LONDON, UK — MALTESERS has launched its new “Motherlover” campaign, continuing the brand’s long-standing commitment to lighten the load for women, using the power of laughter and togetherness. This year, the “Motherlover” campaign uses the iconic MALTESERS brand platform and its cheeky, intimate, and honest tone of voice to shine a light on the challenges faced by mothers in the workplace and the ways those around them can step up.
Despite societal changes designed to make things more equal, new research commissioned by MALTESERS has revealed that many of the burdens of combining work and home life still fall on working mums. In fact, 55% of mums in the UK say they need more help from employers and colleagues to be the working mum they want to be.
In response, the “Motherlover” campaign, created in conjunction with AMV BBDO, brings a refreshing approach to the subject, celebrating the village around mums and uses the brand’s iconic tone to highlight the ways different people can lighten the load, whether that be colleagues, employers, partners or friends, and family.
The addressable campaign features ten targeted messages, all designed to give different communities a role to play in supporting the working mums in their lives. Each message has been inspired by the real stories and experiences shared by mums.
Leah Dyckes, Maltesers Brand Director UK, said, “While becoming a parent drastically changes a woman’s life, the expectations and structures at work and home aren’t changing quickly enough – and too often the onus is on the women to fix ‘women’s issues.’” We must, therefore, shift this dynamic by asking everyone around women to step up, to show empathy, and do what they can as allies to lighten their load.”
“Motherlover” is the fourth installment in a series of campaigns from MALTESERS since 2021 and forms part of the brand’s multi-year partnership with Comic Relief, working towards a future where women no longer face injustice. Together, both organizations are working to lighten the load for working mums and help women thrive.
On how the brand purpose has strengthened since 2021, Leah added, “We noticed during previous campaigns that there was a large volume of conversations around the topic of mothers in the workplace, and so, for this campaign, we wanted to focus on this area by commissioning research and using our brand platform to start conversations with working parents in order to understand more about what they want and need. MALTESERS has been celebrated for tackling taboos and smashing stigmas and we will continue to use our platform to support women on societal issues that affect women’s mental well-being with our charity partner Comic Relief.”
AMV BBDO’s Creative Julia Merino, who developed the campaign alongside Ricardo Porto, said, “We needed to ensure that the campaign was rooted in real experiences, advisory, and research. We worked with The Outsiders to develop a thought-provoking white paper that highlighted the realities of being a working mum. Leveraging the iconic MALTESERS tone of voice, we turned these stories into celebrations of the everyday heroes who lighten the load of working mums. Humor is an under-utilized emotion that has the power to reach those who might not otherwise engage with a topic like this. As a working mum myself, I hope this campaign inspires people to think about how they can better support the working mums in their lives.”
EssenceMediacom’s Senior Account Director William Harrison, who led the campaign’s media planning, said, “We knew that taking an addressable approach to this campaign would be central to our ambition of lightening the load for working mums. Identifying and speaking to communities that we can empower as allies of working parents, with messaging that’s relevant to them and rooted in insights from our research. This has informed how we activate across OLV, Social, OOH, and Audio.”
The “Motherlover” campaign will be supported across social, OLV, OOH, audio, and in-store over 10 million MALTESERS packs which will carry messaging from real mums, bringing to life ways to lighten the load.
The launch also sees the Mars Wrigley-owned brand team up with The Guardian and Peanut App, the first online community to connect women through all stages of motherhood. With Peanut, MALTESERS has created a new content hub, ‘Work & Motherhood,’ which provides actionable tips, tools, and real-life advice from real mothers. Women can join the in-app ‘Work & Motherhood’ group on Peanut powered by MALTESERS. Together, this group and content hub aims to facilitate honest and open discussion about the challenges working mothers face and to spotlight the ways in which those around them can step up to support.
Furthering its work, MALTESERS is also collaborating with The Guardian to produce a series of positive and helpful articles and content, bringing to life the allyship around and experience of working mums. As part of The Guardian partnership, a private comedy tour will be held across select UK workplaces with comedian and mum Jess Fostekew.
MALTESERS, in partnership with Comic Relief, is working towards a future where women no longer face injustice. Together, we’re working to lighten the load for working mums and help women thrive.
Mars Wrigley is donating £500,000 in 2023 to Comic Relief, the operating name of Charity Projects, a registered charity in England & Wales (326568) and Scotland (SC039730)
