Fathers have become marginalized in modern society as their traditional roles of providing and protecting have diminished. Without a clearly defined role, fathers can feel useless. Research on non-human primates shows that fathers invest resources in being good parents and securing mates, with these investments sometimes interchangeable. For marketers to appeal to fathers, they must understand the father's perceived investments in parenting and benefits of fatherhood to determine if the benefits outweigh the investments to make them happy, similar to an economic transaction.

1. THE WINNING FORMULA
FOR MARKETING TO FATHERS

2. Executive Summary
Yahoo! Recently released data1 showing that The second thing we look at is what the
Fathers are spending more and more of the perceived benefits are of having children,
household budget and yet are still not included we see that in a similar way to the investments,
and often actively excluded from marketers the benefits also fall into 2 main categories;
messaging. So as this often ignored audience the emotional benefits and the financial
segment becomes a more important target benefits. Again we see how these two
how should we best talk to them? benefits are interchangeable, and as the
financial benefits of children decreases so
This paper looks at what makes fatherhood an
the perceived emotional benefit increases.
enjoyable and rewarding experience for men.
By looking at research carried out on non- By knowing the things that fathers are willing
human primates we first learn that fathers to invest into fatherhood and also knowing
really look to invest their limited resources what they perceive as the benefits we can
in two main areas. They invest in being a begin to pull together a simple model that
good father, and doing all the things that helps us understand which dials we need
ensures an infants survival up to adolescence, to turn and what perceptions we need to
and they also invest in securing a mate influence in order to help fathers feel that
and doing all the things that ensures when the benefits of fatherhood far outweigh
mating time comes around they have the the investment.
pick of females. We also learn that these
two investments are often interchangeable,
with some males investing more in mating than
being a good father and some invest more in
Maurice Wheeler, Doco, 2011
bringing up their infants and less in mating.

3. Fathers have become
marginalised in modern society
Fathers have it tough you know, they aren’t At least in agrarian society where man was or for their destructive impact, as when they
blessed with the hormones, instincts and focused on agriculture and animal husbandry, were abusive, neglectful, or dead.”
unique equipment mums have to help them there was a clear need for the father to teach
Dr Diamond also talks of how fathers are on
quickly define their role and guide them in his children the skills of the land. However,
a complex, challenging journey to becoming
what they need to do. since the industrial revolution where fathers
responsible parents in the eye of modern
were separated from their families, shipped off
It was always understood that the patriarch’s society, a journey riddled with moments of
to huge factories, and there was no option to
role in society was to provide food and protect feeling emasculated, side-lined and ultimately
teach your children the way of the steel mill,
his territory; this is the case for nearly all of wondering what their role is. (Diamond 2007)
this role of skills teacher has also diminished.
the animal kingdom, including us humans.
However, most Western civilisations have Dr Diamond, author of the book “My Father
removed a father’s need to physically stand Before Me: How Fathers and Sons Influence
at the cave’s entrance and protect his family, Each Other Throughout Their Lives”2 summed
by providing a police force and legal systems it up well in a recent interview on his website3
and by ensuring that society as a whole moves when he said:
towards becoming safer and more protective
“There are many reasons why fathers had
of one another. We are also making great
become the “forgotten parent.” Despite the
strides in ensuring a mother can fulfil the role
apparent timelessness of the father-son bond --
of “breadwinner” with the same effectiveness
and more generally, the father-child connection
as a father.
– a sense of its power and closeness have waxed
Men are typically simple beasts and knowing and waned over time. In agrarian society, for
what box they are expected to be in is one instance, fathers were very involved in their
of their great comforts - take away this clear children’s lives. Yet by the end of World War II,
role definition and they will begin to feel fathers were seldom thought of as contributing
disenfranchised and useless. to their children’s healthy development. Instead,
they were more notable for their absence,

