Latest / WOI Unfiltered / The “I'm Fine” Era: How Brands Are Tackling Burnout - Epi 34
Transcript
- Jenna: Hi Emily: Hi, I'm just laughing because I look like a Minecraft character according to my children. Jenna: You do not Emily: It's okay. Dental work, people, dental work. Don't do it. Save your teeth. Yes. Jenna: my goodness. So sorry. You're on the mend, though. all right. Well, I'm glad we're back on track with recording these. And we're gonna talk about a topic today that I am actually particularly passionate about. This episode is for all the working mothers out there, working women Emily: Yeah. Jenna: out there. all right, we've done this. to each other before and I have one client in particular where I joke but the I'm fine, I'm okay, you know, Emily: Yeah. Jenna: that phrase of like when some when when another person says how are you and a female, Emily: yeah. Jenna: particularly a working mother says, I'm fine, all is not fine. Like nobody wants you to go into that. Exactly. Emily: They don't really want you to go into that. Don't never unpack, I'm fine. Yeah. Jenna: So we have learned to say I am fine. and we're gonna talk about some fun campaigns that kind of deal with that. That they're different campaigns. One directly hits it head on, one skirts around a little bit, but it's a little bit of a thematic. Emily: Mm-hmm. Jenna: so as we start today, let's just set the stage. I I looked up some stats here. So Emily: Great. Jenna: and then and we can talk personally because you and I coincidentally just had a conversation the other day about kind of like the mental load and household tasks and stuff. Emily: Yeah, yeah we did. Jenna: 62% of full-time working mothers say it's difficult to balance work and family responsibilities. That's compared to 47% of fathers. This is Emily: Mm-hmm. Jenna: from Pew, and it's recent, it's June of this year. Emily: wow. Yeah. Jenna: 67% of full-time working mothers say they have felt unable to give 100% at home because of competing work and family responsibilities. That's compared to 50% of fathers. Emily: Okay. Jenna: Eighty-one percent of full-time working mothers handle parenting related tasks during their workday, compared to sixty-two percent of working fathers. Emily: Wow. Okay. Jenna: And then the last one that we'll hit on, there's there's a lot of stats on this topic. Guys, just to set the stage, but Emily: Ha Jenna: sixty-seven percent of full-time working mothers say they don't have enough time to relax compared to 53% of fathers. yeah. And then the list the list goes on with other nuanced stats, but I think you're getting the gist here. I I would say burnout and the time crunch is true. across the board male and female, but Emily: Yeah. Jenna: that females are probably f feeling it a little bit more. Emily: Yeah, it's funny, especially that last dad about I think it comes at the end of a day, right? When really I should put myself to bed at ten to be a whole human for the next day. But sometimes when you just want that moment to yourself, you stretch it. And in our household, my husband does the same thing because he's burning these hours at work. And i it's a good day for me if it's just like I just want to do my New York Times games on my phone and Jenna: Yeah. Emily: maybe watch a 30 minute show. Forget reading. I go through phases. That's what I should be doing, something off a screen. But yeah, it's just that last moment of connection. The good thing about this setup, Jenna, is that I can juggle a decent amount of home related things at work, which I appreciate. It was something I felt really guilty about when I was reporting to an office in a different agency setting. But it it is the way of the world. You have to be able able to multitask the both the responsibilities when you're in this position. Jenna: Yeah. And I think the the scales tip largely female in terms of managing household and family tasks along with work, whether both parents are full time working or not. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: and it's almost like a societal norm. We are working in my household to to shift that a little bit. We are actively working. We have some AI agents that are helping us. My husband started to try and get much more involved. But it is not inherent in like his DNA. Like I I am sitting here thinking of the list of 25 things that need to happen for the kids and their their like comfort levels and all that. And that's not inherently happening on the other side. but he's working to to help. