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. 

Mums and lunchboxes - September 2013

We’re two weeks into the new school term and lots of mums are thinking about lunches. Specifically what to put in their child's lunchbox that keeps them happy and ensures they have a full tummy but meets school deadlines and doesn’t break the bank!

As you can tell from that list lunchboxes have become a bit of a hot topic for mums. In the last few years parents have come under increasing pressure from the Government and schools to provide a ‘healthy’ lunchbox. Most parents would agree this is really important but what do you do if your child won’t eat fruit and veg? And many parents choose packed lunches as an alternative to more costly school dinners – is it possible for parents to make the healthiest choice possible when catering to a budget? Is there a place for brands to help mums make lunchboxes less stressful?

We recently carried out some insight work with mums looking at what decisions they make when filling their child's lunchbox. 

 • 74% of mums struggle to vary what they put in their childs lunchbox.
 • 61% of mums said they had school lunchbox guidelines to meet.

Mums main criteria and wants when filling the lunchbox: 

1. The children enjoy it (and fits their own personal needs i.e. allergies, fussy eaters, wants).
2. It fills them up, provides nutrients and vitamins and energy for the day.
3. It meets school guidelines.

Mums look out for healthy additions, and if it provides them 1, 2 or 3 of their 5 a day that’s great. Another tick off the lunchbox list. But most mums don’t actively look for low fat products, it is more about what the lunchbox gives their child rather than avoiding the 'bad' choices. I

If you are developing products for mums then you might be interested to know…

Top 5 inclusions in lunchboxes: 

1. 95% sandwich (cheese, ham and tuna are the top 3 filings)
2. 86% piece of fruit
3. 75% yoghurt
4. 61% cheese portion
5. 51% biscuit/mini packet of biscuits

But we did see indications that the usual lunchbox formula is changing ever so slightly in the quest to meet varying lunchbox needs.

About a fifth of mums mentioned some bespoke inclusions in the lunchbox, here’s how mums are doing it:

• Homebaked products are on the up. 63% of mums regularly put home-baked products in their lunchbox. Could you use that information to create messaging that appeals to these mums?
• Raw vegetable sticks are a regular for some kids – with carrots & cucumber sticks the favourite. There were other veg mentioned including gherkins, peapods and olives. 
• Mini sausage or sausage roll were mentioned as an alternative to sandwiches. 
• Savoury and sweet sometimes merge, possibly in attempt to balance what is deemed a healthy snack – so mums mentioned including savoury scones and brioche rolls. 
• Kids don’t always go for ‘kid food’ – many mums mentioned dips such as hummus with breadsticks or rice and pasta salads with chicken strips. 
• Jam sandwiches are here to stay – 10% regularly put them in their kid’s lunchbox. 
• Cereal bars are the most popular new addition to lunch boxes. But many have to be nut free to meet school guidelines. Is there a growing gap in the market?

Most of all mums want to see more healthy and fruit based lunchbox items on supermarket shelves. And ideally kid sized. 

From online survey of 565 UK parents.

If you’d like to talk to us about working with MumPanel to help you get your products right for mums then give us a call.

MumPanel Approved - new parent stamp of approval

This week we are officially launching the MumPanel Approved quality mark.

Most parents struggle to choose between the vast array of products on the market - how do you know what's best for your child, what product offers the best value, is it a quality product?









What most mums do is ask friends and family but we wanted an additional, independent way to help parents when they are stood in a shop puzzling over what to buy. The MumPanel Approved mark will show parents if products or services are of high quality and good value and if other parents would recommend them.

Each product will go through a testing system and will be assessed on criteria including price, value, quality and level of customer satisfaction. To be awarded MumPanel Approved brands must score highly in all areas.

Brands and products that have already achieved the mark are Australia’s No1 Suncream brand SunSense and Soreen’s Lunchbox Loaves. Other well-known brands are currently within our entirely independent testing process. Testing is carried out by the thousands of mums, dads and grandparents who make up the MumPanel.

If you'd like to know more about MumPanel Approved email lynne@mumpanel.co.uk

The winning idea - Cultured Kids Travel Kit

As part of The Big Mum Opinion we asked mums (and dads and grandparents) to come with an idea for a product or service that would make parents' lives easier.

Our panel of judges, including Soreen Managing Director Paul Tripp; inventor and founder of Brother Max, Jonathan Gold; top blogger Nickie O’Hara; and entrepreneur and founder of Workingmums.co.uk Gillian Nissam plus the MumPanel team, looked at over 1200 fantastic ideas.

There were so many brilliant ideas including an iPhone Advisor App for reviewing family-specific attractions and destinations and a marketing labelling scheme to make it easier for parents to identify child-friendly food products, i.e. those which contain low salt, sugar and additives.

It was very difficult to choose a winner as there were so many great suggestions but one particular idea really resonated with the parents on the panel.

We choose Laura Harris, from Andover in Hampshire, as our winner. Laura came up with the idea of The Cultured Kids Travel Kit – a pack of destination-led activities for children between ages two and 12 that aims to educate them about the country they are travelling to in a fun and entertaining way. It’s a simple idea which will be straightforward to develop and implement.

As well as winning £150 of high street vouchers we're helping Laura promote her idea to brands. We know tour operators and travel companies would be perfectly positioned to help parents keep their children entertained and create a stress-free holiday.

The full report from The Big Mum Opinion will be available in September 2013.  Email contact@mumpanel.co.uk if you would like more information when the full report is released.

5 ways brands can help mums fill lunchboxes

Last week the papers were full of news of schools banning packed lunches.

Behind the headlines was the release of a report called The Independent School Food Plan. The plan outlines a number of recommendations to change the eating behaviours of school children in the UK.

