Fatherhood by the Numbers According to 2018 US Census Bureau data, there were 34.5 million families with their own children younger than 18, 23.8 million were families with married couples and 2.5 million were one-parent families of fathers only. In the category of co-resident fathers (parent of biological, step and adopted children), 86.0% with children younger than 18 were married with their spouse present, 4.3% were cohabiting with a joint biological child and 9.3% had no partner present. During 2018, there were 21.4 million married-couple family groups with children younger than 15, with 5.1 million stay- at-home mothers and 190,000 stay-at-home fathers, the lowest total since 2012.

An Improving Economy Should Drive Father’s Day Sales Retail sales during Q1 2019 have been tepid at best, until March. January increased 0.6% from December 2018 and February decreased 0.2% from January, but March increased an unexpected and welcomed 1.6% from February. Consumer confidence has also declined based on The Conference Board’s monthly reports, from 131.4 for February to 124.1 for March. The Expectations Index also decreased from February to March, or 103.8 to 99.8, respectively. Although there are many global issues, such as a US-China trade agreement and Brexit, that could negatively or positively affect the US economy, the stock market had a relatively good first quarter, indicating Q2 could be better.

What Dads Likes Not surprisingly, men prefer to drive a large sedan, a midsize sedan, sports car and/or pickup truck compared to women, with a midsize sedan first, at 20%, and a pickup truck second, at 16%, suggesting auto accessory gift ideas for Father’s Day. Among alcoholic beverage preferences, beer is #1 among men, at 45%, compared to 18% of women and a mixed drink/cocktail 15% and 7%, respectively. When marketing power tools as Father’s Day gifts, 2018 data from The Stevenson Co. found 81% are purchased at brick-and- mortar stores, 67% are men shopping for themselves and 60% of consumers choose a power tool based on price.

Dads on the Go According to PeopleforBikes’ 2018 Participation Study, a larger percentage of men, or 38%, rode a bike than women, 25%, during the 12 months ending November 2018. Winter 2019 survey data found 30.5% of men with any children 6 years of age in Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL participated in hunting and fishing during the past 12 months, compared to 32.8% in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Winter 2019 survey data revealed 14.1% of men with any children 6 years of age in Philadelphia, PA attended 3+ college/professional sports events during the past year, compared to 14.3% in Seattle-Tacoma, WA.

Dads Love Tech According to the Summer 2018 National Consumer Study from Simmons Research just 18.3% of fathers said they are more likely to buy products they see used/recommended by friends on social media, compared to 34.8% of women. The same study, however, revealed fathers are almost as likely as mothers to agree the Internet has changed how they obtain information about products and services, at 75.3% and 79.0%, respectively. A recent study from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications found the largest group of podcast listeners are Millennial-age men, listening to an average of four per week for 30 to 60 minutes.

Advertising Strategies Although you want to motivate local advertisers to promote the traditional Father’s Day gifts – clothing, sporting goods, dinner, etc. –, help them to create unusual gift ideas, especially experiences, that are likely to grab more attention and foot traffic and sales. Suggest to your promotions manager and/or news director short videos of your on-air personalities telling their favorite Father’s Day story: men could share a favorite or unusual gift and women, how they made the day special. Show on air and on your station’s Website. To help promote local sports teams, especially minor league pro teams, retailers could advertise a special Father’s Day package of tickets, a limousine, refreshments, team swag, etc. to generate traffic and sales.

New Media Strategies Social media is the perfect channel to present a Father’s Day gift guide, especially with short videos explaining and demonstrating the products. Be creative and use a “Dad” to be the on-screen presenter. Similar to the second Advertising Strategy, retailers could also invite men, women and adult children to share their Father’s Day stories and the gifts that Dad particularly liked, especially if the retailer sells that product or service. Retailers could ask a school to share drawings its children created about Father’s Day and/or their fathers as social media posts, without children or fathers’ names or other identification.