequently featuring her mother (who appears unnamed) in her content.

The short clips, shot in the same style as the longer campaign, show Demi Moore and Aylen Park’s mother both pre- and post-motherhood. Instagram users can imitate the campaign with a ‘MotHER’ Reels template for a chance to win a free Teleflora bouquet (worth up to $100).

Teleflora and Rumer Willis

Teleflora and Aylen Park

Teleflora and Rumer Willis

Teleflora and Aylen Park

Walmart’s TikTok Q&A Spawns Supportive Forum

Leveraging its ultra-accessible ethos, Walmart created a ‘Moms Answer Moms’ TikTok series, with consumers asking celebrity mothers parenting questions. Featured mums include 2000s socialite icon Paris Hilton; comedian Whitney Cummings, whose current tour revolves around being a new mum; and influencer Barbara (Babs) Costello – the self-described ‘internet mom/grandma you didn’t know you needed’ (all American).

Topics range from the irreverent (“Is a hot pink nursery too hot?”, referencing Hilton’s penchant for the colour and her catchphrase: “That’s hot”), to the controversial (“Sleep training without caving – talk to me”).

The top-performing video has surpassed 120 million views. In fact, the series proved so popular, it inadvertently created a peer-support forum, with mothers answering each other’s pressing questions in a 5,000-strong comments section.

Walmart

DoorDash’s Stunt Delivers Flowers & Loved Ones

Adding an emotional twist to its usual proposition, US delivery platform DoorDash engineered a stunt in which it surprised mothers by delivering their sons and daughters to their doors with flowers.

An Instagram video showed children (some of whom hadn’t seen their mothers for years as they lived far away and were unable to afford to visit) speaking about them and getting ready to see them. It then switched to interviews with their mothers, who thought they were simply partaking in market research, talking about how much they loved their children. In each case, the interviews were interrupted with a knock at the door, with emotional reunions captured on camera.

Additionally, DoorDash’s Mother’s Day survey found that 75% of American mothers wanted more free time, with 24% reporting they had a maximum of just three hours to themselves a week (DoorDash, 2024). In response, DoorDash is entering Mother’s Day flower purchasers into a draw to win free babysitting for a year.

DoorDash

Zomato’s Reminder for India’s Mother’s Day Forgetters

Highlighting its on-demand delivery and reminder facilities, Indian platform Zomato’s YouTube campaign targets the 80% of Indian consumers who forget Mother’s Day (Zomato, 2024).

It centres on individuals’ repeated attempts to remember the occasion – from a man tattooing the date on his arm, to a spoof advertisement for Mother’s Day reminder capsules and footage of Zomato riders with uniforms emblazoned with the date – before telling viewers to set a reminder on Zomato.