I had a baby and joined a tribe

When I was pregnant with Mia I didn't worry a lot. I knew I had good friends. I knew I had great family support. Everyone I spoke to told me I’d easily combine a career working from home with childcare. I pictured long leisurely lunches with friends, I imagined gently rocking her to sleep, one foot on bouncer while I chatted away to a client. I read all the books. I knew what I was doing. I had this.

Then she was 11 days late. I was induced. I was in established labour for 24 hours. It ended in a forceps birth. She was horribly jaundiced and rushed back into hospital. I got a bad infection and ended up in hospital. I struggled to establish breastfeeding and then it turned out she was allergic to formula. We ended up in hospital again. Oh and I’d committed to delivering a project starting when she was 4 weeks old. I didn't have this. I didn't have a clue. The books didn't cover this. I had no friends with kids. My family, as awesome as they were, had their babies many years ago.

I was stuffed.

Then my antenatal ladies came to the rescue. They were my lifeline in those first few months. They were the people I shared my lows and highs with. The people I asked for recommendations from everything from bum cream to nurseries (and just about everything else in between).

So why did I go to them? Why did they replace my usual trusted network of friends (some of whom had been friends for over 20 years)?

Because they knew. They knew what it was like to wake up with a tiny screaming person 3 times a night. They knew you’d do anything to stop their tiny little stomach cramping if it meant you could eat a hot meal in the evening. They knew that having a small person utterly changes your life and perspective. And they were right with me in the moment, parenting at the same time and facing the same challenges I was facing. In some respects parenting never changes- your job is to raise a relatively normal kid that turns into a respectable-ish adult.

But then everything changes. In between having my two how you made a bottle up changed, the advice on using dummies changed. Between me and my mum having kids the landscape of raising children has changed beyond all recognition. In 1976 my mum didn't have to worry about the impact of technology on her child’s developing brain. Playing out in the street was totally normal and expected. We knew little about cot death. Brands were hardly on our radar. Antibacterial hand gel and aspartame in drinks didn't exist.

So the mums I met at that stage of my life became my tribe. The people I trusted most, whose opinions I listened to and whose advice I would take. I wanted to know what toys they’d bought, what foods they were feeding their kids and what product you could buy to wash away those mysterious orange food stains.

And even when I didn't want the advice I was always taking in what they said. I spent a lot of time with these people. And over the years although that group of mums has changed – as I moved towns and my kids moved from nursery to school  - the tribe remains integral to my decision-making.

My tribe is at the school gate, at my slimming world group, on facebook and on nights out. Each time the conversation might be different, so at holiday club pick up over summer we covered where everyone was buying school uniform, holiday destinations, kids’ hair chalk and shoes (each one coming with recommendations of where to buy). And on a night out at the pub we talk about where we’re going with our partners for nights away, new cars and beauty treatments. These are people I’d trust with my kids, so I’m likely to listen to their opinions pretty carefully.

It’s important for brands to understand that these are the people I turn to when I have to make every day purchasing decisions. I’m not thinking about what washing machine Kim Kardashian uses when my finally packs up. Think about the people your customers trust and how you can tap into that network.

We’d love to know whose opinion you trust most…

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.

Is sugar killing our children?

It’s a controversial headline but one you’ll have seen splashed across the press in the last few days. 

This week the World Health Organization advised that we should all halve our daily sugar consumption in order to tackle the growing obesity crisis and other health problems such as tooth decay. 

Much of the advice given is sensible – cut down on fizzy drinks and processed meals which contain hidden sugars. But some of it is hugely confusing for parents – fruit juice contains lots of natural sugar. So should we be ditching this in favour of drinks with artificial sweeteners? There’s plenty of evidence that these aren’t particularly good for children either.  What this means is there's a lot of confused consumers out there and that's bad news for brands. 

So we went to our base of 10,000 mums and asked them what they think about sugar…

Overall findings from the survey:

•  Mums are concerned about sugar in their children’s diet but they tend to worry more about hidden sugars in every day products rather than treats and cakes. They know cakes and sweets contain sugar and tend to position them as a treat with their children. They were more concerned about certain ‘healthy’ products that contain too much sugar i.e. cereal, yoghurt or drinks.
• Mums know fizzy drinks contain too much sugar. Many try and limit but are annoyed about the hidden sugars in cordial based drinks that they buy for their children.
• Many mums said they know they should be more conscious of checking sugar content.
• Mums were less worried about natural sugars in fruit. They don’t want to stop their children eating fruit as the health benefits outweigh the downsides of sugar.
• Many mums said that artificial sweeteners (Aspartame mentioned) are just as bad, if not worse.      Many mums choose 'real' sugar products over ones that contain artificial sweeteners. They don’t want products laden with unnatural ingredients.
• Many mums acknowledged that consequence of too much sugar could be damage to their child’s teeth.

