Marketing MomSpit

WASH YOUR HANDS!

This mom mantra is being chanted repeatedly these days  - what with all the coughing, sneezing and hacking going on, not to mention the breathless news coverage of the deadly, drug resistant staph bacteria known as MRSA sweeping the nation.

In fact, NY mayor Michael Bloomberg and city health commission Dr. Thomas Frieden sounded like a couple of moms last week, when they discussed the MRSA-caused death of a Brooklyn 7th grader on the mayor's weekly radio show --- telling New Yorkers that the best defense against the potentially fatal staph infection was to wash their hands often with soap and water, or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

No word yet on Purell sales --- but you can bet it's going to be a good 4th quarter for the Pfizer brand product, which I first wrote about a few years ago in a piece I called Purell Nation.  Knowing full well that moms are its main sales reps, the Purell website features a prominent link to something called ClubMom, a networking site for moms founded in 1999 by NBC's Meredith Vieira, actor Andrew Shue, and ClubMom  CEO and entrepreneur Michael Sanchez (only two of whom, correct me if I'm wrong, are actual "moms").

Hand sanitizers have become big business the past four years.  According to this USAToday article,  "U.S. hand sanitizer sales have grown in double digits since 2003, according to marketing data company ACNielsen," with sales in supermarkets and drugstores alone up 14.4% from 2005 to 2006.   Purell is the market leader,with sales totaling $36.6 million. 

But word of another, more natural hand cleansing product is bubbling in the blogosphere. It's called MomSpit.  That's right.  MomSpit. "Inspired by the original," as the website says.

MomSpit, headquartered in Blaine, Minnesota outside Minneapolis, is the brainchild of three women, all of who are really moms, and all who have backgrounds in Technology/Sales & Marketing.  MomSpit does not claim to be a hand sanitizer, as it contains no alcohol.  But it is a moussey-like cleanser.   As the MomSpit website says, the product is meant to "eliminate milk moustaches, chocolate faces, sticky fingers, grease, dried food, latte foam, gas-pump grunge and mystery dirt. Its gentle blend and antimicrobial properties leave skin clean and fresh."

And for any of you wondering, MomSpit is offered in two convenient sizes and three unisex scents -  Fig & Green Tea, Lemon & White Tea, and unscented - which are "pH balanced, biodegradable and contain no human saliva, 'cause that would just be gross."

MomSpit  made its national debut last month at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas, and has been reviewed by numerous mom blogs following a summer giveaway among bloggers including  Mommies With Style, MumstheWurd, and E's! Celebrity Baby Blog which reports that Paris "picked up some MomSpit for pregnant pal Nicole Richie" at chic celebrity shopping haunt, Intuition.

I first read about MomSpit yesterday on Boing Boing,the blog that calls itself "the directory on wonderful things."  If non-mom blogs are talking about it --- you can bet you'll be seeing it on the Today Show or reading about it in Family Circle any week now.

In all honesty though, I have yet to actually try MomSpit --- at least the bottled kind.  And while some bloggers say they're turned off by the name -  I  think it's brilliant.  It got your attention, didn't it?

Comments

[L. Hunter]

Thank you so much for this great article. Send me an email when you a have minute. Lucie Hunter.

[Branding Blog]

We made a post on momspit today:

http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress/?p=379