Maltesers campaign reveals how hard it is for new mothers to return to work
In honor of Maternal Mental Health Month, Maltesers has launched ‘The Maternity Return,’ a social media-first campaign that portrays the ups and downs mothers face on returning to work after maternity leave.
The chocolate brand teamed up with Channel 4 and BuzzFeed to push the wider activity, which includes a platform for mums returning to work to share their stories and break taboos around the emotional experience of being a working parent.
Channel 4 and Maltesers said they partnered on the project to offer comfort, community and laughter to mums returning to work across the UK, culminating in The Late Night Feed, a social-first film from 4Studio and Spirit Productions that will live across Channel 4’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.
Speaking on the project, Laura Marks, senior digital commissioning editor, Channel 4, said: “Working with Maltesers and Spirit on a campaign of this nature has been a real joy. Humor is such a great way to land an important message and it’s been brilliant to creatively work with the teams again to explore the uniquely challenging but wonderful experience of being a working mum.”
To further drive awareness of the campaign among mothers, Maltesers also collaborated with BuzzFeed to produce editorial content, as #TheMaternityReturn partnership is one of the first to span both BuzzFeed and HuffPost in the UK.
BuzzFeed held a roundtable discussion with mums and Pregnant Then Screwed founder Joeli Brearley in London, where mums shared their experiences of returning to work after maternity leave. A research study was also conducted about how women felt returning to work and what actually helped them through it, the results of which are used in an infographic video series as part of the social campaign.
The roundtable discussion came up with a series of guidelines and tips for women returning to work after taking maternity leave, which can be viewed on the BuzzFeed UK site.
Caroline Fenner, BuzzFeed’s commercial director for Europe, described working on the project: “A team of women worked on this campaign and we are so pleased to see it live. It was a natural fit with multiple brands from our portfolio and will really hit home with our audiences across both HuffPost and BuzzFeed, who love authentic content that makes them think. I am excited for our team to launch more campaigns like this across our properties.”
‘The Maternity Return’ also builds on AMV BBDO’s previous work with Maltesers over the last year. Sitting alongside ‘The Massive Overshare’ and ‘LoveBeatsLikes,’ the latest campaign marks the third installment in Maltesers’ multi-year partnership with charity Comic Relief. The money donated by Maltesers is helping to fund organizations aimed at supporting women’s maternal mental health and empowering women in the workplace.