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: but I know that's not the same for every family. And certainly society has shifted in areas where, you know, men are staying home. I just met Emily: Yeah. Jenna: somebody else where the The mom is a full-time working parent. Regardless though, I think there are some campaigns that are really, I don't want to say having fun with it, because it's not a fun topic. But they're they're hitting it head Emily: Yeah. I mean it's cultural. Yeah. Jenna: on, right? And it's something we're all dealing with. So why not address it? Emily: I I do have just a quick follow-up question as you work through this process with your beloved. let me know how it goes. I recently talked to party of one who says their brother's family very much splits it. And it actually results in a bit of a a bleep show, if you will, because no one knows at all. And therefore it gets muddled and messed up and a little nutty. So keep us posted on that, Jenna. Jenna: it's not working perfectly, but it is an improvement. anyway, shall we chat? Do you wanna talk about Emily: Yes, yes. Jenna: Southwest? You wanna kick us off with Southwest? Emily: Yeah, you know that I do love Southwest. I have recently started maybe cheating on them because my love affair I feel like it's it's them, not me, because they're turning into more of that traditional legacy. But I do think that they are still really smart with their campaign approaches. and so this one is the idea that airplane mode, when you you know, everyone has to turn their phone on airplane mode. Arguably, probably not everybody does, but they launched this enter airplane mode On October 5th, it's a campaign. just to like make light of the fact that it is a moment out of your busy day, away from the notifications on your phone, away from text, email, all that stuff. Jenna: Mm-hmm. Emily: and they want to turn the smartphone notifications into airline rewards. So they were responding to this: like 76 of respondents feel burned out and research that they I don't know if they owned it, but the idea was 68%. Of those believe that travel can help them reclaim their time, which is which is interesting. And I think Jenna: Yeah. Emily: arguably a point, because I think you you actually like pre-log work to take the vacation and then you post log work. So sometimes Jenna: Yeah. Emily: I think personally it can be a little bit more stressful, but it's absolutely necessary. but anyway, so they're kind of riffing on this. So enter airplane mode encourages users to scan a QR code and upload. a screenshot of their home screen notifications, maybe that they missed during the flight to receive rapid rewards points. And I guess that Southwest also saw a 35% uptick in people applying to be rewards members, which is actually pretty huge. So it was kind of like an answer to that and drafting on the momentum of that as well. Jenna: I think it's cute. I think Emily: So it Yeah. Jenna: conceptually it's really cool and it makes a lot of sense. It feels very natural for them. It aligns to the survey. I'm I'm into it and I'm into them kind of acknowledging the the burnout that people are facing and saying like vacation and trips are a good way to recharge. I I think my creative wheels are spinning. The mechanism for how this is done does feel a little bit confusing of like the notifications piece, 'cause hypothetically if I'm on airplane mode, then I'm not getting notifications. So I think I'm confused by that, but we could sort that out. Emily: It's probably when you land, right? And it's like you turn on the phone and it is like kind of immediately anxiety inducing. Yeah. Even if it's stuff that's like, Jenna: Bing bing bing bing bing. Yeah. So that's interesting. Emily: read me, read me. I mean, it is the attention that your phone is wired to drag from you is so real. the push notifications, Jenna: it's insane. Emily: the mechanisms that are like, no, no, no, I want your attention here. So I Jenna: Yeah. Emily: think that Southwest is, I mean, doing us a favor and and Jenna: Well Emily: making an inherent behavior kind of fun. How about that? Jenna: Yeah, it's like take a beat. I think I would love I mean, really the the genesis is is like sit back and just enjoy the ride and and don't be distracted by your phone. I think it's a cool campaign and at at the core of what they're trying to do, it is fun. my only other thing I would say is like the only time I'm flying Southwest, and this isn't a knock on them, but just most for the most part, the only time I'm flying Southwest, I'm trying to get work done on the plane. So there is a little squishy thing there. Emily: Computer spot. Yeah, most likely. You're right. Yeah. I'm trying to get home, usually where I'm from, right? Like it's Jenna: Yeah. Yeah, well yeah, 'cause you're in Chicago. Yeah. Emily: It's a very utilitarian purpose for me, but I it's my most traveled trip. Therefore I am a rewards member, all the things, but you know, they're they're consistently doing I think smart things and I I do feel like they have a very solid idea of what their brand is underneath it all. Jenna: Yes. all right. Well, let's flip into the next one for us to talk about, which is a new campaign from Lancomb. And this is what we were talking about at the very Emily: Yeah. Jenna: beginning. So I specifically have one client where when we know things are going crazy and we get on the phone and it's like, Hey, how are you? Both of us will inevitably say, I'm fine, which means no. Emily: Okay. Jenna: Shit's hit the fan, things are going crazy over here, but nobody has time to hear about all the things that are going crazy. So let's just move on. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: And The campaign from Lancome is jumping off of an Ipso study from this year that shows 80% of women have said I'm fine when they were not. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: And 72 regret h hiding how they felt. That part is interesting, that stat, and also saying like hiding. because I'm not sure. I think it's almost become so used amongst women that we all know that that's what it means at this point. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: but regardless, I think it's a really cool campaign because it's bringing it to light going beyond the peer-to-peer female-to-female conversation. and they're partnering with the ADAA. On this campaign to encourage women to check on their mental well-being and recognize signs of anxiety and depression, which is clearly from the stats that I shared at the beginning of this pod, is becoming more and more a thing. And so I love this campaign because it's purpose-driven, it's a big Emily: Yeah. Jenna: brand, getting behind a purpose and saying, we feel like this is an issue and we need to shed some light on it. They also have gotten partnership with several celebrities. Emily: Yeah. Jenna: So Demi Moore, Christy Turlington, Zoe Sadania, Vanessa Kirby, they've all helped to share personal stories to kind of break the stigma surrounding women's mental health and help to promote this campaign. And I think that's a really great cause for them to be behind. Emily: Yeah, and I think that it is very genuine to where the conversation seems to be going. I mean, I always am like, is this just my Instagram algorithm? Or like, do people actually care? But Jenna: Yeah. Emily: it it feels as though this what I believe was once stigma in the workplace, if you're talking like early two thousands into the twenty tens, right? Like nobody talked about it. and Jenna: Yeah, you're right. Emily: Yeah. And I think there was so much guilt percolating because you just think automatically everyone can just handle it. And like this this gal's coming to work, you know, at by nine fifteen with four babies and you're like, Well, what do I have to complain about? Right? But what really was happening below the surface, it's like any good curated Instagram feed in real life is that there are so many struggles to get that woman there to work at nine fifteen. Right. And so I think campaigns like this are a really good mark of maybe where culture is going, the acceptance of none of us are perfect. We are, you know, we're we're trying to learn, help each other, be a community of women, inform men. understand our brains work a little bit differently. You know, I I think I woke up yesterday with high anxiety and it just when sometimes when you look down your calendar of things, you're like, yeah, there's there's things there that make me feel anxious about what's to come and how will I react. And right, so I just love it because it's a it's a big beauty brand in the right space raising really solid awareness and like you said, Jenna purpose driven. Jenna: Yeah. Yeah. all right. Well, I know this is kind of a quick episode. I did want to circle back to and this is I feel like we always kind of spotlight one of the crises that's happening, but this tags on to our last episode where we talked a little bit about Converse, and the crisis they were having. and just like some of the stuff that's out there in the ether, we won't get into it here, but the whole like Cornell situation that's going on. so First off, to just circle back on Converse because we did talk about it last time, I saw another picture of the Converse ad pop up and it really caught me off guard. And I like did a jump scare we were talking about Converse before, and some of the images that I had seen of the campaign truthfully did not evoke what I what people were talking about. And so I was Emily: Yeah. Jenna: understanding it, but not fully grasping it. And then I saw one image, I think it was probably a social tile, and I was like, wow, wow, like how was this missed? and it just it goes back to the discussion we had with Content being used across multiple channels and having eyes in every way, shape, and form, that piece of content is going to be used because it does look different in different mediums and with different cuts. And Emily: Yeah. Jenna: that was so apparent when I stumbled across this. So that's just a little callback. Emily: And it's I no, I agree. And I totally agree, Jenna. Like when you see whatever, the thumbnail or the social use, it is kind of like jarring, but then I'm wondering, is it already because it's in my head? Would I Okay. Yeah. Jenna: No. This one was just like I I I actually didn't realize it was the same