An Open Letter To The Graco Brand Team.

Dear Graco Brand Team,

Have you guys been reading my diary? One day I'm thinking about making the switch from our infant "straightjacket" carseat  and then -BAM!- I win the Graco Snugride Click Connect 40.

First things first.  I am basking in the glow of a free carseat.  Might this influence what I'm about to write?  I say no, but the advertising industry would crumble at our feet if there weren't some correlation between promotions and positive brand imagery.  Disclaimer done.

There's a lot that I appreciate about this weekend's blogger event and the hot new carseat you showed us.

I appreciate feeling like a winner even if there was no skill involved.

I appreciate that with this carseat I will not have to call my neighborhood engineer to rethread the straps thanks to the groundbreaking bordering on magical technology that does this for me with a simple clicking adjustment of the headrest.

Graco Snugride Click Connect 40 Carseat & Stroller.

Now let me throw my cards on the table.  Before my current stint as mom blogger, I was a brand marketing director and spent my days writing positioning statements, identifying marketplace needs, and making sure the world didn't spin off its axis.  You guys know what that's like.

So, knowing this, let me also share that I appreciate your unique, relevant and pounded into my head product positioning: "Graco's Snugride Click Connect 40 is the only newborn to two-year infant carseat on the market encouraging parents to keep babies safer longer."  Seriously, guys.  Very well written and meaningful.  If you worked for me, I'd be showing this to my peers as an example of my team's marketing prowess.

The name of the carseat, though, I do not appreciate so much.  Let's blame it on an outside vendor, but please don't tell me you paid a naming agency for that gem.  What do you want your consumers to call it for short?  The GSCC?  Not memorable.

Moving on.

I appreciate most that you guys launched a product that made me ask, "Why didn't someone do this sooner?" I'm going to guess it's because that second carseat purchase that happens around 20 pounds is a pretty big source of revenue for those in the biz, yes?

Nice job talking finance into this innovation!

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  I am not suggesting that anyone rush out and buy this based on what I've written.  However, if it works the way you've promised, I might.  After I've had this in my clutches for 30-60 days I will post a full-blown user review.

So now, wizards of carseat innovation, I have a few questions and subsequent requests.

1.  Why is it that I need two hands to remove the carseat from the base?  Have you ever tried to do this with  
     six Target bags laced on your arms, a phone in your hand, and a wallet in your mouth?  One and done is
     what I say.  Please start that innovation brief

2.  Why is it that I have to be as strong as the Hulk and/or use two hands to open your stroller?  PLEASE
     make a stroller that a woman with no upper body strength can easily open AND close with
     one hand.  As Click Connect is now my baby is sitting on the ground at the end of the jetbridge
     licking up the extra jet fuel he's managed to sniff out while I open the stroller.  Save him.  

3.  Lastly, and this may not be your area but  new product lines broaden your appeal so consider it, why do
     all diaper pails make the nursery smell like a poo-bomb after less than one year of use?  Give me an
     option that lets me return the haz-mat suit I now wear in the nursery and I will deem $1500 a fair price
     point.

So thanks guys for the brave innovation, for the carseat, and for making me feel like a badass while in Babies R Us, a previously unimaginable location/feeling combination.  You've made me start to question why I don't own more of your products.  User review, and possibly a new loyal user, to come in the future.

Sincerely,
annie

PS - Babies R Us, we're over damask.