Matt Carlson
If you’ve been around New York City, Boston, NFL games, on Instagram, TikTok, or just watching TV or reading the paper you may have seen a pink and blue PP logo flash across your eyes. Well, to answer your question, that PP is ParentPresents.com.
ParentPresents.com is a Gen Z centric brand with the mission to be the go-to-spot whenever young adults are struggling to find a gift idea for their parents. “I want ParentPresents to be a brand. Not just a website,” said founder Matt Carlson. “I want people to see the PP, know the PP and love the PP.”
Carlson is a self-described fearless, goofy, and unconventional entrepreneur and the ParentPresents marketing has been just that. Their social media page, led by Goodmonday productions, has funny trends, street interviews, skits, and other content designed to be entertaining and to poke fun at the experiences that young adults have during the holidays. They’ve gotten a lot of attention and have gone viral on Instagram a few times. Most recently with a video of Russian Influencer Hasbullah joking about how at 24 years old, moms still take pictures and videos of their children opening Christmas presents.
Their Instagram account (@parentpresents) has amassed a reach of over 5.5 million people and they have grown their following from 400 followers to upward of 2,800 followers with no signs of stopping. The company believes heavily in street and guerilla marketing, which Carlson believes has been the secret sauce to the brand’s early success and why they now rank first for the highly competitive search term “parent presents”.
The ParentPresents.com sign has been all over the country. Caught most notably on Mario Lopez’s Instagram story at the Macy’s Day Parade, in the background of ABC NY channel 7 news (55 seconds), as well as in the background of a picture in the New York Post. But it’s not just being funny and crazy that makes ParentPresents ParentPresents.
People really like their idea and their website. They interviewed social media sensations Brent Rivera and Peirson Wodsyinzki at Santa Con last weekend both of whom loved the idea behind the company. (Link to interview on IG)
In their first viral, a 6 second clip that described the reason for creating the company, that amassed over 1.3 million views. People commented things like:
“he is the hero we wanted but didn’t know we needed”
“doing the lords work”
“this website is hella helpful ngl”
“you’re saving my life rn ty ty”
ParentPresents is new company, but they are making a big splash. Their marketing may be goofy and unconventional but at the roots of their company is love and a strong mission “gifting is an important part of relationships and as you grow older as young adults you realize more and more how much your parents did for you and you just want to give back.” Carlson said.
“We want to be a fun brand as well as an easy solution and I think we are on the right path” he said, “when someone sees those PP’s I want them to smile. Smile because they saw our content and they think we’re funny or smile because we helped them find that gift that put a smile on their parent’s face.”