campaign, to be honest with you. And I saw Emily: wow. Okay. Jenna: the picture. You know, it took like that split second for my brain to register, but I saw the picture and was like, what is this? This is not okay. And then I registered that it was the same one and I was like, God, yeah. Anyway, that's a little side tangent. The last campaign I think we want to call attention to is and this is it's a little bit relevant to something we're working on right now. So Hey Dude is a company that recently faced some criticism because they did a sponsored Instagram post with University of Florida, one of the fraternities. and and that's all it was. It was such a simple thing that was done. However, the fraternity was associated with a highly publicized sexual. harassment case involving two former members. Now there's a lot of learnings here. We've talked about reputational management before many, many times, about making sure you're vetting whomever you're working with and really digging deep on that. and so that obviously is like so front and center. Emily: Well, and it's just really rough timing too. yeah. Yep. Jenna: It's rough timing. Yep. It's definitely rough timing with the things that are happening in Cornell. But but also Emily: One two rough punch here on on the fact that there was not the proper vetting. Jenna: I mean, or is it a good thing that it's right now because we all get to see it? And you know, I think the thing though that is also hitting me is we had a conversation the other day, we were brainstorming for a client, and there are certain companies out there that help brands connect with college students because that's obviously a big demographic. They're about to enter kind of quote unquote the real world and have true buying power. And so getting in with them early, getting some loyalty with with that age group is something that a lot of brands look to do. And Emily: Yeah. Jenna: so there are companies now that work to help you sample on campus to help find those like budding influencers who can share, you know, social posts about XYZ products. yes. Well, Emily: Building loyalty young, maybe these people will stay with you. Jenna: and as soon as I saw this post, and and I haven't Dug into this. So I don't know if this was like literally coordinated in terms of a one-on-one relationship. But as soon as I saw this, I thought of those companies that help you connect with the college level. And I think this is where things can easily start to get out of control is you're a brand. You find a company that works directly with college kids. That company goes off and finds these college kids to post for you. And because they're college kids and not quote unquote influencers, you're likely not paying as close attention and you're likely not vetting them in the same way that you would an influencer who has 50,000 or 3 million followers. and I think that that was just a reminder of like, hey, everyone is an influencer in their own right. And if you're a brand and you're engaging with someone and paying them a couple hundred dollars or several thousand dollars. That vetting still needs to be done because something like this can easily happen. Emily: One hundred percent. I would just think, you know, it's it's a little groundbreaking, I think, to partner with the fraternity generally. I I would think that that would be a red flag for many, many brands because the vetting on that is is almost limitless if you think about it. It's too Jenna: Yeah. Emily: many people going through the doors. And if it's not that chapter, it's another chapter in a different geography. So i it's an interesting approach generally, but a great reminder, Jenna, about vetting and Jenna: Yeah. Emily: the importance of people we attach to brand. Jenna: All right, my friend. Well, we're at the end of the episode. and I know you have to head off. So the last question What's our impact this week? Emily: Well, that's a great question for us this week, Jenna. I am thinking that we are doing a lot of creative right now, creative thinking for more of our legacy clients, and new clients. And I think that this is the fun part of our job. It can be beautifully exhausting, but it's actually my favorite piece, and I think we're coming up with really exciting stuff for 2027. Jenna: I love it. I agree. I'm gonna add one thing because selfishly this feels like a bit like I was the most excited about this. and we can't say who it is yet, but we were able to secure one of our clients a spot at South by Southwest. Emily: Beautiful ones. Jenna: and that was huge for us. That was so special for them. They're a smaller company, it's a big opportunity for them. We were just really excited to have. Had a hand in that. and we're excited to now craft, what they're gonna share there. So more to come there. all right, well, I will let you get going. Thank you so much for joining me today, and we'll be back with more next week. Bye. Emily: Sounds good. Have a good one. Bye.