On Mother's Day, brand culture is on full display in social media. Here are a few of the brand personalities I discovered through their social engagement.
The favorite Mother's Day commercial in social media conversations was the NBA's "MVP" commercial, which turned NBA star Kevin Durant's MVP acceptance speech into a humble tribute to his mother. Produced by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners with NBA Entertainment, the "Real MVP Stars" commercial was lauded for its humility and passion, touching on the enduring confidence and strength conveyed by Durant's mother in her unwavering belief in him against all odds.
The NBA commercial was followed in social media popularity by Mother's Day tributes from Google (Google Glass ad), Starbucks, Twitter, P&G, Cheerios and FedEx, according to our NetBase ad tracker below. While the social buzz loved the little girl innocence of the General Mills Cheerios commercial, P&G's Thank You Mom was a touching homage to the indelible values Eunice Shriver instilled in her daughter Maria Shriver to resist social barriers to express and act on her own truth.
Some of the sponsored tributes, branded and unbranded, drove Twitter traffic by promoting "Twitter Parties," such as #aintmomgrand (ProFlowers), #keepgoodgoing (New York Life), #teavanaoprahchai (Starbucks). In fact, almost 90% of the brand ads were pushed viral in Twitter.
A strong DIY trend was also seen in Etsy's social media push with a series of YouTube demo videos on ways to create personalized media tributes to moms.
Among Mom's Day social cause campaigns led by celebrities, as she has with her other notable social good campaigns focusing on women's issues, Christy Turlington's Every Mother Counts is notable in drawing attention to the shocking global statistics surrounding preventable maternal and infant mortality.
Hispanics and Latinos in the U.S., typically highly engaged in social media, widely shared Día de la Madre, family tributes on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, similar to non-Hispanics. One notably obtuse and denigrating commercial released around Día de la Madre was Desigual's "Tu decides," a flippant portrayal and endorsement for hijacking sperm, an insult to the honor of motherhood.