Thank You, Mom

Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday and, for once, I am on top of it. My card was in the mail on Tuesday and I’ve already worked out what my mother wants: a book, not flowers, and given to her in person the next time I see her, not mailed.

Got it.

While a book is always my mother’s No. 1 choice for presents, it seems like many moms across the country will be receiving jewelry this year. According to the National Retail Federation, 35 percent of U.S. shoppers plan to pick up a piece of jewelry for mom this year, spending an average of $96 a pop.

So, what type of jewelry appeals to moms? It is, and has been for quite some time, personalized pieces, charms that can be stamped with the names of their children or rings set with their birthstones.

It follows course, then, that the brands that are going to advertise most heavily, and most effectively, around Mother’s Day are those that specialize in personalized pieces.

Two such commercials that caught my eye this year were from Pandora and Alex and Ani.

While I know Pandora has engendered much anger and bitterness among independent jewelers in the United States--and rightfully so--I would be lying if I said I wasn’t touched by the brand’s Mother’s Day commercial.

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For the commercial, Pandora said it got eight daughters to write a single sentence thanking their mother. Their moms then came into a room with all eight sentences framed on the wall and tried to pick out which one came from their daughter.

Called “Unique Thank You,” it is the second phase of Pandora’s current, female self-purchaser-focused advertising campaign “Unique As We Are.”

As for Alex and Ani, I think the brand in general does a really good job with their commercials, and this Mother’s Day ad is no exception.

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Alex and Ani has another Mother’s Day spot as well, this one featuring a grown daughter and her mother but I did not identify with it at all. The storyline of this commercial is that they love doing everything together, which is nice, but I think my mother and I pre-date the days of mother-daughter bonding on this level.

My mother never tried to be my friend; she was always my mother. For that, I will always be grateful.

So, thanks