With the imminent dissolution of Silicon Valley Moms Group, I've been reflecting on my experiences and opportunities with the group. Back in May, I attended the SVMoms NYC/NJ/Philly Moms brand and blogger event, sponsored by BitDefender, which brought in 50 local SVMoms bloggers and about 15 brands for a discussion on best practices, and to ask questions and chat about the opportunities for brands and bloggers to work together. I've had a couple of positive experiences as a result of that event that I thought I'd share to better explain ways I've interacted "organically" with brands, and some success stories as a result.
First, I have to give a major shout out to iGo Green for participating in the event as a brand. I received an iGo Charge Anywhere at the event, and was impressed that it serves the purpose of a backup charger for your phone or laptop, but doesn't have to be plugged into an outlet to work. It's a genius li'l device and I've used it nearly everyday since the event. I've even subsequently purchased two more to give away as gifts! Needless to say, my iGo Charge Anywhere has found its home in my purse, and has joined our leaving-the-house checklist of cell phone? Wallet? Keys? iGo? The Charge Anywhere has enabled me to work and be accessible while traveling around Manhattan for hours on end, while getting my hair done, while attending conferences, or on my recent trips to Boston and Los Angeles.
In fact, the day after the #SVMomsBitMoms event, I hopped a train to Boston for the Sandbox Summit, and funny enough, found myself showing it off to another passenger on the Acela. I then demonstrated it for my tech blogger friend @MorethanMommy when she offered to join me for dinner that night. THEN, one of the summit attendees tweeted during the first session asking if anyone had an iPhone charger as hers was dying. I happily offered my Charge Anywhere to her, showing her how it worked and impressing her in the moment.
As luck would have it, she happened to be a PR pro with one of my favorite firms to interact with (360PR), and I found myself explaining the Charge Anywhere to about a half-dozen other bloggers and technology-engaged media pros in the span of about an hour. One of these blogger friends, @MommyNiri was so impressed that she contacted iGo_inc and hosted a giveaway of the Charge Anywhere on her site! I also lent it to other bloggers to use while I was in Los Angeles for the Xbox360 launch of Kinect. Obviously my word-of-mouth wasn't planned (but perhaps hoped for by iGo?), and I wasn't compensated for it, but the opportunity to share a device I found useful came up naturally in my everyday life, and iGo has benefitted from introducing me to the Charge Anywhere as a result. . . The real funny thing is that I haven't visited our familes and lifelong friends in real life yet, and I ALWAYS share our new technology finds with them. So if you guess that at least some of the other 50 bloggers at the event have had similar experiences with the Charge Anywhere, you can see how their participation in the mom blogger event has been worth whatever investment they put forth. The icing on the cake is that @iGo_inc has been responsive and friendly on Twitter, forging relationships with all of these happy users.
Along the same lines, Stonyfield Organic participated in the brand and blogger event, introducing us bloggers to their then soon-to-launch Oikos organic Greek yogurt flavors. We received vouchers to pick up a four-pack of individual servings at our local grocery stores, and I actually picked up a pack of their new caramel flavor the next morning. I thought if we liked it, it'd be a nice new treat for c2cDad and Li'l Boo while I was traveling. I returned two days later and the yogurt was gone. I've purchased it during grocery shopping trips nearly once a week ever since. Two of our high school and college-age babysitters both tried it out as well. Both have moms whom they've convinced to pick it up at their homes too.
This brief, yet pleasant experience with Stonyfield paved the way for me to accept an invitation to attend a profesional cooking demonstration substituting organic and more healthful Stonyfield yogurt for other ingredients. Now, I obviously lean toward more organic and healthful cooking (I cook and bake primarily from scratch and use organic products as much as I am able), although I mostly blog about technology, toys and our travel adventures and am by no means a food blogger. So in such a busy week of events as during the CEA Lineshows, I could have easily skipped the cooking demo. I didn't.
I'm glad I didn't skip it because not only did I get to try a full tasting menu of items made with yogurt substitutions (for sour cream, buttermilk or heavy cream), but the discussion in my intimate group of @MorethanMommy, @MacaroniKid and @Lilveggiepatch turned to organic farming practices, Stonyfield's green farmer project and the movie Food, Inc. I actually had the movie sitting at home from Netflix, but had been afraid to watch it for fear I'd be grossed out watching disgusting practices and learning things I never really wanted to know about our food. So we finally watched it this past weekend, and it actually validated some of our food choices (and I only had to look away and plug my ears two brief times), and strengthened my resolve to continue using natural and organic products whenever we're able to, and to seek out restaurants that offer farm-fresh options. Oikos, Stonyfield and Food, Inc. are definitely things I'll mention to my firends and family if the opportunity arises, and you can bet that the next time I serve blueberry muffins at a morning playdate that I'll be making them with yogurt.
Mabel's Labels is another success story from that same brand and blogger event. I so enjoyed meeting Julie Cole there, and was impressed by the fact that she had prepared personalized bag tags in advance for each of us. I have heard so many great things from others this past year about the durable and cute labels and have pointed others to them without really trying them myself, so I went to the Mabel's Labels website to check them out in more depth. While there, I applied and was accepted as a "Buzz Mama," and have been off sharing my sample pack of Mabel's Labels with other parents, and collecting feedback (or "buzz" as they refer to it) to share back with the company.
In just these few weeks, I've developed quite an affinity for these companies after my interaction in person - and there are others like Tribeca Cinemas Kids Club, MobiStories, eBay Classifieds, JDUB Kids, Lawry's . . . and I've even become a BitDefender #BitMom! (Although we're typically a Gatorade/Propel family, we did try the new Powerade Play and our loyalties may just be in question if the price is right at the grocery store. ;-)) I'm just beginning to plot out some blogging posts where it makes sense. . .
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