The Tendo View

The first order of business for any marketing communications plan is this: Know your audience. Self-evident, sure; however, not always well executed.

Sara Lee Deli’s new campaign—Mama Sagas—is a great example of how combining the power of knowing your audience with social media (such as Facebook and Twitter and other media outlets like YouTube and YahooVideo) can create the perfect storm for capturing and engaging customers.

Sara Lee Deli’s Mama Sagas campaign “gets” today’s moms. Confessional videos such as Dealing with Disaster, What to Tell the Children, and A Working Vacation illustrate the dramas mothers deal with on a daily basis.

“The social media creative focuses on the everyday struggles of moms running a family and features actors who are also real-life mothers.”

It’s refreshing to see a company like Sara Lee, which is known for its wholesome image and products, put an edgier spin on its efforts to connect with its customers. And, I bet, this campaign will win over moms who hadn’t previously been Sara Lee customers, which is the point after all—to build awareness of the company’s prepackaged products, acquire new customers, and boost relationships with existing customers.

Today’s moms aren’t the sugar-coated doyennes of domesticity of yesteryear. My friends who are moms are snarky, self-possessed women who do their level best to juggle the demands of motherhood and, in many cases, a career. They’d never pay attention to someone trying to sell the perfect you-can-do-it-all picture painted by the likes of Martha. Also, my mom friends are all on Facebook and involved in social media to varying degrees. They are a ripe, captive audience.

Few things provide the kind of powerful connection as seeing someone like you dealing with the same problems and issues.

Sara Lee makes great use of social media in this campaign, in particular Facebook, offering not only the Mama Saga videos but also coupons and blog posts on such topics as how to make lunchtime fun. In addition, the company makes good use of the medium for engaging with its customers by interacting with them via Facebook’s Wall and inviting them to participate in polls .

All in all, Sara Lee Deli’s Mama Sagas campaign is clever and timely in both content and execution. Most importantly, though, it hits the audience mark.