idea{logg}

getting into the motherhood

It's a show so simple in concept you wish you'd thought of it yourself.

Get moms to write in about their wackiest real life experiences and have funny girls Chelsea Handler, Jenny McCarthy, and Leah Remini act out a weekly favorite.

The result, InTheMotherhood.com is *BRILLIANT!*

The show/website's ability to harness corporate sponsorships through Suave and Sprint is destined to be a huge trend in on line media - somewhat akin to soap company sponsorships of daytime dramas way back before Erica Kane married her 12th husband (shameless All My Children humor). 

In The Motherhood has attracted more than 1000 stories posted each week, and the site has become one of the top mom themed destinations on the web. 

The wickedly funny show has gone through two "seasons" and has attracted more than 21 million views.  Webisodes are between 5 and 6 minutes in length and are viewable on suave.com, sprint.com and the Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE) network, which allows mobile access to the content on select video-enabled Sprint phones.

Both Sprint and Suave have strong marketing efforts focused on moms.  

"In the Motherhood creates a unique platform to allow moms to share their stories with millions of other women. Our customers love the show, and our phones and services are the perfect fit to help mothers stay connected," said Anita Bajaj Newton, vice president, media and digital, Sprint in a recent press release.

“[Suave] is on a mission to help Mom remember the person she often forgets—herself, and to make herself and her beauty a priority again,” said Piyush Jain, Suave senior brand manager of her company's sponsorship of the show. 

MindShare Entertainment, a unit of the media services agency MindShare, developed the series about 20 months ago.  It’s a new world out there,” David Lang, the president of MindShare Entertainment, said. “It goes to show that great ideas and great creativity can come from anywhere.”

Mr. Lang said the online campaign was intended to reach busy mothers who use the Web to decompress and share stories. “The content is very honest and authentic for moms,” he said. “It’s not tied with a bow, it’s not saccharine sweet.” It shows grocery store tantrums, vacation mishaps, and other scenarios inspired by true stories submitted by Web users.

The show is now being developed for ABC, and I hope the broadcast version retains the edge and silliness of the net version, which strikes me as a vehicle more appropriate for HBO to sink their teeth into.  Certainly by making this into a network show it removes the interactivity that moms enjoy so much about the concept and transforms it into something else.  But lets wait and watch before kvetching!

For a taste, watch this episode below.  I have more episodes on my vodpod in the right hand column of this blog.

In The Motherhood Grocery Disaster - The funniest home videos are here

Scout by Petunia is Heisted ... plus design loves DeNai

It's always the most authentic form of praise when a consumer goes out and picks a product from a sea of competing brands, purchases it with their own money, and then loves it enough to sing it's praises in print.

It's this kind of enthusiasm that guided Carrson at StyleHeist to blog about his new Scout Bag from Petunia the other day. 

Carrson writes, "...in the time between your beautiful baby becoming a pimply angst machine there is an awful lot of equipment to lug around and for the mothers there is a whole industry built around this need.

Dad, though, fares worse. Big spots, bright colours and butterflies are good for the ladies, but what about the style-conscious father who doesn’t want some day-glo tote bag putting a kink in his mack-daddy image?  Look no further than the Scout Journey Pack from the unusually titled Petunia Pickle Bottom." 

Be sure to read the entire post and enjoy the other cool entries on this style driven blog.

Another amazing blog that wrote about Petunia Pickle Bottom recently is SimplyGrove, which focuses on great interior design.  SimplyGrove is delighted with the shots of Petunia founder and head designer, DeNai Jones' new baby nursery.   

SimplyGrove writes, "This nursery designed for [DeNai's] son is the perfect balance of sophisticated and simple. The color pallet is so soft and natural."

The writers at MaternityandStyle were knocked out by the Rubicon Rucksack in Black from the Scout Collection this week as well.

Uber blogger Grace at DesignSponge wrote about DeNai's nursery with a full slate of images that got tons of great feedback and comments.

