The best ever Mother's Day campaigns

Mums, grandmas, godmothers, step-mums and maternal figures everywhere are soon to be showered with cards and gifts as Mothering Sunday approaches.

Back in 2019, the nation spent a whopping £1.6 billion on cards and gifts for their mums. Following two years of pandemic restrictions limiting the celebrations, this year Brits are set to go bigger and better than ever before.

According to Town & Country, Mother’s Day is the third highest selling holiday for flowers and plants. However, brands across all industries can get in on the action, driving sales and engagement with consumers wanting to show their mums just how much they mean to them.

We’ve rounded up some of our favourite Mother’s Day marketing campaigns from over the years to show how brands of all sizes and sectors have helped customers celebrate the day with their mums.

Tesco - To all the mums

Motherly figures come in all forms - mums, step mums, adoptive mums, aunts, sisters, friends. Tesco recognised the importance of celebrating ALL mums in their 2020 campaign, creating a collation of clips between mums and their now grown up children, each sharing why their relationship is so special.

This inclusive campaign used real people over actors, and proved popular with viewers, to date it has been viewed over 20 thousand times on youtube. It’s a great example of moving away from the more traditional family image and embracing the modern family structures we have today - which come in all shapes and sizes.

All mums are superheroes in our eyes, and deserve to be recognised, so this campaign quickly made it onto our list of the best of all time.

Channel 4 & Maltesers - Being A New Mum: Expectation v Reality

Last year, Channel 4 paired up with Maltesers to help support young mothers' mental health, as a part of the brand’s #LoveBeatsLikes campaign.

To say adjusting to life as a new mum has its challenges would be an understatement, but those who entered motherhood during the pandemic also had to navigate lockdown restrictions, solo hospital visits and long periods of isolation.

This campaign worked to shine a light on the realities of being a mum, and encouraged viewers to stop comparing their lives to those they see on social media, remembering that it’s a polished snapshot of someone’s day. In opening up the conversation for mums to get real about the challenges they face, and have a laugh about some of the unrealistic expectations pushed onto them, the campaign proved popular with the public and trade media alike, securing multiple press features. The short film from which they took snippets for their TV ads has received almost 772K views on youtube to date, showing that longer form content, when done right, can be just as popular as short, snappy videos.

Open, honest and tackling important issues - that’s a triple threat in our book!

Bloom and Wild - The Thoughtful Marketing Movement

In 2019, the flower delivery service gave their customers the chance to opt-out of emails about sensitive occasions like Mother’s Day. Their thoughtful approach to what can be a difficult time of year for some received a huge response from their community as well as the wider public, with multiple press mentions and over 1,600 likes on a tweet praising the brand for their sensitivity. They even got a mention in a Parliamentary debate from MP Matt Warman!

The move inspired the business to develop The Thoughtful Marketing Movement, which aims to change the culture around brand communications and improve the experience for customers across the industry. To date, the movement has amassed a community of over 170 businesses, providing them with a variety of resources, from newsletters and advice to Q&As with marketers in the community, opinion pieces, live panels, and how to guides.

The brand's kind and considered approach to communication has created a space for marketers to discuss, educate and help each other find ways to be more thoughtful together. And here at Extreme, we think that’s pretty bloomin’ special!

NIVEA - Back Home

Last year, the global skincare brand tapped into one of the implications of the pandemic, which saw many millennials move back home in the face of financial hardship.

Showing some of the challenges viewers could relate to and empathise with struck a chord with customers, and to date the ad has almost 20k views on youtube. This is a great example of the power of storytelling.

Without focusing on any products at all, and instead on the sentiment behind the message, NIVEA were able to resonate with their audience and inspire them to treat their mum to some self care products, helping to preserve that all important ‘mother’s touch’.

KFC - Chickendales Mother’s Day Performance

KFC regularly features on our round ups of the best marketing campaigns, and their 2019 Mother’s Day ad is no exception.

The fried chicken brand’s #Chickendale campaign allowed customers to make a custom Mother’s Day video at CHICKENDALES.COM, encouraging customers to share a KFC meal together with their mum while watching the clip.

To date the ad has been viewed almost 4.9million times, and received over 10 thousand likes on twitter.

Turns out for some, love is best served with a side of fried chicken.

P&G 'Thank You, Mom' Campaign (Rio 2016 Olympics)

For the 2016 Olympics, P&G's "Thank you Mom" campaign featured supportive mothers from around the globe helping their children overcome challenges and persevere through tough times on their way to becoming Olympic athletes.

Tapping into the sentiment of motherhood and recognising the important role a mother can play in their child growing up to be the best version of themselves resonated with viewers, with the ad receiving over 1.8million views on youtube.

How is your brand helping customers celebrate Mother’s Day? If you need help coming up with seasonal campaigns that excite and engage consumers, get in touch! Our team of experts are on hand to help.