4. The benefits of a transaction need
to out weigh the investment
In the words of economists the world over, The benefits of the house are its four beds and
you are happy if the benefits outweigh the its great location. If they believe the benefits
investment. If you’re really thirsty and decide of the house outweigh the investment they will
you’d spend £1 on a bottle of water you’ll be buy the house and feel very happy. If we were
happy if you find a bottle of water for just 50p to use a mathematical equation to show if the
as the benefits of the water, in your opinion, house buyer would be happy with this house
outweigh the investment. However, if you transaction we would break it down as in the
can only find a bottle of water for £5 you will, table at the bottom of the page.
understandably be unhappy, as no bottle of
So Fi+Ti<Sb+Lb is the equation for working
water is worth a £5 investment!
out if a house buyer will ultimately be happy
To determine how we can make fathers with their real estate decision.
happy we should look at what they are investing
What we want to find out is what the equivalent
into fatherhood and what they perceive as its
is for working out if a man will ultimately be
benefits. The analogy of the bottle of water is a
happy with his role as a father?
relatively simple one, and might not reflect the
complexities of a father’s investment/benefit Working out the fatherhood equation requires
calculation, so let’s look at a more complicated us to deduce what a father’s perceived
transaction, such as buying a house. investment options are and what his perceived
benefits will be. When we have an understanding
A house buyer has £250K to buy a house with
of the resources he is willing to invest (like the
and they feel for this money they would want
time and money investment resources in the
a three-bed house in a nice town with a good
house analogy) and an understanding of the
school. They find a great £250K four-bedroom
things he feels are beneficial (like the house’s
house, off the beaten track and in a lovely town
size and location benefit), we can see how we
but the nearest good school is 30 minutes
might be able to manipulate perceptions to
away. So their investment will be £250K plus
make the fatherhood decision more rewarding.
the time and effort of getting their children to
and from the good school.
250K
Financial
investment
+ Time needed
to get child
to school
Time
investment
< The benefits
|of having a
big house
Size
benefit
+ Being in a
good location
Location
benefit

5. Males balance their investment
between mating and parenting
The nature and dynamics of what a man The second is all the resources needed
invests in fatherhood is complex to say the to actually secure a mate, so all the ritual,
least, and society and culture will have an chasing off other male rivals, appearing to
enormous influence on how a father balances be genetically superior to other males and
the equation. In order to try and cut through again all the other things we as humans can
these external influences I like to turn to our associate with. The anthropologists call these
non-human primate cousins and use them two buckets the parental investment (Pi) and
as way of cutting things right back to the the mating investment (Mi). Just as our house
bare bones. buyer has their financial investment and time
investment, primates have a similar investment
Fortunately there is a large body of research
structure for being a father.
(Alexander at al. 1979; Barash 1982; Kurland
and Gaulin 1984; Kleiman and Malcolm 1981; Interestingly different primates attach a
Alexander and Noonan 1979 to name a few) different value to the different parts of their
looking into the dynamic of the adult male/ investment portfolio. As an example if our
infant relationship in non-human primates. house buyer was a very rich man with very
These esteemed anthropologists have boiled little spare time, he might want to prioritise
down the investment male primates put into his resources differently and spend more on
fatherhood into two main components. The a house that is closer to a good school. Thus
first component is all the resources they put increase his financial investment (Fi) in order
into being a good parent such as feeding, to reduce his time investment (Ti). Or if the
protecting, disciplining and other things we as house buyer was a poor man with loads of
humans will find familiar. time available, he might want to buy a cheaper
house an hour away from the school, i.e. reduce
his Fi and increase his Ti.

6. Males balance their investment
between mating and parenting
Primates have been shown to do the same. different reasons. The Owl Monkey lives in a
Typically males will prioritise more of their very monogamous society where they form
limited resources on mating investment (Mi), pair bonds i.e. a female Owl monkey will pair
and less on parental investment (Pi), and up with a male Owl Monkey and only mate with
females will do the opposite and invest less each other.
in mating (Mi) and much more in parental
Thus, the amount a male monkey needs to
responsibilities (Pi). This is the same across
invest in mating (Mi) is hugely reduced and as
almost all animals where the female carry the
a result the males invest lots more in parenting
young and therefore by default needs to invest
(Pi). The Owl Monkey is one of only a handful
massive amounts in parenting.
of primates where males are the primary care
However, some primates buck this trend and giver - the mothers only carry the young for
chose to invest their resources in different the first week or so of their lives, and the father
ways. For example in the Eburru Cliffs in Kenya, does the majority of the child rearing.
Barbera Smuts4 observed Olive baboons
So we can see how primates shift the priority
doing something very different. It would seem
of where they chose to invest their resources,
the male baboons felt the amount they were
but is this the same in humans? We might not
investing in mating was getting too much, it
want to admit it as it does sound very shallow
was a very aggressive polygamous society and
that a man would only invest in parenting if
the numbers just weren’t adding up. So they set
it meant they got ‘preferential mating rights’
about trying to reduce the amount of resources
with the child’s mother but some research
invested in mating (obviously subconsciously,
recently published in the scientific journal
instinctively and over hundreds if not thousands
PNAS5 shows that when men become fathers
of years of evolution) by shifting their
their levels of testosterone drops, showing
investment into parenting. The male baboons
an inverse correlation between mating and
started to care for specific infants, and in return
fatherhood. Additionally men who looked
they got preferential mating rights with that
after their children for 3 hours or more a day
infant’s mother. Like our time-poor, cash-rich
showed an even more acute drop. This shows
house buyer, they changed the priority of their
when you dedicate resources to parenting
investment and invested more in parenting
you naturally reduce resources dedicated
(Pi) so that they didn’t need to invest as much
to mating.
in (Mi).
In summary, the investment put into fatherhood
The Owl monkeys of South America have
is a combination of parental investment and
made a similar investment decision but for
mating investment or Pi+Mi.

