Gen Y has already given birth to more than 13 million babies and is expected to produce more children than baby boomers. Right now, Millennial Moms are of great interest to marketers of baby products, toys, apparel, eating out, books, food, and more.

I’ve recently come across two terrific reports that describe Millennial Moms.  The first, “Millennial Moms 101”, (PDF)  from Mr. Youth Agency, says they are a lot like college students – connected, multi-tasking and technology dependent.  The second, “Marketing to Millennial Moms”, from Matrix Media FX, provides several mini-case histories of how marketers have connected online. I’m not going to summarize these decks as they are both easily skimmable and so graphically well designed, that they are worth reading if this is a topic of interest.

Both reports emphasize the two groups large influence and propensity to share, learn and even ‘overshare’ online, in communities through social media networks. This is not a surprise. What is more of a surprise to me is the intersection between Millennial Moms’ online and offline worlds.

Moms Want High Tech AND High Touch

Last week I had the pleasure of hearing, then meeting, Scott Heiferman, (@heif) Co-Founder and President of MeetUp, a site that allows people to find and meet with others in their area who share common interests.  According to Heiferman, there are 79,000 groups hosting 250,000 meet-ups every month. The number one shared interest? parenting issues!  There are 105 meet up groups classified as “Moms” within 10 miles of my home in  Oak Park, IL.  And this despite the fact that 2/3’s of moms are the primary or co-breadwinners for their families and will be the first to tell you “I have no time!“.

At Ad:Tech I heard another group, HouseParty, speak about some work they are doing with Kimberly Clark. This project helped Moms host 5000 parties in their own homes where they encouraged each other around the topic of potty training in a ‘fun social environment’.  Moms were selected to host the parties based on applications submitted to a microsite.  HouseParty provided everything they needed to create a fun and useful time, including of course samples and a potty training ritual called “Do the Potty Dance” based on their Pull-Ups TV spots.

Stores provide a natural venue for bringing Moms together. Outdoor retailer Bass Pro, perhaps taking its cue from the success of American Girl, has created an ‘experiential’ program called “Family Summer Camp“. Now in its second year, the program is designed to “build a community for outdoor-loving consumers”. The camps are offered at 56 locations.

Marketers would do well to remember that connecting Moms online is great, but they also need real world support. Programs like these provide an opportunity to help facilitate the conversations and real world encounters socially oriented Millennial Moms crave.