In 2018, Primrose Schools, a national early education and care provider, set out to create a campaign that would resonate with and celebrate Millennial parents, generating engagement and enrollment interest. After the success of the initial #LetGuiltGo activation, Primrose and Jackson Spalding teamed up again and joined forces with content marketing experts at Manifest in 2019 to continue the momentum around empowering parents – this time in a tangible way that would also translate well to digital and social channels.
The solution was a highly-visual, relatable, interactive campaign with a goal of reassuring working parents that no parent is perfect – and that’s perfectly okay. In addition to creating a meaningful path to engagement, this approach would position Primrose Schools as a supportive childcare resource that not only understands the needs of children – but also the demands of being a working parent.
Our approach was informed by the understanding that guilt is an incredibly powerful emotion that affects most parents and research findings about our target audience, which indicated:
- Millennial working parents are overwhelmed by their work/life responsibilities, and the proliferation of online advice makes them feel guilty. In fact, 73 percent of these parents try to give the impression that their lives are under control when they actually feel the opposite. (MRI data for Primrose Schools, 2017)
- Millennials are cynical of brands that imply superiority through abstract educational philosophies, so a winning campaign must be relatable and authentic. ( Forbes.com, 2017)
- Mindfulness helps people to turn their attention away from inner worries and toward the world around them. (Consciousness & Cognition, 2017)
Drawing on inspiration from two ancient phenomena – tashlikh, the Jewish tradition of symbolically casting off mistakes or regrets, and the Japanese legend of Senbazuru, folding paper cranes as an act of healing – we created a tangible way for parents to set themselves free of parent guilt to serve as the centerpiece of the activation. Parents were invited to reflect on their perceived shortcomings by writing thoughts on paper that would be folded into individual origami and transformed into an art installation. The result was a beautiful reminder to parents that they were not alone.
We identified a high-traffic office building that would serve as the headquarters of our operation for confidentially collecting parents’ reflections on guilt and serve as the backdrop of the art installation. We commissioned local artists to carefully fold and string together the individual pieces of paper to represent the collective letting go of parent guilt.
The art installation – combined with an emotional video, interactive microsite, compelling social content and media outreach – resulted in an integrated campaign that shared the gift of letting go of guilt with parents across the country.
Digital and media efforts kicked off on Working Parents Day (Sept. 16), intentionally chosen as an opportunity to bring more recognition for working parents. Campaign elements included:
- Video: Created a long-form video and shorter vignettes to capture the process of bringing the installation to life, as well as the emotional reality of being a working parent.
- Social and Email Campaigns: Targeted digital content brought the concept and installation to life via social and email campaigns.
- Microsite: LetGuiltGo.com allowed us to extend the opportunity to all parents to let go of guilt through an interactive experience. Users were prompted to select the guilt that was weighing on them most before writing down their feelings and letting them go. Based on responses, parents were served tailored Primrose content (e.g., parents who selected “I lose my patience” were offered a blog post on ways to practice patience with their child).
- Influencer Campaign: Partnered with five influencers in priority markets to share the #LetGuiltGo message on their social channels while encouraging followers to visit the microsite.
- Media Relations: Developed an MNR highlighting the microsite’s survey results and pursued targeted national pitching and local market media.
From the in-person to virtual experience of the #LetGuiltGo campaign, the message clearly resonated with working parents. Beyond the 6,000 pieces of origami that comprised the art installation, results highlights included:
- Drove 30,000+ pageviews and nearly 10,000 users to the microsite.
- Social content on Facebook and Instagram generated 3.1 million impressions and engagement rates were 15.6% and 16.9% higher, respectively, compared to the same time period from the previous year.
- Social media content created by influencers earned an engagement rate of 15.4%, prompting heartfelt conversations about parent guilt among followers.
- Captured 60 percent survey completion rate, nearly double the average rate of 33 percent, indicating that parents are eager to share their experiences and that the Primrose Schools brand is engaging with its core audience in a meaningful way.
- Secured 154 media placements, resulting in 128.5M impressions. Top placements included Scary Mommy and several local television segments.
- Received more than 60 enrollment inquiries from campaign content and nearly 75 visits to the Find a School page directly from the MNR and microsite – proving that while the campaign had an awareness-level objective, the message was a true differentiator and drove enrollment consideration and action among our target audience.
Beyond the initial results, insights from the parent survey will allow Primrose to better understand its target audience and will inform content moving forward.
Video for Primrose Schools Helps Parents #LetGuiltGo
