BrandDR to Marketers - Study Dads As If They Were Monkeys...

My last two posts dealt with target marketing.  Namely, using sex (male vs. female) or family role (moms) as dimensions by which to define targeted customers.

The conversation continued today in Ad Age, which declared:

"Increasingly Influential Dads Are in Marketers' Crosshairs"

What is interesting here is the qualifier; that is, not all dads find themselves pursued by marketers - just the "influential" ones.   So where is this influence, and how can it be useful to us as marketers?

Supermarkets vs. Superbowl

Even though times have changed and household roles have been transformed, the influence held by Moms vs. the influence held by Dads, seems to break along stereotypical gendered lines set in the 1950's. You guessed it - research cited by Ad Age suggests that Moms rule the supermarket, while Dads rule the sports field.

The Ipsos LMX family study completed earlier this year among 2,800 moms and dads, while it didn't confirm dads rule the shopping cart just yet, did find they're the major players when it comes to entertainment. Ipsos found dads spend 50% more time than moms with their kids online, were 50% more likely than moms to take the kids to movies, and were also more likely to take the kids to theater, sporting events or concerts.

Ok.  We get it.  This means that Dads have influence in choosing and buying technology products, online services, and making entertainment choices like the theater, sporting events and concerts.

So, how do brands respond to this knowledge?

Kellogg Co. directed a campaign for Frosted Flakes featuring ESPN sports anchor and dad Rece Davis with ads on ESPN and an ESPN.com microsite. Such Procter & Gamble Co. brands as Gain, Febreze and Swiffer this year have become prominent display advertisers on sections of Yahoo, such as sports, heavily frequented by men.

Huh?  It's like we haven't learned anything new.  Male targeted media has always been the place to talk with men.  And, if women still rule the supermarket - why market cleaning products to men?  (Note:  I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't market these products to men, because they are indeed shoppers of, and users of, these products, but as a "learning moment" from this research, the response by P&G just doesn't fit.)

The article suggests that the research method of a "self-report" or survey, led to an overstatement of Dads' role in household decision making.

But the reality is, while dads are more important household decision makers, they're still not as important as moms, said Gary Stibel, CEO of New England Consulting Group. By letting men self-report, the Yahoo survey overstated their role, he said. New England Consulting Group's own follow-up survey of 200 men and women indicated 70% of consumer-package-goods volume is still purchased by women, though he believes men's role is up "from the high 20s to the low 30s" in recent years.

Regardless of the final word on Men vs. Women; Moms vs. Dads - the real lesson here is about our reading of, and response to, research.

Surveys will always be vulnerable to "bias."  Leading questions may result in answers that don't accurately reflect the thoughts, feelings, or actions of the respondent.  Or, our natural desire to "whitewash" - to make things sound good and positive and to please the researcher - may cause our responses to be more "wishful thinking" than a reflection of reality.

Situations like these remind me of the importance of triangulation in research.  Why rely just on one method - which may have its limitations - when you can supplement that method with another method that may be complementary?  Here, I'd like to see observation or ethnographic research to uncover what household roles in decision making look like everyday.

This may amount to studying Dads as if they were monkeys - but sometimes you have to brave the jungle to understand the animals...