Dick’s Sporting Good’s Powerful Mother’s Day Ad

 

When asked, most marketing professionals would say that the goal of advertising is to catch the attention of a thoughtfully targeted demographic in a memorable way. Obviously, the end game is to drive sales, but a brand can’t get there without being noticed first. This year’s Dicks Sporting Goods Mother’s Day spot does an incredible job of garnering timely attention. By showcasing its multiple female executives as mom’s coaxing their kids through nerves before their upcoming athletic endeavors.

Leadership

 

The video begins with Aimee Watters, executive director of the brands foundation, “Sports Matter”, and her son who is admittedly “scared” about his upcoming soccer game, as he’s “never tried before” and fears the other kids on the team are going to be better than him. As she continues to encourage and mentor him to find confidence, she becomes the ads narrator. Through her conversation with her son in the background, viewers are shown clips of other Dick’s c-suite women supporting their trepid young children.

Carrie Guffey, senior vice president of merchandising is shown hustling out the door for her daughter’s tennis game. Followed by Nina Barjesteh, senior vice president, product development, tying her young daughters’ shoes. Next, Melissa Christian, vice president of marketing, helps her little boy put floaties on his arms before he jumps into the pool to begin his first swimming lesson

Watters narration takes a brief pause while we hear the other moms offering advice to their kids, like, “It’s okay to get scared. Mommy gets scared sometimes too” and “If you’re brave you might try something new, that could be a lot of fun”, and other words of encouragement before their events.

During the pause from Watters, Lauren Hobart, the company’s CEO (how awesome is that?!) is shown holding her daughter’s hand asking, “Are you doing okay?” Followed by, “It’s going to be fine.”

The ad ends with Watters finishing her conversation with her now less-nervous son while showing him kicking the soccer ball. She tells him, “I promise you if you keep trying, you will do a good job. I’m so proud of you buddy. I love you.”

In an article about the spot, AdWeek published that the original intent of the commercial was meant to showcase Dick’s increased focus on championing women by highlighting the brands leaders outside of the office, as part of its “Inside Moves” campaign. This campaign launched in March and is intended to highlight the brands female senior leaders and their efforts to support the company’s growing female consumer base.

We love that. More celebrating women, please.

Behind the Scenes

 

For this specific video, Dick’s leverage these leaders to share in their other role as mom. The article goes on to say that after overhearing Watters’ conversation, a cameraman suggested the Mother’s Day angle as it’s timely being shot near the holiday.

In an accompanying article quote, Watters shares, “They were able to take that little nugget and build it into the campaign that will be airing on Sunday. We became the narrative to share this story of all the women and what they were feeling with their own families and their own kids.”

She goes on to explain, “I think it was grown out of an insight that we wanted to really show that we are a company that’s led by a lot of awesome female businesspeople and that we as female leaders are athletes, too, and we understand what a female athlete needs and wants. We can sympathize, empathize, think like you, be like you and we understand what you need.”

As an agency that believes in meaningful messaging, a healthy work/life balance, positive affirmations and the importance of family, this commercial – this whole campaign, honestly – really resonates. It does exactly what an ad should.

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Draper DNA.

Have you seen a really strong ad recently? We’d love to chat with you about the ad and why it spoke to you. Feel free to reach out to Abby at abby@draperdna.com.