I talked recently with Miriam Arond, a veteran editor whose career has been largely focused on women’s magazines. Miriam now runs Hearst’s Good Housekeeping Research Institute, which tests hundreds of products a year and publishes guides for women of all ages on making the most out of life.
Miriam will be speaking at this year’s M2Moms -The Marketing to Moms Conference in Chicago. While she will be talking about how to reach a mother “wherever she lives” (whether through Arond’s 126-year-old magazine, its website, on social media platforms, apps, and now on mobile media as well), she and I talked about how Boomer moms are getting along with, supporting, and influencing their millennial daughters/moms, too.
Boomer Moms and their Millennial Daughters: No Generation Gap
At VibrantNation.com we see Boomer women talking about very different relationships with their child-bearing daughters than they had with their own mothers. Miriam agreed this shift has created a new world for marketers: “Don’t assume there’s a generation gap” between midlife women and their grown daughters.
“Moms and their 20-somethings are listening to the same music, shopping together, talking together,” said Arond. “You can assume that moms and daughters are going on vacation together – enjoying each other’s company. What the mom thinks about a product or store really does matter to her daughter.”
“Good-Enough” Housekeeping
One other topic that Miriam raised would resonate with the Boomer women we serve at VN. She talked about how a publisher like Good Housekeeping is dealing with the fact that women are so busy and under so much stress. While these women want to maintain their homes well, “they’ve given up on perfectionism,” according to Arond.
As a result, Arond’s colleagues at Good Housekeeping now talk about “Good-Enough Housekeeping,” a concept that strikes a great balance between supporting a a young mother’s desire to maintain a happy home without the torment of perfectionism that may have tortured her own mother.
At VibrantNation.com, we see a lot of those Boomer women who tried to have it all embrace this idea alongside their daughters: today’s Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval goes to the woman who can meet all her goals, and is satisfied with “good enough.”
Join me at M2Moms – The Marketing to Moms Conferenceto meet and hear Miriam Arond and others who will be talking about the relationships between moms of all generations.
Kudo's to you Alicia! Wow you've accomplished quite a lot in your life and you will with dating too at some point. Hang in there! Hugs back! Lisa
tried this (as well as the Garnier tinted moisture) in vacation last week ... Liked the Garnier better, but this provides more coverage and does indeed stay on through everything ... not heavy or greasy ... covers my rosacea. Not sure it will be my e
My parents divorced when I was ten and I always felt like my lack of self esteem most have something to do with my Dad's absence but then one day when I was in my firths my mother said or did something that made me realize she was emotionally abusive
Holy crap! What a sad story. Congrats on overcoming that hurdle. Wow.
How I would handle it. FIrst, I would get into therapy; that could go a long way to helping you and your difficulties.
Second (boundaries are necessary in life)..when your kids call for advice, I would FIRST ask them what their thoughts are an
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