% of mums concerned about sugar content when buying the following products for their child:

Fizzy drinks – 83%

Cordial drinks – 70%

Cereal – 64%

Cakes/Biscuits – 55%

Fruit juice (100% natural) – 51%

Yoghurt 45%

Fruit 15%

For brands it’s about taking this information and helping mums find a way past the shocking headlines so they can make informed decisions.

MumPanel top 4 tips:

1. Consider evidence that mums understand – a teaspoon level measure per product shown on products. Distinguish between ‘natural’ sugars and ‘added’ sugars.
2. Fruit is good for you even if it does contain sugar. Let’s help parents understand why the health benefits of fruit outweigh the sugar content.
3. Show parents the whole picture. Let’s help parents educate themselves and inform their children. It is an opportunity for brands to show responsibility and to educate.
4. Many parents would not like products to replace hidden sugar with hidden sweeteners. If brands can make products more natural and contain less ‘added’ sugar that would help.

 What our mums said...

• Some foods are artificially sweetened too much and have far too much variety of different sugars than are really needed
• I am concerned about the things they consume throughout the day not the one off snacks or treat
• We all consume too much and it is so hidden in some products
• Like to think healthier options are lower in sugar. For treats I'm less concerned as they are that - treats
• I try to buy juices that aren't made from concentrate or the type with water, equally I prefer obvious full sugar products than ones full of artificial sweetener
• Do not want to be consuming too many hidden sugars. I think there is too much sugar in foods and it is quite hard to follow a low sugar diet with minimum fuss
• I always look at the sugar levels and the additives. I don't like to buy anything containing aspartame
• I know that fruit has natural sugars in it, and I choose organic as often as possible, so as a natural product haven't got any concerns, and I would expect the fruit juice to be the same. I don't like the way sugar products are advertised and aimed at children. Also I don't like the way they advertise it as sugar free but replace the sugar with artificial products that are more harming than sugar
• Some cereals and soft drinks have far too much sugar in them. Yogurts also have too much sugar. They are not supposed to be sweet!
• I would rather they ate and drank something than nothing
• I was shocked when I recently found out that fruit juice contains more sugar than a fizzy drink. I tend only to buy no sugar cordials now
• My daughter eats a very healthy diets so she can afford to have sweet treats without us counting the sugar contents, although I prefer cereal to be sugar and additive free as it is one of the most important meals of the day and needs to be healthy
• We want to make sure the kids have a healthy and balanced diet, of course we allow treats but we are careful. Plus I don't want them to have rotten teeth either!
• I think people should be educated properly on healthy eating and packaging be made clearer

*Stats and findings taken from MumPanel survey (700 responses) conducted on 5^th March 2014.

What wins on the school run - style or practicality?

I think we can officially say that autumn is here. I’m pretty sure it is because I’ve got soaked on the school run every day for the last week. And as all our team are mums we’ve been sharing insight about what trends we’ve spotted in the playground. We also asked our MumPanel what they wear for the school run and whether style or practicality wins.

Lynne, our MD, was the first to spot that Hunter Wellies have made the transition from festival favourite to playground staple (check out this fab purple pair from Out of the City). Some of our mums told us that while their school run outfit needs to be practical they also don’t want to leave all sense of style behind.

But because MumPanel mums are so diverse we knew fashion wouldn’t be the whole story. Many of our mums our budget conscious, with them telling us fashion doesn’t come into the school run and they wouldn’t fork out for an expensive pair of wellies for themselves as they need to kit out their kids.  They also want value (and that doesn’t always mean the cheapest option ) – it’s worth remembering that mums will pay more for something if they know it will last.

What did become apparent from talking to our mums is that they want things that make their life easier – whether that’s wellies that fit around our less than slimline calves or boots that easily pull on so you don’t have to wrestle with shoes and kids. This is where opinion pods (our focus groups) can prove helpful when you are developing new products – we listen to what mums are saying and the tiniest insight can unlock a potentially life changing product.

