Pushing a brand on people that just pushed out a baby?

The New York Times had an article about DisneyBaby’s initiative to reach their newest customers just as they’re new to the world. According to the article, DisneyBaby has representatives visit certain hospitals to greet the new (exhausted) mom and give away free onesies covered with adorable Disney characters. Fine, I get instilling brand loyalty at the beginning of a customer cycle but they take it further by asking the mom to sign up for email newsletters, services, etc. This is where I think they take it too far.

The soft (and smarter) sell is to provide moms with a quality product that is highly relevant at the time—allowing them to draw the connection between the joy of a new baby and DisneyBaby’s association with family and comfort on their “own.” The (bad) tipping point is when it loses that authentic feel and becomes a “harder” sell at an extremely emotional/vulnerable time in a mom’s life.

This is one of those times where I think the brand would have been smarter—and instilled more long term loyalty—if it had taken the more subtle approach. Seriously, the only thing a new mom wants pushed in her face after delivery is continuous hours of sleep, good food or coffee (or a drink…don’t judge.)

[Interesting side note. Did you know Gerber owns the trademark “onesie”? Learn something new everyday.]

P.S. Dear Disney, I know Disney Princess was the most genius marketing move in years. But please think of something else. There are other characters in your “vault” that girls can relate to. Or at the least give us an option between “Cars” and “Princess”. Thank you!