And Coochicoos made a great slideshow and published the link to DeNai's mood/idea board that served as inspiration for the design of her fabulous baby nursery.

Orbit Baby is the "Cadillac of Strollers" on Cliff Notes

There are baby daddies, then there's stay at home dads - and the author of the Cliff Notes Blog is definitely the latter.  He's also a big fan of our client Orbit Baby and wrote a fairly lengthy review of the system the other day.  We thought we'd share an excerpt here.  Cliff writes:

"Several months before Marley was born we went on the quest for the perfect stroller.

We have friends who have gone through 4 or 5 strollers in just a year or two. The hard thing is finding a stroller that will both grow with the baby through toddler years, and be built well enough to last that long. We tested out many strollers: Graco, Pan Perego, Bertini, Maclaren, even the Bugaboo that we get a discount on because of Ashley’s work…

In the end, only one was victorious… Orbit. Its like the Cadillac of strollers. I could write a real long story about the Orbit but I’ll try to be brief.

We picked [The Orbit] mainly for the undeniable convenience of the stroller system. It also looks great.

It’s super strong and lightweight. With this stroller the child sits up way higher than most other strollers, so its perfect for going out to dinner or anywhere for that matter, the kid is always at a convenient level and can always see stuff.

The seat sits on a base that rotates 360 degrees. This is what really sold us on it, the seat can face any direction! If you go to the zoo or something you can rotate the seat so the child can see without you having to always make the stroller face everything".

Our thoughts exactly!

Read the entire review and to check out Cliff's blog.

In Search of the perfect Uni-Sex Diaper Bag

What's in a diaper bag?  Bottles, snacks, wipes, hand sanitizer, diapers of course. 

And then, are there those mom and dad items too like lipstick and cell phones like you'd find in a purse or a briefcase? Or is the diaper bag just the province of baby? 

More and more parents are opting for the latter these days - as babies are cared for throughout the day alternately by mom/dad, grandma/ grand-pop, and even a babysitter or two thrown in for good measure - they seem to need a bag all their own as they make their way between all the caring parties. 

But when mom and dad need to trade off what style of bag do they choose?  Not too girly, because dad might feel that's not his style when it's his turn to tote his bundle of joy with him downtown.  And for mom - she may not cotton to sporting a Rambo looking bag covered in a camouflage print as she skips out for a little shoe shopping.

As Heather Millstein, author of The Coterie blog suggested recently, the Scout Bags from our client Petunia Pickle Bottom have just the right edge for dad, and aren't too masculine for mom.  Pictured above in the Scout Journey Pack in Heathered Olive Felt, and below in the Rubicon Rucksack in Buffalo Brown Leather, we too think it's just the thing.

Heather confesses that she'd also love to get a Petunia Cake bag for herself in Pistachio or Lemon Chiffon, but she realizes that her husband Matt might not love it as well when it's his turn to change diapers during church and other parts of town. 

on our event blog

Be sure to check out the cute images from the Bethenny Bakes product launch on our event blog today. 

We're adding many more ideas, features, and news on our event log that specifically focus on kid's parties, baby showers, kid product launches, and other family oriented events... so stay tuned!

Steeping Beauty Loves Lavilin!

Steeping Beauty, one of the leading beauty bloggers, tried our client Lavilin's all natural underarm cream last week - and loved it! 

SB is quick to point out the many wonders of Lavilin, which include the total absence of alcohol, aluminum, parabens, phthalates, or other chemicals.

She also recommends Lavilin for travel, which is exactly what we think. 

Be sure to visit Steeping Beauty for more tips on cutting edge beauty products.

Bloggers weigh in on Lavilin

Our client Lavilin has been getting rave reviews from some very important bloggers.

Daily Dose of Coffee did an extensive test of this mighty little product and the review was enthusiastic. 

Meredith at DDOC gave Lavilin a very rigorous try out and was amazed when she loved it.

The MyStyle road testers loved the product as well - they gave it to 3 of their staffers and the results were very detailed and positive.  Read the review here.