7. Fathers get both emotional and
financial benefits from fatherhood
Why do primates invest in producing offspring? The financial benefits are obvious: have a child
Why do they happily care for their young, and when they are old enough send them to
fight off competitors, build nests and do all the factory to earn their keep. The emotional
the other things that require massive amounts benefits are more complex, I believe they have
of investment? Put simply it is about the roots in the instinctive desire to pass on our
propagation of the species, or put another way genetic traits. I believe fathers have translated
it is about passing on their genes and ensuring this instinctive urge to pass on their genes
their offspring do the same. into a more tangible urge to pass on their
cultural legacy, their acquired skills and belief
Non-human primates do all this instinctively;
system. In effect, we have transposed genes
they don’t know or care why they are driven
for memes. If you turn on the TV in America
to do all the crazy things they do in order to
during Father’s Day weekend, it is flooded with
reproduce; but they just do it. In many ways
images of fathers teaching their child how to
we human primates are the same, but our
fish, how to shave, how to change a bike’s tyre,
brains have evolved to the point where we
how to sit down and enjoy a game of football
like to have rational reasoning and logical
and so on. This passing down of traits reminds
deduction as the foundation of our decisions.
me of a great quote from Ruth E. Renkel about
Therefore as the passing down of our genes
fatherhood “Sometimes the poorest man leaves
is too abstract a concept for us to be able
his children the richest inheritance.”
to effectively and reasonable rationalise we
have begun to try and post-rationalise it with In summary the total reward that men attribute
financial and emotional benefits which are far to becoming a father is a combination of the
more tangible. It is these two benefits - like the emotional benefit and the financial benefit.
size and location benefits of the house - that
we use on the other side of the fatherhood
equation; these are the benefits that justify
the investment.

8. Fathers get both emotional and
financial benefits from fatherhood
In a similar way as with the investment ‘portfolio’ coincidentally, emotional relationships between
we are prone to give emotional and financial parents and children were less affectionate back
benefits different weighting in the equation then. As the value of children has diminished,
depending on the situation. Our house buyer and the costs have escalated, the belief that
mentioned earlier might look at the benefits parenthood is emotionally rewarding has gained
of a four-bed house off the beaten track, and currency. In that sense, the myth of parental joy
decide that, as he has five children he would is a modern psychological phenomenon.”
rather have a house with more bedrooms and
Modern-day parents play a balancing game
sacrifice the location.
with both the perceived emotional benefit
Equally he might like being in the heart of (Eb) and financial benefits (Fb), at the moment
things and would be more than happy to have a the trend is towards children having a higher
smaller house in order to have a better location. emotional rather than financial benefit. Maybe
So in the house buyer’s equation one person in the future as the aging population needs
would happily downgrade the perceived benefit to rely more and more on their children for
of the location (Lb) as they believe having a financial support this trend will begin to wane
greater size benefit (Sb) to be more preferable. and the emotional benefits will be perceived
This goes the other way round as well. The as being less important. However, it is the sum
same is true with how parents have weighted of the benefits that fathers consider to be the
up and prioritised the emotional benefits (Eb) overarching payoff for having children.
and financial Benefits (Fb). This was summed
So now we have both sides of our equation, both
up nicely by Eibach & Mock6 (2011) when they
investment and benefit, we can see how we end
concluded that:
up with the fatherhood happiness equation of
“In an earlier time, kids actually had economic Pi+Mi<Eb+Fb.
value; they worked on farms or brought home
paychecks, and they didn’t cost that much. Not
Time needed
to father
your child
Parental
investment
+ Time and effort
taken to find
a mate
Mating
investment
< Emotional
benefit of
having a child
Emotional
benefit
+ Financial
benefit of
having a child
Financial
benefit

