These Bouquets Come Wrapped in Resumes of Moms Seeking Work
MullenLowe has created a very special bouquet to inspire marketing and communications firms to hire moms seeking to reenter the workplace.
Leveraging Mother's Day, the agency is sending other firms flowers wrapped in the resumes of qualified women seeking industry employment. The push stems from MullenLowe's own "Momterns" initiative launched two years ago.
"The main message we want to communicate is that celebrating motherhood should include valuing the skills mothers bring to the workforce," says Erica Samadani, agency SVP and executive director of PR. "We wanted to show that while flowers are nice, what moms really need is a chance at equal employment. We felt it was a more impactful way to honor Mother's Day."
MullenLowe launched "Momterns" in 2022 after learning that 1.1 million women left the workforce during the pandemic.
"As many women who left work to care for their families navigated the road back, they were met with obstacles or firmly shut doors," says Samadani. "It's two years later, and women are still being penalized for stepping away to care for their families. So, we felt it was time to get loud about this problem, call out this continued bias and call on our industry to recognize the strengths moms bring to any organization."
Resumes of previous "Momterns" who are still seeking full-time employment swathe bouquets provided by L.A.-based flower shop Lenita by Grenita. MullenLowe attached a note emphasizing how moms deserve more than just flowers, but actual opportunities.
Bouquets were sent to moms in hiring positions at top agencies, including 72andSunny, Wieden+Kennedy, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Mischief and more.
"By repurposing a classic Mother’s Day gift—an estimated 74 percent of moms receive flowers for Mother's Day—we sent a message on our former momterns' behalf--our very own Trojan Horse," says Samadani.
