Katrina Michel, the co-founder of Planning Express, looks at the trend towards rearing bigger broods, and the challenges, and opportunities, that that presents to the big, happy marketing family here in the UK.

Apparently we are having more children. Fertility rates are creeping up.

Bigger families: can you feel the love?

It could be something to do with needing to find cheaper recreations in the recession. However, it might also be that the idea of what a family looks like is evolving.

I am not talking about those traditionalist Christian “quiverful” families in the US who go into double figures making feminists go very hot under the collar.  I am simply wondering if down the line we are going to be seeing more families with three kids as opposed to the 2.4 that currently shorthands an “average” UK family?

And whether the reconfiguration of the nuclear family has any implication for how products and services are marketed. Are any brands actually going to come out and say “Bigger families – we love you”?

Of course the French have been more of a 3.0 country for many years. If you are a “famille nombreuse” in France you can enjoy (although I might query the use of that verb) the advantages of a special card which gives you discounts on train fares and entry to attractions, some tax breaks and better famiy allowances. (I don’t think you get a nappy discount though).

And when it comes to transporting kids around without resorting to a minibus, again the French have always led the way, first with the revolutionary-in-its-day Renault Espace which can carry your kids and some of their friends in style and more recently with compact and affordable people carriers like the Citroen Xsara Picasso.

Renault's big idea

Take the average “family room” in a hotel. In my experience this can mean a marginally bigger than average room with a mangy cot and camp bed which you have to circumnavigate or vault over to access the pint-sized bathroom. Difficult to see where number 3 might sleep in this set-up.

If hoteliers can’t adapt their accommodation and pricing, larger families will have little option but to decamp en masse to renting flats and villas for their holidays or buying an extra large tent. Great for Millett’s, Eurocamp and English Country Cottages, not so brill for Premier Inn.

Will anyone in the leisure industry break ranks and offer 5 for the price of four? Many theme parks insist that one adult rides with each child – so what do you do with the extra child? Rent a passing adult or bring yer daredevil granny?

Larger families also have different needs in restaurants. It could mean that instead of having lots of oblong tables for four, restaurant chains will need to increasingly hedge their bets by increasing the number of round tables for four, five or six? No one wants to be the one sitting on the end staring at an empty space.

Many pubs and restaurants offer a free kid for each paying adult so you end up paying full whack for number three and above. Hardly seems worth it. So will there be more demand for meals you can share like Chinese or Indian or fixed price deals. A meal deal for £50 might suit three hungry blokes but stretch easily to a family of six who just want a night without cooking and washing up.

Bigger families demand bigger everything.

Not just a recent trend

In supermarkets will we see ever increasing sizes on staple goods? Asda now sells extra large sacks of produce like onions – initially to satisfy its Asian customers – but also highly relevant to mums who have to make vats of spag bol for their brood. (I am assuming beyond a certain point ready meals start to look pricey).

Bigger families must bode well for online grocery shopping – you already need arms like tree trunks and the patience of Job to do a weekly shop for four, let alone five or six. And don’t get me started on trolleys – they havent invented one for three yet.

No-one appears to overtly market to larger families. I don’t think any online grocery provider captures number and ages of children in their registration form but it could turn out to be a useful bit of info.

These people are probably parting with the thick end of £200 per week on groceries. Will brand owners begin to look at ultra large sizes for some key items? Andrex are already selling loo rolls with 50% more on them. My suggestion would be Ribena and I would like a container with wheels please and an in-store filling station where I can load up.

Bigger families look as if they might be here to stay. Looks as if they could have a disruptive influence on marketing too.

www.planningexpress.com

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