Mothers make a large percentage of families' purchasing decisions, and they represent a vital demographic for mobile marketers.

The new trend in superpowers may be the ability to create time, and that's what the "Supermoms" are doing, according to a study by AOL's Platform-A and global communications agency OMD. Today's moms have become champion multitaskers who are using mobile phones, the Internet and other media to help them pack 27 hours of activities -- including eight hours spent with media -- into 16 hours of waking time each day.

"We went into the homes of women in 13 countries, spoke with them, watched them use media with their families and did a traditional survey to get benchmarks for how media is involved in their lives," said Anne Hunter, New York-based vice president of Platform-A's ADlytics group. "We used qualitative and quantitative measures, and found that mobile was a big part of their media mix.

"After the Internet and TV, mobile is the number-three most important medium as far as time spent, above radio, newspapers and magazines," she said. "It's pretty much the same all across the globe."

The OMD/Platform-A study is called "Living La Vida Rapida: Today's Parents Living a Double Life at Double Time."

It explored moms' lifestyles and media preferences, as well as how advertisers and marketers can leverage these insights to communicate with them more effectively.

"During the study, we found a "supermoms" group that is most connected to media and is as comfortable using a BlackBerry as they are making an apple pie," Ms. Hunter said. "The ones using mobile are extremely busy, multitasking, making a play date online while watching TV, finding a recipe while on a conference call.

"Mobile is one of the key things helping them live their sped-up lives," she said.

Platform-A is AOL's digital advertising business.

The survey of more than 7,000 moms around the world found that the average online mom has become a master multitasker, conducting a combined 27 hours of activities in a single day.

That includes work, family, surfing the Internet, chores, eating, shopping and using their mobile phone.

"This is a critical demographic, as these women are making the majority of household purchasing decisions pretty much in every category," Ms. Hunter said. "They're making decisions with spouses and children, but across every category moms are making the final decision.

"When it comes to balancing the check book and buying everything from beverages, business services and clothing to groceries and health products, she's actually the decision maker," she said. "This demographic represents billions and billions of dollars in buying power."

These moms reported spending eight hours a day using media, including 2.6 hours on the Internet, 2.1 hours watching television, 1.2 hours listening to the radio and half an hour each day spent with newspapers, magazines and games.

Mobile placed third, in between TV and radio.

Moms rely on the Internet for task-oriented parenting.

Parenting is the number-one online activity cited by moms, ahead of search, e-mail and news.

More than half (58 percent) said they prefer the Internet for getting parenting information and advice, and 55 percent said they preferred the Internet as a resource for helping their children learn.

Nearly three quarters of moms (73 percent) say that it's important for them to monitor what their children do online.
Moms also rely heavily on the Internet for a variety of other tasks, such as shopping (79 percent cite the

Internet as the preferred medium), getting information (71 percent) and finding coupons or sales (52 percent).

Single moms spend significantly more time with media -- an average of 9.5 hours per day -- versus moms who have a spouse or partner (7.9 hours per day).

Similarly, lower income mothers spend roughly an hour more (8.9 versus 8.0 hours per day) with media than middle- and higher-income moms.

When it comes to personal time, moms report spending just 1.4 hours of that 27-hour day on themselves.

"Moms only have 84 minutes a day of personal time on average, and moms are saying, 'I wish I had more time for myself and my friends,'" Ms. Hunter said. "Mobile is the preferred method of connecting with other moms, and there's an opportunity for mobile to position itself as a way to get some of that 'me' time back."

Most online moms (86 percent) report being the primary household decision maker, making them an important target audience for marketers and advertisers.

More than half (52 percent) say they tend to recommend good products and/or brands to others.

The vast majority of moms (95 percent) use at least one type of media with their children once a week.

TV is the most common medium moms share with their children (79 percent), followed by the Internet (62 percent), mobile phone (58 percent), digital camera (48 percent), e-mail (38 percent) and games (33 percent).

Despite their many responsibilities, these moms tend not to see themselves as "Supermoms." In fact, just 38 percent described themselves as a "super mom."

The survey also found that moms have strong emotional associations with different media, which can impact the effectiveness of ads targeted at these moms.

Television and radio primarily evoke "entertained" and "relaxed" feelings.

Magazines evoke "interested" and "relaxed" emotions.

Newspapers evoke "focused" and "interested" feelings.

Online search is related to feelings of "task-oriented," "focused" and "interested."

Web sites are often related to "entertainment."

One implication of the study findings is that, in order to maximize an advertisement's impact and effectiveness to moms, it must not only be relevant, but also reach moms through media they trust and in contexts where they are receptive to the messaging.

Moms tend to look to the Internet and magazines for parenting information and advice, but that is a need that Web-enable mobile phones could eventually fulfill.

For moms there is also a high correlation between ad acceptance and trust in the medium, providing a tremendous opportunity for marketers to maximize the impact of their advertising.

In 2008, OMD and Platform-A partnered with Ipsos to conduct qualitative and quantitative research with online moms around the world.

The OMD Worldwide agency network is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc.

Platform-A includes AOL's leading media properties, including AOL.com, AIM and MapQuest, as well as Advertising.com's third-party networks.

Platform-A also includes Tacoda's audience insights and behavioral targeting; Quigo, a site- and content-targeting solution; Adtech, an international digital ad serving business; Third Screen Media, a mobile ad serving network; and buy.at, an affiliate marketing solution.

More than 7,000 moms ages 18-plus with home Internet access in 13 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific were surveyed about their personal values, family dynamics, purchase habits and advertising preferences in order to gain insight into the reality of being a parent in today's society, the role of media in parenting and how that differs around the world.

"Mom is packing so much activity into her day, so if marketers want to reach her, they have to offer something that improves their lives and send a message that's going to resonate, even something as simple as 'You're doing a good job,'" Ms. Hunter said. "Mobile coupons might be a great strategy, or a quick recipe.

"Send it out to her via SMS at 4 p.m. and say 'Here's a list of funny questions to ask at the dinner table,'" she said.

The study found that 18-34-year-olds were much more accepting of mobile advertising than older consumers.

Mobile scored the highest of any medium in the category of social communication.

"Moms are using mobile primarily as a communication tool, but 37 percent of daily mobile usage is for relaxation and entertainment," Ms. Hunter said. "There are ways for brands and agencies to add value via mobile by making moms feel good about themselves, but also helping them get their lives organized and accomplish what they need to get done."

The study found that 37 percent of mothers use mobile for non-parenting tasks, while 27 percent use mobile for parenting tasks, which is higher than any other medium

Moms also use mobile to connect with children, especially teens. Over half of all text messages were sent to connect with their teens.

"The Internet scores high in every category across the board, and it is more widely used than anything," Ms. Hunter said. "However, as phones make it easier to access the mobile Web, mobile will become even more relevant to this demographic.

"There will be opportunities in the future to reach moms via mobile because the handsets will continue to evolve to provide a great Internet experience," she said.