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If you didn’t get what you wanted for Mothers Day, you should have read the BrandHook research

May 11, 2014

If you didn’t get what you wanted for Mothers Day, you should have read the BrandHook research

Flowers and chocolates might be high on the list of gifts that sons and daughters were planning on buying their mothers this year, but when we asked the Mums themselves what they wanted today, it was all about the gift voucher.

In a nationally representative study of 1,100 people in Australia, we asked what presents people were intending to purchase for their mother giving us a great Top 10 list. Pertinently, we also asked Mothers, from the same list, which presents they wanted to wake up to today and there were some eye opening differences.

MOTHER’S GIFT LISTS

  PLANNED MOTHER’S DAY GIFT’S GIFTS MOTHER’S WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE GIFTS MOTHERS DON’T WANT TO RECEIVE
1 Flowers (48%) Gift Voucher (58%) Pet (59%)
2 Chocolates (37%) Flowers (50%) Digital Photo Frame (48%)
3 Gift Voucher (35%) Jewellery (46%) Bath Salts (46%)
4 Jewellery (28%) Perfume (42%) Vase (45%)
5 Perfume (28%) Clothes (42%) Kindle / Digital Reading Device (42%)
6 Clothes (22%) Spa/Relaxation/Treatment (39%) SmartPhone (40%)
7 Books (20%) Chocolates (37%) Digital Camera (37%)
8 Dining Experience (19%) Books (36%) Wine (36%)
9 Slippers (18%) Dining Experience (35%) Kitchenware (35%)
10 DVDs (16%) Homemade Gift (24%) Lingerie (35%)

What is interesting is that what we are seeing with Australian mums is the same trends that we’re seeing around the world. This desire for control, the need for personalisation and the retail trend of customisation is clearly evident in what the typical Aussie Mum wants – a gift voucher was her number one.

In recent times, we’ve seen consumer trends fall into three broad buckets:

  1. One is around not making the consumer work – enabling them in their day-to-day lives.
  2. The second is keeping up with them – acknowledge the pace at which they live their lives.
  3. The third bucket of trends is filled with the need for personalisation and customisation.

Recognising that consumers want a personal relationship with companies and services is a consistent global trend.

Brands like Shoes of Prey where you can customise the colour, size and features of your shoes, is not that different to the traditional gift voucher – it’s allowing the consumer and in this case mums, to create and dictate.

We don’t just see it retail but also other customer experiences. Insurance companies have pick and mix options where you can choose your own extras program and FMCG brands are helping mums create their own master foods with simple food bases.

When I opened my bag of goodies from Mr 8 this morning , one of my favourite gifts was a handmade coupon book of Mother’s Day specials.  It included ‘a breakfast in bed coupon’, ‘a dinner to be cooked’ and the best…. ‘a fight free day with my brother’.  Who knows – maybe the boys snuck a peak at the BrandHook research too.


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