Enfa To Me vs. Enfa To Hubby

I caught this commercial some time back but it never really registered with me until the commercial found its way into one of the ‘un-skippable’ spots on dvd. It was a commercial by Enfa, a leading brand of formula milk powder, or ‘infant nutrition’ as they call themselves.

Now, I’ve seen numerous milk formula ads, in languages that I understand and some that i don’t. But this ad really resonated with me, and I’ll tell you why.

Enfa ‘Miracle Milestones’ commercial

Why I [heart] this ad:

1. It reminded me of the excitement of having a growing child inside of me. Instead of showing me a sonogram scan of the blob in me, the ad focused on the emotions of caring for my growing fetus. There was an ad with the sonogram scan which did absolutely nothing for me – zero emotions evoked. But putting earphones on  her growing tummy, the mother in the ad reminded me of my attempts to provide the best for my child starting from my maternity period.

2. It resonated with me. A scene in the ad showed the mother reading to her child. Hey, I did that too! Perhaps not successfully every time, but I connected with the ad because I saw myself in that scene.

3. I felt her pain. When the mother in the ad grew frustrated that her child couldn’t play the piano properly, I shared her pain. Oh, the times when I sighed in exasperation when my child took forever to put her right foot in the right shoe, or when she made a mess on the floor trying to feed herself. Again, I am sisters with the mother in the ad.

4. I felt her joy. You know the part in the ad when the child plays the piano and the mother had flashbacks? It really happens! In the ad, the implication (to me) is that the mother stayed with her child full-time for 3 years, and thereafter went back to work. So her child getting the happy birthday song right is really validation for the mother, that her decision to take time off from the corporate world to nurture her child, is the right decision. Whoa, this opens up a whole new can of worms – should we mothers work and leave the child to caretakers or be a full-time mother at home and leave the workforce? Either way, the ad provides a happy ending to the dilemma.

Rather than show me charts and graphs on how big my child’s brain will grow or how many neurons will fire incessantly, this approach on my emotions works much better and much more impact.

And you know what draws me back to this ad over and over again? I simply love the mother’s choice of attire! Her navy blue cardi with a fitted white shirt paired with slimline dark blue pants and that gorgeous skinny belt – it all fits so perfectly! Is that the only reason why I watch the commercial? No way. But does it make for better viewing? It sure does. Did it leave me with a better, more lasting  impression of the brand? You bet. Did it help with my next formula milk purchase? I’m inclined to think that Enfa is a brand of taste (tasteful ad, tasteful clothes, all tastefully done) so a resounding yes!

Because we mothers are not the actual end consumers of formula milk powder, and when children are too young to tell us they like/dislike something, we usually make our purchase decisions of such items based on what our peers are buying, or whatever that’s on offer. If our loyalty is strong enough, we’d stick with our brand of choice even though a competitor is giving freebies and throwing discounts.

So it helps when commercials such as these reinforce a mother’s purchase decision by validating all her reasons for buying Enfa. I feel that Enfa really understands what mothers go through. Which is more than I can say for my husband.

Since the commercial moved me so much, I showed it to my husband too. His reaction was … “smart kid”.

He didn’t even know it’s an ad for formula milk.

Men.