9. Fatherhood is however not as
shallow as it all seems
On face value this seems terribly cynical,
shallow and ultimately a damning indictment
of a father’s motivation. Some could look
at the fatherhood model, and draw the
conclusion that:
“Fathers want to pass on their traits to
ensure their legacy thrives in the future, and
they want to do this with as little effort as
possible. Therefore fathers want to keep their
investment in fatherhood as small as possible
and their most effective strategy to do this
is to look after the children as it means they
don’t need to try as hard to ‘secure the on-
going mating rights of the child’s mother’ thus
making more offspring easier to produce.”
However on second inspection it can actually
show a more virtuous driving force. We could
instead deduce from the equation that:
“Fathers want to ensure their best
characteristics, skills and knowledge are
passed on to their children to give them every
chance of doing well. They also realise the best
environment to do this in is a functioning and
loving family unit.”
Depending on which side of the cynical line
you sit you can derive a motivation that is not
necessarily noble in its origins, but is definitely
honourable in its execution.

10. By understanding what makes
fathers happy we can effectively
engage with them
Why is Pi+Mi<Eb+Fb interesting. For some
it may seem like a pointless exercise in
anthropological, economical and mathematical
navel gazing, not dissimilar to when ‘scientists’
discovered the formula for the perfect joke
(c=(m+nO)/p). In fact it is a very useful tool for
marketers when they look at ways of engaging
with fathers.
We have a saying at Doco, we didn’t coin it
but we use it a lot,: “Help me, don’t sell to me.”
The best way to engage with an audience is
{ }
to understand what they are going through,
understand where they are looking for help, ‘Help me, don’t
and then create scenarios where our client’s
brands can help solve their problem. In the sell to me’
case of tweens it is all about garnering social
acceptance and understanding their position
within society, for kids is it about helping them
understand who they are and how they want
to be perceived. For fathers it is about helping
them be happy with their role of being a father.
What this equation does is help us understand
the mechanics that goes into a father’s
happiness, we now know the knobs, levers and
pulleys we need to manipulate in order to make
the fatherhood happiness equation a more
positive one.

11. Happiness is achieved through
reducing investment and
increasing perceived benefits
The astute amongst you will have noticed that
each of the factors that go in Pi+Mi<Fb+Eb are all
subjective measures, they are all benchmarked
against the expectations of the individual
father. Two fathers who put in exactly the same
amount of effort in parenting will perceive
their investment as being different depending
on what they are measuring against. It is this
perception that we marketers try and influence:
we try and make the perceived investment seem
as small as possible and the perceived benefit
as large as possible. Just like Guinness turned
the perceived investment of the long wait for
the bar man to pour the drink into something
worth investing in with the slogan “Good things
come to those who wait”, we want to make the
investment of being a good father and partner
seem small in comparison to the huge emotional
(and to a lesser extent financial) benefits.
With this in mind we can condense marketing
to fathers down to four main strategies:
Reduce perceived parental investment
Reduce perceived mating investment
Increase perceived emotional benefit
Increase perceived financial benefit

12. Examples of strategies in action
Visa – “Go World” Ad
This ad from Visa shows how Olympian Derek
Redmond in Beijing 2008 tore his Hamstring in
the 200m men’s semi final event.
Seeing Derek in pain and unable to finish his
father ran onto the course and helped him over
the line.
It was a very simple gesture, requiring very little
parental investment yet the emotional benefit
was huge.
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/BU3jfbb172E
All the videos can be seen in the blog post
www.DocoPeople.com/blog/marketing-to-fathers

