New moms and the future of toy marketing

I try to keep an eye on the future of the toy industry and that in many cases means keeping up with maternity and baby marketing. So my eye was attracted to, of all things, an article in The New York Times on Bravado Designs, a company that specializes in bras for breast-feeding mothers. 

The article, “Selling Breast-Feeding Bras And Emotional Support,” reports that Bravado abandoned traditional marketing approaches in favor of the Internet. The article quotes Kathryn From, CEO, as saying   “This is where women get their information these days…it’s important to engage the woman where she is, and where she is these days is online.”

They are not, however, just providing a place to shop. They are proving a place of emotional support. As Ms. From again puts it: “We want to promote that women can and should feel great when they’re pregnant and nursing.”

Why is this important to the toy industry? Because this new generation of mothers is totally at home on the Internet and is looking for a community that supports their world view. In a couple of years these same moms are going to be deciding on what toys to buy. Smart toy companies will consider this fact when deciding how and where to spend their marketing dollars. Studying how a successful company like Bravado does it may provide some important clues.