Molly Soat is a staff writer for Marketing News and Marketing News Exclusives. E-mail her at msoat@ama.org.
The stay-at-home dad trend has been steadily increasing in recent years, and more and more brands are doing their best to keep pace, working to target those fathers with male-appropriate child-rearing and household-managing messaging. But experts warn that male-focused branding must be subtle and, in some cases, should appeal across gender lines to avoid an obvious pandering to men. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble released a Tide laundry detergent last month that is marketed specifically to men, following on the heels of Tide’s official sponsorship of the NFL, with a campaign titled “Show Us Your Colors” that started in September 2012. Called Tide Plus Febreeze Sport, the detergent features New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees on the package and employs Brees and TV host Nick Lachey as spokesmen.