When most Brits hear the name "Alfie," they think of Michael Caine's skirt-chasing cad in the 1966 movie of the same name (with all due respect to Jude Law's reprisal of the character).

Now there's a new swinging Alfie out of the UK — chatting up his girl/friend Evie, about the benefits of Huggies' "drylock system" which promises to keep a baby's skin dry for up to 12 hours and help prevent leaks. He even has his own Twitter handle — presumably because he's too young to give out a mobile number.Continue reading...

Sixty-six percent of moms confess to hiding in the bathroom for alone time according to a recent survey commissioned by Procter & Gamble’s most iconic consumer brand, Ivory.

The national study canvassed more than 1,000 moms to garner insights ‘on the realities of their lives,’ and gave impetus to Ivory's new online social community, The Soap Dish, which is located at Ivory's Facebook page as a branded content/community partnership with Emmy award-winner actress and mom, Melissa McCarthy, whose star rocketed this year after her scene-stealing turn in Bridesmaids. 

"I grew up using Ivory and that smell always reminds me of when I was a kid," stated McCarthy in P&G's press release. "As a working mom of two, I love anything that simplifies my life. So when one bar of soap can handle backyard dirt, spaghetti hands, and the unidentified crusty bits under my girls' necks — I'm in."

“As part of Ivory's modern day makeover, which began with the unveiling of our new packaging design and advertising campaign, we sought to tap into the everyday opinions and attitudes of today’s busy mom,” said Jay Sethi, Ivory brand manager. “What we found was today’s moms have an unyielding desire for honest, down-to-earth, simple yet social connections with other women and moms.”Continue reading...

Disney is acquiring Babble Media, whose New York-based parenting website Babble.com and vocal community features web savvy, hipster-leaning and well-connected parents not unlike its co-founders.

Babble was launched by Nerve Media in 2006, which made a splash with Nerve.com, a website focused on sex, relationships and culture by husband-and-wife team Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman. They even spun a book out of the site's content with The Big Bang: Nerve's Guide to the New Sexual Universe, Sex Etiquette, and Full Frontal Fiction. 

Babble.com was named by TIME as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2010 and by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Websites for Women. A stable of 200-plus mom bloggers contribute fare in the usual range of parenting topics including pregnancy, child care, health, food and family activities, as well as lifestyle topics including home, fashion and family products. Which is all well and good, but will they live happily ever after in Disney's world?Continue reading...

“Word of mouth” may be considered the most powerful way to sell your product. But according to Toronto digital marketing consultant Sean Moffit, “word of mom” is even more potent, the Toronto Star reports. A 2010 survey by BlogHer and iVillage found that mom bloggers “are most likely to write about brands and … three-quarters of active online women rely on blogs for product information.”

Many moms started blogs in the weeks and months after their child is born in order to reach out during a time of life that can be difficult and lonely. Some, the Star reports, are finding it to have been an excellent business decision.Continue reading...

McDonald's USA President Jan Fields has kicked off the brand's first ever "listening tour," at the BlogHer conference in San Diego.

The Hillary Clinton-style move to engage parents (particularly moms — ideally, those who blog with vast Twitter and Facebook networks) was promised as part of its new nutrition commitment that was announced on July 25th. That's when the company announced its menu overhaul a "series of town hall style meetings (that) will connect us directly with parents and nutrition experts for important dialogue about how McDonald’s can continue to play a role in children’s well being."

McDonald's executives also talked up its new Family Arches online community, signing up members of the private community at a boot at the conference. Above, listen to Fields field questions — and, well, listen.

The folks at Procter & Gamble have got an army of women helping them out online. Through the use of its Tremor marketing arm, P&G has built up a massive focus group to help the company make some big decisions and some sales along the way.

Tremor CEO Chris Laird tells eMarketer that online word-of-mouth has been particularly effective within Tremor’s Vocalpoint program, a collection of a half million “highly engaged” moms who “advocate for products within their social networks.”

One example Laird shared was how effective a campaign for Secret deodorant was through the use of Vocalpoint.Continue reading...

In a funny twist of virtual fate, turns out that social media-savvy moms wield substantial clout when it comes to recommending, among other things, eReaders and banking services to family and friends.

As competition in both markets escalate, it’s women with one or more children under 18 living at home, who regularly engage in social media, that are influencing brand choices. 

Motista's recent survey on eReaders asked consumers about brands including Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Sony's eReader and Apple's iPad.

“Social media moms definitely feel a deeper connection to their eReaders that their non-social media counterparts don’t,” said Alan Zorfas, chief product and marketing officer at Motista, in a press release.Continue reading...

Having partnered with Target last year to distribute her Little Seed baby lifestyle brand, actress turned entrepreneur Soleil Moon Frye was just announced as Target's first "mommy ambassador," meaning she'll be helping boost Target Baby's Facebook community to her own.