It's a Hard-Knock 'Mom Life' for Jen and Barb

Created to capitalize on the majority of packaged-goods buyers, Kraft and S.C. Johnson became the latest backers of Mom Life, a new web reality series that launched this week.

Through motherhood-themed site Jenandbarbmomlife.com, the series of four- to five-minute episodes set to run through June features fortysomething moms Jennifer Pate and her friend, Barb Machen and revolves around “life in the trenches of motherhood with a funny take on the mommy life from two real moms who riff on everything from career to husbands to disciplining kids, along with straight on-camera discussion of the daily issues, challenges and joys of motherhood. Real life from real moms,” according to the site.

With ads from Kraft and S.C. Johnson that run before the web series, episodes also feature a plug for various products on a separate screen and links to coupons.

Interactive firm Digitas created the brand content and sister arm the Third Act: BBE served as distributor. Real Mom Productions and Stun Creative are behind video production.

Digitas’ Wendi Smith told Brandweek that the site was inspired the growing number of moms who are active on the Internet via downloads, videos and more; eMarketer forecast that moms will account for 39.6 million of the online audience by 2012.

“As we looked at different ways to use various media, specifically digital as a way to engage with our consumers, the Mom Life program emerged as an interesting and innovative channel,” Kraft associate director of corporate affairs Laurie Guzzinati said. “This represents a further evolution from what you can describe as a traditional broadband experience to actual content creation.”

Jenandbarbmomlife.com also features interactive blogs from Pate and Machen on topics including children, cooking and style. A complete schedule of upcoming episodes is up on their MySpace page.