SAN FRANCISCO — A Clorox Co. executive at the ad:tech San Francisco 2014 conference spoke about the importance of splitting up one demographic — such as millennial women — into multiple segments for better success with mobile.

Executives from Clorox, Goko, Kaberg Consulting, SheKnows and Roadside Attractions participated on the “Marketing to the Specific Mom: How to Reach Millennial, Gen X, Stay-At-Home and Working Mothers” session. One of the main topics discussed during the session was the growing role that millennials moms are placing on mobile to help inform family purchase decisions.

“It’s been a slow shift, but it’s finally happened away from this TV mom — this 25-54 woman, breathing [and] that’s about all I know about her — to that mom whose looking for my product,” said Erika Lamoreaux, senior group manager of digital media at The Clorox Co.

“I know her demo info, I know is she has kids, [I know] her behavior throughout the day and what device she’s on,” she said. “I can find her in that moment when my brand offers a solution, and I’m not just blasting a message at her and noise at her in her already busy day.”

Connected moms
Ms. Lamoreaux admitted that CPG marketers have been slow to mobile and digital because of the reputations behind equity brands that have built up consumer loyalty over a number of years.

However, CPG brands are now ramping up their digital initiatives to create smaller, niche groups of consumers versus the mass reach of television or print.

Take Clorox-owned Hidden Valley Ranch, for example.

Using dayparting, Hidden Valley Ranch can serve up specific pieces of content based on where a mom is. The brand sees a spike in traffic around 4 p.m. everyday, but where a mom is at that point of the day can differ dramatically.

If the mom is shopping within a store, then it may be best to serve up a recipe to her on a smartphone, and if she is at work, the experience should be more content-heavy for a desktop.

The potential to take mobile targeting should go a step further though, per Ms. Lamoreaux.

For instance, millennials funnel down further into smaller categories such as twenty-somethings, new moms and college students, all of which have different pain points.

Therefore, it is important for CPG brands in the mobile space to have multiple sets of creative and messaging around a specific brand.

The example given during the session was Clorox. For new moms, Clorox helps remove stains out of their child’s clothes, but for a twenty-something, the product is more relevant in cleaning up an apartment for a dinner with their parents.

“I think technology is allowing us — even within those groups [such as millennials] — to find the right targets and multiple targets to go after,” Ms. Lamoreaux said.

“You don’t have to pick moms 18-24 [years old] because that’s the group,” she said. “You can go pick five different micro-targets within that group and really speak to them in a one-on-one conversation.”

Measuring digital’s impact
When it comes to measuring digital’s impact in driving sales, tracking sales from clicks on ads is not being used since consumers typically are not shopping for CPG brands online, per the Clorox executive.

Instead, brand lift, recall and favorability can be important in building up brand awareness to get a consumer to buy the product in-store and spread the word to friends and family.

“This is about keeping your brand top-of-mind,” Ms. Lamoreaux said.

“It’s making that brand loyalty step by having you engage with the brand and then measuring it becomes a whole different beast,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York