If you’d like to know more about targeting and connecting with mums then contact us.

Parent Power – Are you listening to what we are saying?

Last week Lynne spoke as part of the Parent Power Panel at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield. The Children's Media Conference brings together people who develop, produce and distribute content to kids – across all platforms. 

What we wanted to talk about was using parents at the right stage of the development process when creating new content. We’ve been lucky enough to work on projects for the BBC, including the CBeebies Grown Up website, where our research started at the very earliest stage of the project and influenced design and content. 

There are plenty of examples of where parents have reacted adversely to new TV programmes, games or websites.  We know it’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time but early involvement in the creative process means you know what parents are thinking. This also means you can objectively manage any negative responses because you know you have developed a programme or other content based on what parents and their children say they want. 

As many broadcasters now develop for digital platforms one of the questions raised at the conference was whether social media is a good place to gather feedback and connect with parents. 

We think the answer is yes. It’s a great place to listen to what people are saying about your content. But there is a but.  Not all parents are on social media, there are fewer mums and dads over 35 on facebook and just a small percentage of the UK parent population are on twitter. We need to listen to and connect with parents from across the board, not just those online with vocal opinions. Remember where your audience are – the school gate, the supermarket. 

Some organisations don’t think they need to bother managing social media and that’s fine if you are Apple and have millions of brand advocates waiting on your next move. Ignoring the voices of parents on social media (and beyond it) is unwise simply because it can quickly go viral and create negative sentiment that stays on the internet forever. We’re also increasingly seeing traditional press sourcing stories and features that start on social media, often appearing long after you think any negative furore has died down. 

And what did our MumPanel and social media mums have to say? 

“It’s interesting actually - I don’t use social media to try to influence programmes, but I think modern technology gives me much more control over what my kids watch - we never watch live TV, it’s stuff I’ve prerecorded or stuff off iplayer."

 Ruth Arnold (Geek Mummy) 

“If I felt that parents were being asked opinions which would actually contribute to the programmes and subjects covered on that childrens channel - if I knew my opinions were being listened to and that I could in a small way help to shape my child's viewing via this channel."

 Finally, what to remember when you are developing content for children (and their parents)…

•  Involve parents in the development process – by dong this you are harnessing and embracing parent power rather than being at the wrong end of it.
• Utilise the directness of social media so you are aware of conversations and trends that can then be tested in more detail.

If you’d like to know more about parenting testing and content development then drop us a line.

Mum insight - how is the way we shop changing?

My week kicked off with a quick dash around my local Morrisons store (mum insight – mums jam in food shopping when they can, so for me it’s just after I’ve done the school run). This store is having a bit of an upgrade at the moment and as I walked around, I noticed they had installed a Kiddicare ‘pod’. Morrisons bought Kiddicare last year to expand both their baby range and their internet retail offering. The great thing about this pod is that it allows you to price check and buy products when you do your weekly shop but you don’t have to drag them home with you. Last year we worked with Morrisons taking mums on accompanied shops to see whether they liked the in store experience when they were buying baby products. It's great to see the improvements Morrisons are making for mums.

This particular store is across the road from Mothercare so mums can pop into one store and then dash across the road to do a quick cost comparison. Price checking using my phone is something I do more and more. Recently a netmums survey revealed mums are more likely to use mobile phones than the average Brit. That’s no surprise to me; my phone is where I keep all my appointments, important dates such as school events and lists of things I need to buy. I’ve found myself using technology in new ways. At Christmas, I started using the bar code scanner that is part of Amazon’s iPhone app, it allows you to scan a code on a book (or other product) and it then shows you the price on Amazon. This means you can do a direct price comparison, make a buying decision then and there AND save money – all with a few clicks of your phone.

It’s often things that make a mum’s life easier that encourage us to buy. My girls are obsessed with fish fingers (this is no exaggeration). This week my other half purchased an enormous box to satisfy their cravings and it had a great new feature. You can now reclose the box by ripping off the top part and sliding it over the open end. One of the pain points of fish fingers is that you often spend a fair few minutes scrabbling around the bottom of the freezer to retrieve the ones that always escape the box. Birds Eye have solved this problem in a simple and elegant way and guess which brand of fish fingers I’ll be buying next time?

By Nicola