Mothercare is putting parents ‘at the heart’ of its new campaign, marking the first major piece of advertising the retailer has undertaken in more than a decade.
The ‘First Steps’ campaign rolled out on Monday 5 November, following the appointment of creative agency Mcgarrybowen which was hired to handle the retailer’s advertising.
The campaign will roll out across digital out-of-home, in newspapers and across social media and has been designed to re-establish Mothercare as ‘the leading global specialist for parents’ and ‘start a new conversation’ around what the brand stands for today.
“We really wanted to demonstrate expertise and empathy as a brand so it was very much about Mothercare being able to do everything we can to prepare [parents] for the first steps and the milestones,” said brand consutant Jayne O’Keefe. “But if you look beyond that there are things we can’t prepare you for at all: the first hello, the first tears, the first goodbye.”
“It brings a lot of emotion into it and puts the parents back at the heart of the thinking. One of the key insights we saw when we were developing the campaign was that sometimes the parents get ignored because all the focus is on the beautiful baby. Sometimes the parents’ needs aren’t celebrated and that’s what this campaign is about.”
The campaign has been launched as Mothercare prepares to close around 50 of its stores by June 2019 after it revealed a £72.8m loss last year.