One of those recommendations is that 70% of school children should be eating school dinners. The idea is that schools lunches are healthier (although we know that not to be the case in many schools) and parents can’t fill lunchboxes with ‘junk’.

It would also provide a much needed source of income to schools which would then fund making school dinners better. You can read the whole report here.

The reaction from mums on twitter and in our facebook group wasn’t very positive – whatever the thought process behind the plan they wanted to have the choice to decide lunchbox or school dinner.

“It's taking the choice away from parents, what if you have a child on a special diet or a fussy eater? As parents are we not capable of putting healthy food in our kids lunchboxes?" Susan

And for many mums cost was an issue…

“My kids aren't at school yet, but when they go I intend to send packed lunches. Not sure we could afford school meals. If they were heavily subsidised and meet the needs of fussy eaters so kids aren't going hungry then may be convinced...” Natalie

We know from our research in The Big Mum Opinion that lunchboxes are a daily topic of conversation – how can mums balance the ‘rules’ that schools set about what can go in lunchboxes with what their kids like (and will eat) and healthy eating?

So how can brands help mums with lunchboxes?

1. Think about price 
Mums have different budgets for their child’s lunchbox but the cost can add up when you have to provide 5 meals (and more if you have more than one child) so mums are always comparing costs. Mums will balance health considerations with price but if it’s a ‘small treat’ (e.g. a chocolate biscuit versus a ‘healthier’ biscuit’) then price may win. Mums often buy in bulk so find special offers for lunchboxes attractive.

2. Provide choice 
Mums want to vary the lunchbox for different nutritional as well as taste requirements. Children have fads, allergies and different wants. Give mums choice.

3. Help educate mums 
Many mums would love to feed their children healthy, tasty, nutritious foods every single day. But we often need ideas and inspiration. Could your brand be that helping hand that mums need – offering great ideas that satisfy kids and school rules around what can go in lunchboxes? What’s the nutritional value of their lunchbox?

4. Appeal to kids but satisfy the parents 
Our mums tell us that they make the ultimate decision about what goes in the trolley. The kids don’t normally decide but we do want to keep them happy (and safe if they have allergies etc) so think about what appeals to kids but satisfies parents needs. At the end of the day if the child doesn’t like the taste it won’t be bought again.

5. Let mums know it is recommended for the lunchbox
It sounds really obvious but let us know it is good for the lunchbox (recommended and used by mums and kids) and whatever the product is make it lunchbox friendly, packaging, size, easy to find in store and easy to open.

If you want to know more about research with mums or marketing specific products to mums drop us a line.

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). 

First-ever major UK mum study goes back to the school gates

This week has been a very exciting one for MumPanel as we launch The Big Mum Opinion. You can find out more about the study in the press release below.

Specialist family insight and marketing consultancy MumPanel, has launched the first in-depth study of UK mums and their views on the products and services that brands offer them.

“The Big Mum Opinion will be the first large-scale qualitative and quantitative investigation of mothers’ purchasing attitudes and preferences in Britain,” said Lynne Barcoe, Founder of MumPanel. “This study goes way beyond number crunching and categorising mum types according to their household spend. We are going back to the school gates and the children’s groups to hear mums’ thoughts first-hand, and find out the real complexities of being a mum. Particularly, what that means when it comes to buying goods for themselves and their families,” she said.

The consultancy, which has so far helped many family brands to understand and connect with their mum customers, from Organix to Soreen, believes there is a huge opportunity for brands to really connect with mums out in their worlds, improving communication, products and services and giving them what they want.

Barcoe, who has more than 10 years’ senior marketing experience, said: “While brands now have more data at their fingertips and more touchpoints to connect with mums, it is not as helpful as it may seem on the face of it. Mums are telling us that brands are not always getting it right; we want to look at why this is and what they should be doing. The Big Mum Opinion is all about understanding the real face of mums and removing the risk of misinterpreting them by providing quality workable evidence and insight that brands can pick up and run with.”

Mums like Charlotte from London: “We’re not just mothers, we are friends, daughters, workers, partners. We have hobbies and pastimes, likes and dislikes. I feel like no-one quite gets me and that I’m still represented by the mum stereotypes of old,” she said.

MumPanel’s Head of Marketing, Nicola Cooper-Abbs, added: “Lately there is too great a reliance on online data but we know most mums don’t spend their lives online. This is creating a red herring for brands, as the opinions of mums are narrowed down to a small minority who are always online. We also see research that is much too biased on quantitative data and missing supportive in-depth qualitative data. So mums are labelled up and filed according to the box they ticked online.”

MumPanel’s Big Mum Opinion, which launched this week, will focus on getting the real views of mums out in the field, in their natural environment, from the school gates to the toddler and children’s clubs, as well as online – in fact the Big Mum Opinion promises to take in most mum touchpoints. The team will speak to around 4,000 mums in a variety of settings, including their Opinion Pods, and will track mums’ journeys from start to end.

Cooper-Abbs, said: “Where MumPanel really adds value is in our marketing skills and knowledge. We are not a parenting forum we are mum marketing specialists who gather quality research and insight from our mum panelists and combine it with authoritative analysis and commentary. This gives brands a real understanding of their customers and concrete evidence to work with at the end of it all.”

She concluded: “If brands want to attract their slice of the parent pound they need to understand the opinions of all their customers, not just a select few, and how to feed those opinions back into the products they are developing, campaigns they are planning and the services they’re delivering. The Big Mum Opinion, which will be published 22 May 2013, is a must read for brands who count mums as a primary customer.”

For more information on the Big Mum Opinion, visit: http://www.mumpanel.co.uk/projects-surveys.php

For more information you can contact Rachael Tilling at The PR Station: m 078 1111 9430 rtilling@theprstation.co.uk