WHAT THE DATA SAY: Parenting should 'pay' $60,000 a year

By: Ray Day

CONTACT:

Ray Day
ray.day@stagwellglobal.com 

We wanted to share our latest consumer and business insights, based on research from Stagwell. Among the highlights of our weekly consumer sentiment tracking:

MOOD OF COUNTRY IMPROVES

Americans’ views of how things are going improved from last month, according to our poll with the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University.

• 30% of Americans say the country is on the right track (compared with 28% a month ago), and 32% say the economy is on the right track (compared with 29% last month).
• 48% say their personal financial situation is becoming worse (compared with 52% a month ago), while 24% say it is improving (compared with 23% a month ago).
• Regarding the presidential election, 79% approve of President Biden’s decision to not run again, and 55% approve of his endorsement of Vice President Harris.
• Compared with June, more Democrats say they would vote for the Democratic candidate (+5 points), and fewer Independents are unsure of whom they would vote for (-10 points).
• On the other side, 89% of Republicans and 79% of Independents support GOP platform initiatives like protecting Social Security and Medicare, ending inflation, and stopping violence and crime.

HELP WANTED – PARENTS

Parenting should pay $60,000 a year, according to our Harris Poll survey with Skylight.

• Parents of minors say managing a household consumes 63% of their brain space on a given day and totals as much as 30 hours per week.
• This time and intensity are the equivalent of $60,000 per year if parenting were a paying job.
• 81% of parents say a family scheduling issue has affected them at work.
• 58% spend more time managing parenting logistics than experiencing the joys of parenting.
• More mothers (78%) are the default parent than fathers (58%) – and they also are the first to be contacted by schools (80% for mothers versus 60% for fathers) and children themselves (86% for mothers versus 62% for fathers).
• Even in dual-income households, mothers are the primary caregivers (64% for mothers versus 40% for fathers).

SOCIAL MEDIA ‘DE-INFLUENCER’ TREND GROWS

The trend of social media users revolting against influencers is affecting consumer buying habits, according to our Harris Poll study with Credit Karma.

• 38% of Americans have purchased products advertised on social media in the past year.
• 69% say they have been “de-influenced,” meaning they have chosen not to purchase items on social media.
• The top reason is lack of trust in influencers promoting products (32%), followed by too many counterfeit products (28%), social media overconsumption (26%) and being overwhelmed by how many products are advertised on social media (19%).
• More Gen Z consumers (88%) have been de-influenced, with 38% attributing it to unhealthy levels of overconsumption.

BUSINESS LEADERS WANT BETTER THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

While 90% of executives are hungry for thought leadership for their business, only 20% find efforts today to be effective, according to the Harris Poll’s new thought-leadership report.

• 90% of business leaders consume thought leadership themselves, and 93% view it as “an indicator of a category or industry leader.”
• 92% want thought leadership to attract new customers, talent or investment.
• Yet 83% feel most thought leadership today does not have a measurable impact.
• For better thought-leadership: 79% believe it should include more third-party validation; 94% believe custom research makes it stronger; and 86% say it needs to be more creative with new ideas that show how the company is “seeing around corners.”

ICYMI

In case you missed it, check out the thought-leadership and happenings around Stagwell making news:

• Playtime is Over: Google Ends the Privacy Sandbox Experiment
• Four Things Marketers Should Know About Gaming
• Survey shows smartphone app coupons used twice as much as paper circular coupons
• Cost-conscious Gen Z shoppers look to Costco for supersized savings
• Ragan and HarrisX unveil 4th annual CEO/CCO Perceptions Survey