The Mother’s Day Messaging Meltdown, and a Brunch That Backfired
Inside a suburban family’s failed campaign to surprise Mom—and how it mirrors real communications chaos.
At 8:04 a.m. on Mother’s Day, the house was humming. The playlist was on. The coffee was brewing. The eggs were—well, they were trying.
The idea was simple: Let Mom sleep in, then surprise her with brunch. It had been dubbed “Operation Sleepy Queen” in the family group chat. The kids had roles. The oldest handled mimosas. The youngest, in charge of ambiance, had chosen a Spotify mix called “Empowered Women of the ’90s” that was 80 per cent Alanis.
At 9:16 a.m., disaster struck.
The dog got into the croissants. Grandpa arrived early and started reorganizing the fridge. The middle child—newly vegan—tried to swap out the eggs for silken tofu mid-recipe without alerting the others. Dad was outside, watering the hydrangeas, unaware the stove was now an emergency.
Mom walked in just in time to see a flaming potholder, a crying tween and Grandpa muttering, “Should’ve just ordered in.”
Someone took a photo. The caption they chose—“Moms never stop working 💪”—did not land the way they’d hoped.
By 11 a.m., family group chats were alight with concern. Aunt Bev commented, “Is she OK??” A cousin texted, “Did you forget it was Mother’s Day?” Panic ensued. The family scrambled to clarify: She wanted to help. She’s not mad. The brunch was just… ambitious.
The problem wasn’t bad intentions. It was misalignment. Too many people acting on their own version of the plan. No approvals. No central message. No one managing sentiment as it spiraled through three group chats and an increasingly judgmental Instagram feed.
That’s when Mom stepped in.
She didn’t lecture. She didn’t panic. She just knew what needed doing—and did it.
She found the missing oven mitt, calmed the tween, redirected Grandpa, assigned tasks, opened the windows and reset the mood. Then she brought the whole day back to life with a single Instagram post. Her caption: “Not what I pictured, but there was music, there was love and no one burned the house down. 10/10, still the best seat at the table.”
No dashboards. No Slack channels. No crisis plan. Just a mom who understood the stakes, the tone and the timing. She did what the best heads of comms do: made everyone feel heard, pulled the message together and got things back on track.
Because when things start to unravel—whether it’s a brunch, a brand moment or a message to the world—the person who can pull it all back together? That’s the one who keeps the whole story intact.
Happy Mother’s Day to the original queens of comms! You’ve been keeping it together long before we had the software.
If the kids had Broadsight, brunch might’ve gone off without a hitch. (OK, maybe not the tofu eggs—but at least the messaging would’ve landed.) Broadsight helps comms teams coordinate the moment, control the narrative and clean up before things burn. It’s not quite as good as a Mom—but it’s the next best thing. Check it out at broadsight.ca.
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