Mamamia hosted its final Upfronts showcase in Sydney on Tuesday morning, following presentations in Brisbane and Melbourne. The event held at Doltone House in Pyrmont had 250 attendees and included the company revealing the findings of Mamamia’s new longitudinal study The State of Australian Women.
At the event, Mediaweek spoke to Rob Farmer, group director of marketing and partner solutions, and Holly Wainwright, executive editor, about the purchasing power of women and how Mamamia will reach that audience.
The study showed that two-thirds of women, across generations, are managing the household’s budget through inflationary times.
The study also found that Health & Fitness and Travel & Holidays were the areas where women’s intentions to spend more in the year ahead outnumbered intentions to cut back.
Farmer: “Women’s economic power moves mountains. The State of Australian Women research just makes the point that attention and the spending power of women is so starkly clear. Two in three women are shouldering the brunt of managing the household budgets during cost of living rises. I’m not sure that has properly been understood by the market. There’s a lot of talk about orientating your brand strategy to the household budget but that’s a further step that we’ve illuminated. You’ve got to actually get even closer to the heart of purchasing power, which is women.”
Wainwright: “The nuance that we expressed was that it’s not absolutely everything that she’s cutting out. The priorities have shifted within that. Our research showed that it is definitely belt-tightening times, and women are making all those calls, but it’s not only red pen. We’ve been through this really tricky few years and they are not going to just lay down.”
Farmer: “The second big point is that nobody engages with them like Mamamia. We have a reach of 7 million a month, and others will have their figures but the real point of difference is engagement quality and that trust, in the form of the voices you saw on stage today, nobody else has got such a diverse set of trusted voices.”
The State of Australian Women report was at the heart of Mamamia’s Upfront presentation, which was done in partnership with Pure Profile.
Farmer: “It’ll be an annual thing that we do. We want to keep it as objective as possible, which is why we went through Pure Profile for the samples. 1500 samples make it nationally representative and it is 18 to 64. It will only get more interesting over time, you can see what things change in this direction. With data, you have to always work back from what’s useful about it and tell the story back from what’s useful.”
Wainwright: “What we very much want to do with the Upfronts is to make sure that the market is hearing from the creators. We are data-obsessed too because we’ve all worked in digital media for a long time, and you need to be. It’s really about pulling out those really important messages and being able to make them clear.”
“It is always interesting because Rob would like more bar charts and Mia and I would like fewer bar charts.”
Farmer: “We compromised on one which was spot on, and it tells an interesting story.”
Mamamia’s content announcements across digital formats respond to the insights of The State of Australian Women report:
• The Mamamia Travel Concierge – A curated ecosystem across written, social and podcasting.
• You Beauty – New podcast co-hosts are joining the roster, and the You Beauty Awards are back in 2024.
• MOVE by Mamamia – A fitness app with equipment-free workouts across strength, cardio, yoga and pilates.
• WELL – A wellness podcast
• Dear Doctor – A written series with expert medical information about very personal problems.
• Nothing To Wear – A fashion podcast hosted by Leigh Campbell, with written, social and eDMs in the ecosystem.
• The Parachute – A podcast to help anyone experiencing grief
• The Baby Bubble and Mid – The family slate is expanding across podcasts, written, social and eDMs, leaning hard into humour with a reboot of The Baby Bubble, following twin new mums Clare and Jessie Stephens. Mid is a podcast and collection of hero-written pieces for Gen X women who are feeling mid-life, hosted by Holly Wainwright.
• Once Upon A Friend – Stories of friendship.
• Mamamia’s Big Pod Night Out – No Filter, Cancelled, Mamamia Out Loud and more, live on stage with special guests in 2024.
• Rize Up partnership – Mamamia is providing funds, media and content to support the charity that offers practical support for women and children survivors of domestic violence, to transition from temporary refuge into a safe and welcoming home.
Wainwright: “We’re very strategic about what we add. I know it feels like that slate is ambitious and it is ambitious. We’ve learned a lot, particularly in podcasting, about what we rest, what we cut and what we bring in as a seasonal show and how we manage all of those things to make sure that we’re evolving with the audience.
“We are obsessed with making sure that we’re hitting an unmet need. We don’t just go ‘We want to do five new things next year’. We’re very much ‘What is she telling us she wants?’ and let’s be strategic about it because more isn’t necessarily better. She’s overwhelmed, there’s a lot of content and a lot of choices out there. That’s where the trust comes in and being able to say we’ve listened and we know you want to know more about these categories and that’s why we’re launching strategically in that.”
Farmer: “From a numbers point of view in reach, there’s not a lot more reach to be won. 7 million monthly reach of Australian women, and there are only 8.2 million Australian women in the 16 to 64 age bracket. It’s about increasing the time that those women spend with Mamamia because more needs are being met.”
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Top Line: Co-founder Mia Freedman & Executive Editors Clare Stephens, Leigh Campbell