13. Examples of strategies in action
some TV time at the end of the day; all showing Reduced mating investment
how easy it is to be a great dad.
The final scene shows the mum coming home
Increased emotional benefit to find father and son on the sofa, having
some quality snooze time, and she showing she
As discussed previously the emotional benefits
is happy.
of being a father being particularly well
demonstrated and articulated when you show Finally what I like most about this advert is they
how a father can pass on their traits to the next don’t resort to the stereotypical useless dad
generation, continuing his legacy if you like. This story line. It is a play often used to ensure they
is also well shown in this campaign, particularly are not alienating mothers “don’t worry, dad
in the print execution. Father and son, eating can still not do it better than you” with clichéd
Sainsbury’s – Live Well for Less the same cake, drinking from the same cup, destroyed house and eye rolling mums. This
same hair, same bag, same jeans, same jumper, tired device it is patronising to mums who are
The new Sainsbury’s “Live well for less” it is like a mirror is placed down the middle of rarely that insecure to think their job as mum is
campaign is a great example of how to market the two allowing father to see himself and see under threat, it is insulting to dads to assume
to fathers. It hits all 4 strategic points through the legacy he has created, the perfect creative they cannot look after their children for a day
great execution and consideration. execution of showing fathers the emotional without accidentally burning the house down
Reduced parental investment benefits of having a son. and as importantly it is damaging to the brand
as it sets up divisive lines between father and
The campaign shows a father taking his son out Increased financial benefit mother and thus does not show how being a
for a day at the seaside; all the activities they The whole campaign is around ‘living well good father makes a stronger family unit.
do are simple and cheap activities. Most fathers for less’ so the financial benefits are inherent
will see the advert and be acutely aware of the All in all Sainsbury’s have done a fantastic job
in everything, including the TV ad sound of engaging with dads in a market place full
simplicity of the day, pancakes for breakfast, a track (Disney’s The Jungle Book classic – The
train ride, a walk along the pier, a disposable of ads targeting mums.
Bare Necessities).
barbequed sausage sandwich, an ice cream,
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/Twk9Y19oXvw

14. Examples of strategies in action
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/4oPJlhMSGDI
Peugeot “Nice Car Ad”
This classic ad from the 1990’s shows a man the women from the car park arrived behind it turns out they are in fact married and the
apparently picking up a women in a car park him to showing that she was in fact his wife. sound from upstairs is their child calling out
and having a rather ‘steamy relationship’ with The second advert in the series had a similar for his parents, the dad offers to go and get
her, then dropping her back off in the car park. concept, but with a slight role reversal. The the boy up. Both ads play with the concept
He then goes home to his family, his kids rush mum looks to be having an affair with the of being a great lover as well as being a
out and he asks where their mother is, leading car cleaner, and the couple are interrupted great dad.
us to presume the women who he had picked by a sound coming from upstairs, which we
up in the car park was not his wife. At this point are lead to believe is her husband. However
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/jU-bcyiRL_o

15. Examples of strategies in action
KFC - ‘One Big Family’
Although this KFC ad doesn’t specifically target
fathers, it is no coincidence that the majority of
the adults in the advert are males rather than
females. It shows people getting ready for a
family gathering, focusing particularly on the
small things you need to do. The underlying
message is you don’t need to spend a lot
of money or go to huge effort to get the
whole family together, you just need a few
tables and chairs and the rest looks after itself.
Playing on the idea of minimising the perceived
amount of parental investment needed to
get the family together and enjoy emotional
benefits. All this is obviously facilitated by the
KFC bargain bucket:
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/1QjJAAMU4sA

16. Examples of strategies in action
McDonald’s Happy Meal - ‘Mum v Dad’
This advert from McDonalds shows a
father trying to show an increased parental
investment by being the one to get the
McDonalds Happy Meal first to his son.
Even though he ultimately fails to get credit,
his playful attempts definitely ingratiates
him with the mum which will be a success
in his mind.
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/iQwbReKEvwU

17. Examples of strategies in action
Patek Phillippe
As discussed the key play in resonating with and
influencing a fathers perceived emotional benefit
is to play on the concept of passing things down,
be they skills, knowledge, traits, experiences or
material possessions. Patek Philippe built an
entire brand around it with their “You never
actually own a Patek Phillipe. You merely look
after it for the next generation” slogan. In these
print executions they talk about the passing
down of a material possession, but they are also
showing the passing down of the other things,
and the inference of the continuation of a legacy.
The sailing advert shows a father passing on
the skills and experience of sailing, and the
writing advert shows a passing on of mannerisms
and gestures.

18. Examples of strategies in action
Real Estate Investment – Germany
This advert for a real estate agent takes it one
step further and not only plays on the ‘pass
things down to your child’ angle, but proactively
dismisses genetic inheritance as inferior to
material inheritance!

