‘A hug and a cup of tea’

It’s Mothers Day on Sunday (just in case you’ve forgotten!) and we asked our mums what that meant to them.

Over 90% said they celebrated it in their household and when asked what it meant to them the overwhelming response was spending time with their family and about appreciation – of their own mum, their kids and themselves. 

‘A day to realise how much I appreciate my mum and my daughter to appreciate me (hopefully!)’

With that appreciation came relaxing – with over half saying they get to relax more…

‘Hopefully a lie in!! Possibly breakfast in bed ... A day to stop & enjoy being a mum.’

However, on the flip side 50% said they didn’t get to relax anymore than usual…

‘I'm still mum!’

‘Have to fit tow family visits into one day so no one is disappointed.’

Overall the wants of mums were not commercialised or grand.  Homemade cards were at the top of the ‘hope to receive’ list closely followed by breakfast in bed and flowers. It also included kids behaving themselves, a sunny day and no hassles! Ideal Mothers Day for some mums were:

‘A long nap and a long hot and undisturbed bath’

‘Kids sleep in too so I get a cuddle and my partner then takes them off to prepare my surprise. No-one argues or fights ALL day’

‘Time with my children and my mum having a nice meal’

The brand that was most associated with Mothers Day was Thornton’s – perhaps it was a brand that stretched across the generations and was seen as traditional.

However, not every mum feels like celebrating or can, for some it is a sad time missing their mum who has passed away. For others they may not have the same support or partner to let them enjoy Mothers Day.

I think brands are beginning to (or should) link these occasions with the more emotional, and simplistic aspects, engaging with their audience more. Caring. With the philosophy of less is more - sometimes.

Brands who help with hand made cards, the ideal breakfast in bed  menu and little presents that matter will win through.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Over 1500 responses via MumPanel Survey on 9^th March 2016.

Mum radar

We’re always listening to mums, asking for their opinions and understanding what matters to them at the moment. So here’s an insight into the latest hot topics and what we’re observing in the mum world.

The power of the photograph

If you really want to engage with mums on social media then photos are a great idea. Mums really take notice of friends and family conversations on posts, and of any photos that are included.

Just recently a friend posted a tour of their holiday apartment in Poole. I watched as 10 or so people asked where it was and were interested in booking. That’s pretty powerful stuff if you are trying to sell something.  Think about mum ambassadors who can show off real life videos and photos – we want to see things from a real perspective.

Storytelling

If you can find a way to tell a story in marketing that relates to me and my family then I’m interested. Make it real and you’ll have mums hooked. Forget falseness or something too contrived – keep it authentic for mums and show the benefits of that service or product within the story.

Fads & fancies

Any brand can offer a product, try and engage with me and my children. But if children don’t like the product (or have suddenly gone off it) then I won’t be buying it. This doesn’t mean that mums will never try again – after all children change their minds. So think about how you can stay in mums space and tempt them back with offers.

Being in two places at once

Most of us mums combine going online with out and about - we use online to find ideas for days out or holidays. And we’re often out and about when we are online (that could be anywhere!).  So find ways to link those two worlds together for mums and make it easy for us to go online when we’re out. Engage by helping us.

The mum recommendation is still number one

As our families grow we always want to know about the next stage. We’re always looking for new ideas, to understand the latest trends. So we listen to what mums have to say, both those who have been there and done it but also what they’ve heard on the grapevine. And mums are very good at telling other parents what we like and don’t like.  In the last week I’ve listened to 3 or 4 mum recommendations and acted on them.

If you'd like to know about mum insight drop us a line. 

      

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. 

The Big Mum Opinion sneak peek – the changing shape of shopping

After weeks of gathering information we’ve now closed The Big Mum Opinion. 3000 mums gave us their opinions on shopping, spending, social media use and how brands can best communicate with them. We also did in-depth research with hundreds of mums in their own communities to give us a balanced view of the world of mums in 2013.

We’re now analysing the data which confirms some of what we already know from talking to thousands of mums over the last three years. There were also a few surprises in there and we know this insight will be vital as brands try and find ways to connect effectively with mums.

We thought we’d offer you a peek into the kind of issues that mums discussed and some of the hard facts that came out of the study.

Do you think price promises and loyalty cards make mums shop in one place?

Despite the best efforts of the supermarkets mums are still shopping around.

 

• 78% of mums use more than one shop (including online shops) to buy their grocery shopping in a typical week.
• 28% of mums use three or more shops for their grocery shopping in a typical week
• 51% of mums do one big grocery shop and go to shops for other items (usually something specific like meat at a butchers or vegetables from one particular place).

Two main reasons emerged – 78% mums said they did this because of offers and 39% said it was because of better quality fresh food. And these two things aren’t mutually exclusive – many mums mentioned Aldi’s fruit and veg as being both of better quality and cheaper.

It doesn’t follow that mums who like offers and low priced products are willing to compromise on quality. They want both.

We have also seen confirmation of a pattern that we identified about two years ago. Mums are loyal – but not to one store or brand. They’ll own loyalty cards but often for several supermarkets. They’ll be loyal to a brand, but only buy when it’s on offer.

Here’s what one mum said:

“I go to Sainsbury’s for some of the brands I can’t get in Morrisons (and their own brands) and also to get the price promise voucher for next week. I shop in Morrisons for location, fresh produce quality and build up their weekly offer voucher scheme too. And then I go to Aldi for fresh fruit and veg when I am in the village. Sometimes use bargain stores for cleaning products and kids sweets.”

If you’d like to know more about what mums think and a copy of the full report (due out July) email nicola@mumpanel.co.uk (cost £495).