Fitbits & Sausages

This time last year mums were spreading the word and their recommendations for Aldi Prosecco. They were raving about the taste and price and telling other mums about it. So what’s getting mums talking and giving recommendations in 2016?

Fitbits

Have you done your 10,000 steps today? Mums asked for Fitbits for Christmas and birthday presents. It’s part of our attempt to get fit and keep motivated but also a way to compare sleep deprivation! It’s a talking point everywhere, from fitness classes to the school playground.

Heck

How often do you find a product that’s low fat, tastes great and the kids will eat too? Heck have filled in an unexpected gap in the market with their range of sausages and burgers. They’ve been making sausages for a long time but just a couple of years ago developed the Heck brand and have an avid social media following. Mums are making trips to certain supermarkets to source their products and ordering online. They continue to tap into what mums want with the recent launch of a vegetarian range.

Aldi’s Mamia

In the last few years the big boys, Pampers and Huggies have had to compete with supermarket own brands (Asda own nappies were a mum favourite for a long time). But now Aldi (and Lidl) are grabbing mum market share with nappies that don’t leak, are comfy and cheaper than their branded rivals. Aldi have cleverly championed their products with mums, offering quality and value.

Musical.ly

If you haven’t heard about it then ask your kids. It’s an app where you can make your own music videos. What kids seem to love is the interactive element of it. It’s a current tween craze, even though it’s only for 13+, so mums are talking about it. We’re trying to understand it, decide if our kids can use it and figure out where technology is going next.

What mums are saying about other products

“My go to at the moment is Costa coffee, and I know lots of other mums who can't do without their Costa fix.”

“At the school gate and on social media I’m hearing lots about meal replacements like Huel and C9 for weight loss. But there’s also a massive backlash against making women feel bad about their bodies and unrealistic expectations."

"My kids and their classmates are obsessed with collecting Beanie Boos. I think they are weird but as a cheap treat I’m quite happy to purchase them.”

Make sure you’ve got your ear to the mum grapevine as their trends will drive sales and footfall. And if you manage to find their sweet spot you’ll have all the word of mouth ambassadors you’ll ever need.

If you'd like to know more about how we can help you hear what mums want call us on 0161 413 4717.

How do you become a favourite brand with mums?

In the Big Mum Opinion, our indepth study of over 3000 mums in the UK, we discovered the key fundamentals of service, quality, price and customer service are as important as ever. It’s vital to mums that a product or service really works and brings them so benefit – and as a brand you have to ensure that this message doesn’t get lost in smart communications or clever positioning.

Here are our top 4 tips to becoming a favourite brand for mums:

1. Be honest about who you are and what you offer, deliver on your message right from product through to communications.

2. Mums relate brands to their own personal experiences, for example ‘my son loves...’ You can strengthen your market position by finding ways to tap into the family experience and what mums want.

3. Listen to the mum grapevine. Mums like to be included and want to see that their views are used to improve products and services for their families.

4. Mums don’t want brands to be ‘their best friend’ or be in their personal space. However, ‘being there’ as a resource or providing impartial, helpful or expert advice is welcome.

If you’d like the full report fill in yourdetails here and we’ll send it across.

New report: The Big Mum Opinion

2013 was a significant year for MumPanel. We decided to undertake one of the biggest, indepth research projects into mums in the UK.

We set some tricky targets – speak to 3000 mums, gather a real understanding of where mums will be in 2014 – what they want, what they need, what brands are getting right and where companies need to work a little harder to make the right connections with families.  And finally ensure we spoke to all kinds of mums, not just online but in the community and at the school gate.

And the result of our work is The Big Mum Opinion – where you can find information on mums usage of social media, mums' trusted sources of influence, consumer engagement points, brand loyalty, and the impact of children on mums’ purchasing decisions, plus much more.

But most importantly it reveals how you can really connect with mums and capture that market. 

Here are our top five tips…

1. Give mums honesty, realness and transparency from product through to

communications. Know your values and be ready to evidence them.

        

2. Be genuine. Deliver products and services that really make a difference. That way you'll build trust and mums will genuinely recommend you through their own natural word of mouth channels.

3. Be there for mums as a trusted resource. But don't try to be a false best friend.

4. Offers. 88% of mums tell their friends and family about offers and 81% actively seek out offers. Why not get the mums to be the ones to share and hand out their offers with others.

5. Mums don't want to feel stereotyped.  33% felt labelled or patronised. Look at mums' real decision-making and purchasing journeys. Identify and map out key touchpoints, patterns and reasons for differing decisions. Focus on the mum

perspective and you will reach and connect with them better.

You can sign up for the full report (and find an info graphic) on the MumPanel website.