19. Examples of strategies in action
Werther’s Original – ‘Father and Son’
Werther’s Originals recently started to move
away from showing grandfathers to focusing
on fathers and their latest adverts show a whole
montage of father-child bonding moments. You
can see from some of the screens below each
montage (apart from 2) play on the legacy piece
and show the emotional connection in passing
on traits and interests. From a surfing dad and
his son, to a father and son falling over the same
way, walking the same way and even wearing
the same woollen jumpers. There is also a clip
of a father passing on knowledge and showing
his son something out of a bus window, finally
they show a smiling father seeing his son after a
long trip. A classic example of highlighting the
emotional benefits of having a child.
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/TH9pXKjkEiE

20. Examples of strategies in action
Oreos - Father’s Day
It is always hard to get Fathers day adverts
right without being too clichéd and I am
not saying this Oreo’s ad recently run in the
US necessarily managed it. That said, it was
extremely effective, scoring 22%7 better on
the standard ad effectiveness metrics than the
norm for that period.
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/tf-xxVd8kfE

21. Examples of strategies in action
Ford Mustang - A short story
This great short story from Ford was the only
example I could find of a brand being bold
enough to talk about the financial benefits of
having children, even though it does it with
great comedy and pathos!
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/7AQZoYCF6FU

22. Examples of strategies in action
NAPCAN - Children see, children do
Finally, in Australia the organisation NAPCAN
ran a series of adverts that told parents to
beware of the traits that they are passing on
and the legacy they are creating. It is a very
powerful piece, made even more powerful as it
turns on its head the positive of one’s ability to
shape a child into your image, and makes it a
potential negative.
Scan QR code to see video
http://youtu.be/7d4gmdl3zNQ

23. Conclusion
Fathers are struggling with their role in Western
society, their primary assets and unique skills
have been marginalised to the point where
many fathers feel emasculated and irrelevant.
Brands have a great opportunity to help them
find their way and to help them re-evaluate
what they are putting into fatherhood and what
they are getting out.
As over-simplistic and potentially naïve the
equation Pi+Mi<Eb+Fb seems it does give us
a good set of variables that we can nudge in
the father’s favour in order to ultimately help
him find more happiness and fulfilment in his
parental role.

24. References
1 http://advertising.yahoo.com/industry-knowledge/digital-dads-insight.html
2 My Father Before Me: How Fathers and Sons Influence Each Other Throughout Their Lives –
Dr Michael J Diamond; W. W. Norton & Company; 2007
3 http://www.drmichaeljdiamond.com/docs/MJD_SuggestedQuestionsRevisedwithAnwsers_20070621.pdf
4 Sex and friendship in baboons; Barbara B. Smuts; 1985; Aldine Pub Co
5 Lee T. Gettler, Thomas W. McDade, Alan B. Feranil, and Christopher W. Kuzawa; - From the Cover: Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood
decreases testosterone in human males
6 The Bottom Line of Raising Kids: Parents Rationalize the Economic Cost of Children by Exaggerating Their Parental Joy; Eibach & Mock 2011,
Association for Psychological Science
7 http://www.8bitdad.com/2011/06/17/oreos-fathers-day-ad-affective-ad-is-effective/
Additional References
Childers, L. B. (2010). Parental Bonding in Father - Son Relationships. Liberty University.
Eibach, R., & Mock, S. (2011). The Bottom Line of Raising Kids: Parents Rationalize the Economic Cost of Children by Exaggerating Their Parental
Joy. Waterloo: Association for Psychological Science.
Hewlett, B. S. (1992). Father-child relations: cultural and biosocial contexts. New York: Walter de Gruyter Inc.
Pittman, F. (1993). Man Enough: Fathers, Sons and the Search for Masculinity. Putnam.

25. About the Author
Maurice Wheeler is the Strategic Planning
Director and co-founder of Doco, the creative
agency specialising in family.
Over his 15 years of working in the digital
marketing arena Maurice has helped many
clients including Nickelodeon, Disney, Microsoft,
Tesco, Universal Music, Procter and Gamble
and Lego.
Some of his more memorable pieces of work
include working with TV institution Blue Peter
to remain relevant to today’s contemporary
audience; helping Tottenham Hotspur
understand how they can work closely with
their existing youth touch points to better
engage today’s young fans – the adult fans
of tomorrow; and advising Microsoft on how
they can talk more effectively with the family
audience for their Xbox games console.
Maurice has been asked to speak at conferences
such as The Children’s Media Conference,
Cartoon Forum, and MIP Junior, and has written
for publications such as Campaign, Marketing
Week, and MCV.
You will mostly find him reading research
papers, preparing presentations, running or
playing with his two boys.

26. Notes

27. Notes

28. If you need to engage with fathers or would like to talk more generally
about how we might be able to help with your kids and family strategy, please
contact us
London: +44 (0)20 3206 7500
LA: +1 323 559 0760
Email: Maurice@docolondon.com
Web: www.DocoPeople.com
Twitter: @hellodoco