As businesses scrambled to survive the lockdown restrictions, “pivot” became the buzzword on everyone’s lips. For those who managed to adapt quickly to the change, though, it has been game-changing. Exposure Marketing, specialists in marketing to moms, believes that their “pivot” extended the organisation’s core business into a more dynamic offering.
Exposure Marketing has always been focused on connecting moms with family brands; primarily providing a platform for brands to launch or showcase their products at the national MamaMagic Baby Expos. With the advent of COVID-19 and the closure of in-person events, the MamaMagic exhibitions ended abruptly, preventing the business’ core function to create multi-sensory in- person experiences to connect brands with the mom-sumer.
It is said that the top attribute of a successful marketing agency is its ability to meet changing demands with agility and flexibility. This was certainly the case for Exposure Marketing. Despite the challenging circumstances, their team quickly and gracefully navigated the transformation from an exhibition-centric marketing service to a full-service Parent Media Agency.
“Exposure Marketing has been a conduit between family brands and Mom-consumers since 2004, when we launched South Africa’s first baby and parenting exhibition,” says Managing Director, Projeni Pather. “That was when we started to see a well-educated, better-informed mom emerge who wanted to experience brands first-hand, dig deeper before making purchasing decisions and who ran their household like a business. We sought to meet the needs of these parents and assisted brands in understanding what motivates them.”
With over 21 million hits on the website and over 100 000 visitors attending the MamaMagic expos annually, Exposure Marketing understood that parents were looking to access unbiased and credible information in a neutral space all year round. Over the past decade, the team seized the opportunity to grow the MamaMagic platforms to develop engagement with the mom community, expanding their offering to include the Milestones Pregnancy and Parenting magazine, social media platforms, annual research initiatives, New Product Awards and the Heart-to-Heart Blog space. All of these resources fed the demand for sought-after information and resources to help the mom-sumer make more informed purchasing decisions for their families.”
“When the COVID transmission eradicated the face-to-face opportunity at our exhibitions, we continued our interactions on our other platforms to continue meeting the needs of the mom community, grow our online audience and expand our reach and engagement,” says Pather. “Exposure Marketing managed to remain relevant throughout the crisis, effectively evolving into a full marketing service agency.”
“We believe that by helping parents, we can lay a solid foundation together for the next generation of responsible young adults in the world,” she adds. “We are the only company in South Africa that specialises in marketing to moms and, as such, we have a unique undertaking to ensure ethical, responsible and authentic communication to this market. Moms trust us to apprise them of products and services in a safe, neutral space to help them make informed decisions. Brands, therefore, turn to us to assist in driving sales, conducting sampling, creating and executing targeted marketing campaigns, store and product launches and extending their marketing engagements in multiple ways.”
The COVID disruption has ironically enabled Exposure Marketing to bolster its service offering. With the full calendar of MamaMagic exhibitions set to resume from March 2022, Pather maintains that the exhibitions are now simply one more avenue through which to enhance your marketing effort. As we step into the future, and consumers look for direction, Exposure emphasises that now is the time for brands to be bold in their execution to meet the challenges that undoubtedly lie ahead in these volatile times.
“Allow us to share your brand story with our ever-expanding mom community. *Research shows that 73% of moms in South Africa make all the purchasing decisions for their families. Let’s face it, you want these moms to engage with your brands, and we can help you do that boldly.” concludes Pather.
