Mintel in the Media – this week's highlights

An Englishman’s home is his castle, but keeping your “chateau” clean is not one of the most exciting pastimes. And last week we revealed the dirty truth about the nation’s least loved chores. Our new research on Household Polish and Specialist Cleaners – UK – shows that while three quarters (75%) of Brits really care about their house being clean, almost three in ten (27%) households admit their windows hardly ever get cleaned and around a quarter of consumers (23%) hardly ever attempt to clean their oven. The story was a huge media success and was featured amongst others in: The Daily Mail, The Sun, IOL, DIY Week, Housewareslive, India4u.

In other big stories last week, The Daily Mail asked for our research for two separate articles. The first one on celebrity fragrances and the second on budget brands with a quote from our Retail Analyst Neil Mason: “Consumers are being a lot more savvy and choosy. They are looking for great value for money and looking closely at getting the balance right between quality and price.” Neil was interviewed on the same story by The Sunday Times, while Grazia UK mentioned Mintel on the “frugal” look of the Duchess of Cambridge and her impact on the British economy. Also, The Sunday Telegraph quoted Mintel, in this case on Brits’ financial priorities. And, as it is time to think to summer holidays, The Daily Mail ran an exclusive story on consumers seeking value online, with 52% of them believing that holidays are better value for money when booked online and 40% enjoying being able to tailor or put together their own holiday on the internet. The same story was also featured on TTG Digital, DaijiWorld in India and the Africanseer Portal in Nigeria.

On to one of the world’s most favourite food, BBC Scotland used our research in a news story on a new nutritional balanced pizza. According to Mintel seven in ten British consumers eat pizza, with the market predicted to reach £1bn by 2016. On the same story, our Senior Food Analyst, Alex Beckett, was interviewed by Food Manufacture while Mintel’s data were quoted on: Pathfinder in Greece, Podrobnosti.ua in Ukraine, Zahav.ru in Israel.

We also had fantastic coverage on Reuters which quoted our Director of Insight Food and Drink, Marcia Mogelonsky and our latest chocolate confectionery insight. Commenting on the state of the chocolate market in recession time, Marcia said: “Given these responses it is not unreasonable to assume that consumers are likely to be cutting back on purchasing some forms of chocolate”. The story proved to be a huge success in the media, and Marcia was quoted globally in NRK in Norway, on CNBC and on EuroNews in France and The Star in Malaysia.

Also The Times featured some of our latest research in an article questioning the quality of parenting and how grown-up kids are increasingly living at home: according to our research more than 3 million young adults aged 20 and over returned home last year. Still with kids, but the smaller ones, The Sunday Times featured Mintel’s school uniform data: 56% of parents with children aged 4-16 are in favour of uniforms, rising to 70% among parents aged over 45.

Mid week, our Retail Director, Richard Perks, was interviewed not once, but twice by The Guardian. The first time for an article on the state of the fashion retail at M&S in The Guardian. The article warned how M&S needs to act fast to regain its place in the hearts and shopping baskets of middle England. In the second piece, Richard was then asked to comment on how the relentless rain has been hitting the UK retail industry: “Retailers do fall back on it as an excuse but I think they are often justified for doing, so as long as you take it as a short-term excuse. It’s not just retailers whingeing. If you are doing badly, it will make things worse; if you are doing well, it will just take the edge off things.” Richard said. On the same day, Richard also featured on BBC News live in studio, discussing the latest M&S results and the state of the UK high street in general.

And over in the US, journalists are still talking about our Mintel Menu Insights data on the prevalence of chicken on restaurant menus that we distributed almost two months ago. This time our stats about the 19% increase in Buffalo wings mentions on restaurants menus appeared in a Los Angeles Times article that was reprinted in several other publications across the country, including the Chicago Tribune. A separate piece in Food Technology Magazine also used the same data.

And nothing’s better than a mention in the Wall Street Journal—except maybe two in one week. WSJ sought out Mintel consumer data for a story about Alex Bogusky’s return to the advertising industry, as well as one about shoe shopping habits.

Mintel’s data was also featured in two well-known health & wellness publications this week. Shape Magazine stated that “Mintel finds that moderation is the message that really resonates with consumers” when it comes to eating better and losing weight while Fitness Magazine utilized our gluten-free industry intelligence for a story about a recent explosion in the market.

Another big press coverage win was garnered by Global Personal Care Analyst Amy Ziegler, who was sought out for two interviews following her amazing presentation at the HBA Conference last month. Amy was sought out by Happi Magazine where she commented that “beauty brands have the best opportunity to leverage their expertise in the inner beauty market.” You can read more about her adventures at HBA in a previous blog post here.

The second piece that quoted Amy, and highlighted her presentation at HBA appeared on the Beauty in the Bag blog while Mintel data was featured in a second Happi Magazine article, this one quoting our Disposable Baby Products report for a piece about baby wipes and our sunscreen sales figures were included in a Supermarket News story. Similar baby products figures were included in a Grocery Headquarters article.

Meanwhile, Mintel experts’ attendance at yet another conference, this time IFT, was covered by NutraIngredients. The article referenced a presentation made by Directors of Innovation and Insight Lynn Dornblaser and David Jago where they discussed consumer interest in more positive “health management” product messaging, as opposed to negative “weight management” messages.

Keeping up the momentum of analyst expertise being featured in high-profile publications, John N Frank, category manager for CPG food and drink reports at Mintel was quoted by the New York Times in their story about PepsiCo entering the yogurt market. Additionally comments from Senior Vice President at Mintel Comperemedia, Andrew Davidson were included in a Fox Business article about stock market trends matching trends in credit card direct mail offers.

Also of note, our foodservice experts were sought out this week as well. Kathy Hayden, foodservice analyst, was interviewed by QSR Magazine for a piece about the future of the meat pie industry and comments made by Director of Foodservice research Eric Giandelone in a June 18th QSR Magazine article were reprinted in Slate Magazine. Another foodservice win appeared in Nation’s Restaurant News for an article about pasta popularity at restaurants.

Meanwhile, our latest research on Digital Cameras continued to receive extensive coverage and it appeared in: The Guardian, Belfast Telegraph and the Herald in Ireland, ??????????.Ru and ???????@Mail.Ru in Russia, Világgazdaság Online in Hungary, Hard Tecs 4U – Das Hardware Magazin in Germany, Ginjfo in France, ????, ???????? and ???? in China.

Closing out the week, MediaPost Marketing Daily used our family travel data for a story about the influence of children on vacation decisions, the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted figures on baby food and drink sales, and the Register-Guard referenced our stat that sales of gluten-free food increased 25% in the past two years and Convenience Store Decisions used our figures for a profile of the current meat snacks industry.

Also of note last week: we appeared in the Irish Examiner on spectacles and contact lenses usage in Ireland, Food Navigator highlighted Mintel’s GNPD data which shows how stevia-containing products are showing a “significant uplift” in number, and Marketing Week  used our latest cider research in “Carlsberg UK to launch first cider”.