And the Ladies Lotto pointed out that Lavilin is an aluminum and alcohol free alternative to other products.  They go on to describe the product and it's ingredients.  Be sure to visit them here.   

Glamorous Goo-Goo land

We posted a story this morning on our event planning blog about how baby showers have changed recently, drawing from stories that appeared over the weekend in the Los Angeles Times and The Capital Gazette.

The story in the Capital Gazette, an Annapolis, Maryland newspaper is of particular interest as it quotes the owners of Lil' Lamb as saying that our client Orbit Baby's stroller helped the business post a 25% sales gain over the past year.

Read our story, which details Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's Shower, here (image of the candy bar at the shower shown above). 

Love, Laini loves Petunia

We were super amused when we came across this really clever, "pretend" registry for stuff that the Bohemian Flower Princess wants. 

Number one on her list is the Petunia Pickle Bottom Shoulder Bag in Hibiscus Roll.  This is a really pretty combination of blush roses spread across a chocolate background.  This is one of Petunia designer DeNai Jones' new brocades for 2008.  The interior is lined with water resistant chocolate material and it has many pockets for all the stuff moms (and non-moms need). 

Other items on the Bohemian Flower Princess' list include a set of cookware, a teapot, and cotton sheets!  Good choices BFP! 

Maternity & Style Magazine - an online style source

We wanted to send a shout out to Maternity&Style for having the great taste and good baby chic sense to consistently give news about our client Petunia Pickle Bottom's gorgeous collection of baby and mom designs. 

In a recent post on their blog, theScene, they told their readers about the new collection of Petunia Pickle Bottom Touring Totes in glazed fabrics.  They featured the Misty Shanghai Touring Tote, (one of my favorites) and detailed the other fabrics in the collection.

They were one of the first to preview the to-die-for Cake Cosmopolitan Carryall from Petunia when it was rolled out earlier this year.  The Cake collection is truly stunning.

Recently they featured Petunia's organic cotton sling collection, Sojourn, which is an incredible pouch style collection that has matching diaper bags moms can buy.

Not long ago, they also featured the Petunia Trotting in Tiergarten (glazed) Boxy Backpack, with a fabulous description and photos. 

Thanks Maternity & Style - we think you're great too!

Orbit Baby on Hot Mom's Club

We're very excited to see Orbit Baby topping the list of great eco friendly baby product companies on Hot Mom's Club Earth Day special. 

You can read the list by visiting the Hot Mom's Club website.  The HMC editors chose the Orbit Green Edition Pram for it's Earth friendly components, it's superior functionality, and for the fact that it benefits the Nature Conservancy.  You can pick yours up at the Orbit Baby website.

Orbit's Green Edition Bassinet a Daily Dish on PoshTots this week!

There are a lot of great mom and parenting sites on the web, but PoshCravings.com is definately a standout. 

This week we're thrilled that they chose our client Orbit Baby's super terrific Green Edition Bassinet as fabulous Mama Sydney's daily pick.   She writes:This week we're thrilled that they chose our client Orbit Baby's super terrific Green Edition Bassinet as fabulous Mama Sydney's daily pick.   She writes:

"This four-wheeled feat of eco-ingenuity wins the Syd Stamp of Admiration for all-natural, readily  recycled elements -- organic cotton lining and Euro-wool exterior, to name just a fabulous few -- and charitable contribution to the Nature Conservancy that make a mama smile and Mother Earth shine".

We'd like to note that the Green Edition Bassinet is also a great Moses Basket, and Bassinet Cradle as shown in the image.

Sydney also picked out our client Petunia Pickle Bottom's Rubicon Rucksack Scout Bag in brown leather as a Red Ribbon Pick a few weeks back for baby shower gifting.

Orbit Baby on NotCot

The very cool design blog NotCot.com recently did a very impressive blog about our client Orbit Baby, after they met the gang at CaBoom a few weeks back.  Included in the post is a vast array of pictures, background on the founders Joseph Hei and Bryan White, and a complete description of the way the Orbit System functions.  Be sure to take a look here.