Infant formula : Focus on the main concerns of young mothers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore

Infant Formula
Listening to the needs of young mothers in
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Tesla Insights May 2015

PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS
• Impossibility for
some mothers to
exclusively feed the
baby with breast milk
due to : no time
because of work, little
breast milk production,
death, disease,
separation,
physiologic problems.
INFO
SEARCH
Sources:
• Media (TV,
advertising)
• Experts
• Family/friends
• Parenting forums
• Social media
Key decision factors:
• Recommendation from people they
trust (doctors, relatives, moms)
• Nutrition content : must be as close
as possible to the known substance of
breast milk
• Price : higher price is perceived as
higher quality
• Perceived product quality (influenced
by the origin (foreign vs local) and
price)
• Trust (possible safety / hallal
issues?)
• Benefits & claims (growth,
intelligence…)
PURCHASE
Suitable & baby
preference

ASSUMPTIONS AND QUESTIONSMILK
1) Infant formula is seen as a supplement to breastfeeding when the mom doesn’t have enough milk
 What is the perception of infant formula vs breastfeeding ?
1) People are very skeptical about intelligence claims on packaging
 What do people think about intelligence claims on packagings ?
1) People trust health professionals recommendations
 What are the most trusted recommendation sources ?
1) Sanitary scandals are taken very seriously and destroy the reputation of the brands
 What is the impact of sanitary scandals on the reputation of the brands ?
We will isolate the relevant data to answer all these questions using social media listening.

METHODOLOGY
This is an in-depth analysis of conversations
about infant formula vs breastfeeding,
intelligence claims, recommendations and
sanitary scandals in Singapore, Indonesia
and Malaysia for 2 months (March 19th
to May
19th
), on all platforms : Websites, Facebook,
Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Blogs, Media,
Forums.
We are using the latest social media
listening technology, to gather all the
conversations which are scanned by our
dedicated analysts in each of these countries
to verify relevancy to answer our questions.
Limitation: social networks privacy settings.
We are not able to listen to private
conversations (What’s App, Facebook).
MILK

VOLUME OF CONVERSATIONMILK

WHAT IS THE PERCEPTION OF INFANT
FORMULA VS BREAST FEEDING?
In Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia

WHAT IS THE PERCEPTION ABOUT INFANT
• In almost all conversations in Singapore, mums know that breast feeding is recommended by World Health Organisation
(WHO).
« There is much medical literature that breast milk FAR exceeds the quality of OTC formula and that breast-feeding has
long-term benefits that last long for many years, including the effects on the immune system.”
• That’s why lots of moms express feeling guilty that they have to switch to infant formula because of the pressure given
to breast feed. They are scared that it would not make them a good mom.
• The main reasons for switching mentioned were the not supportive family, especially when breasfeeding in public, and
the slowing down milk supply. Some moms want to use formula as a supplement, « when they go out » or to « give
their nipples a break ».

• There are a lot of debates between mother who serve breast milk with the one who serve infant formula, mainly about
how breast milk is better than infant formula and judging other mother who serve infant formula as unfit parent.
Infant formula is perceived by them as hazardous product. That makes moms feel guilty switching to infant formula,
due to bullying from other moms and because they feel they can’t provide the best nutrition for the baby.
• A lot of mentions came from mother who share their difficult experience in order to provide breast milk for their
children. These kind of stories receive a lot of attention from other netizen.
• Mothers also revealed the reason of switching to infant formula is mainly due to low breast milk supply and health
problem. Some mums also find it more convenient when traveling.

• Through all the conversations, mainly on Facebook and forums, it is commonly known that breast milk provide the best
nutrient and antibody to new born and it is recommended to always try breast feed before going to formula milk. It's
also good for baby immune system and people think that the baby would be smarter.
• The challenges faced by young mothers which can make them switch to infant formula are as follows :
- limited supply of breast milk
- rejection by the baby
- mother on medical conditions or on medications
- inconvenience for working moms like no proper place for expressing milk and storage
• However, there are also some disadvantages of formula milk:
- sleep deprivation of parents due to waking up in the middle of the night to prepare formula milk
- it adds on to cost of living. Breastfeeding can save on formula milk shopping.
- formula adds on to household chores.

WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
INTELLIGENCE CLAIMS ON PACKAGING?

WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT INTELLIGENCE
CLAIMS ON PACKAGING?
• In one interesting discussion brain supplements on packaging, found on a forum in Singapore and Malaysia, someone is
asking if « brain suplements are real »?
• Out of the 10 answers, 6 are very negative : « pure nonsense », « poeple are being fooled »…
• One « expert » (sources: health/nutrition classes, personal experience and product specialist for a vitamin company)
asserts that some nutrients have been proven to help circulation in the brain, but alerts to pay attention that companies
are « jumping on the bandwagon » and advise to not believe the packaging and research on it.
• Nutrients like DHA, ginko, coconut oil, and fish oil with vitamin E are believed to help brain health, while Fluoridated
Water (mixed with formula) is believed to have a bead impact on intellectual.

WHAT DO MALAYSIANS THINK ABOUT
• In Malaysia, we found also two discussions in the last 2 months expressing concern over the additional nutrients added
into the milk and people perceive it as an excuse to increase price.
• There are also mentions debating on bad attitude and low IQ of kids born in 90s associated with infant formula.
Some claim that nowadays kids are spoiled and not because of infant formula.

WHAT DO INDONESIANS THINK ABOUT
• In Indonesia, the debate is different as the population seems to believe that breast milk is better nutrition for their child
and makes them smarter. Some mothers using infant formula claim, in response, that their child is as smart as other
child who consume breast milk.

WHAT ARE THE MOST TRUSTED
RECOMMENDATION SOURCES?

• Doctors and paediatricians seem to be the main source of advice about infant nutrition in Singapore, but their advice are
often discussed on forums, sometimes in a negative way. « Terrible advice », « the doc is a quack »…
• In case of doubt, people -check the advice of their doctor with the community.
• Other sources of trustful advice are : the midwife and the child health nurse.
• People also refer to official governmental webpages for recommendations, and mostly from foreign countries i.e. the
AAP recommendation (American Academy of Pediatrics) or the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
• They also refer to parenting website.

• In Malaysia, doctors/peadiatricians are no longer the only trusted recommended sources as well as online
information are readily available and consumers also seek advice online from other mums experiencing the same
problems.

• In Indonesia, recommendations found online are mainly shared by experienced moms, but they are not referring much to
health professionals.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF SANITARY
SCANDALS ON THE REPUTATION OF
BRANDS ?

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF SANITARY SCANDALS ON
THE REPUTATION OF BRANDS?
• Impact on brands reputation lasts for a very long time after the scandal happened, as it is often reminded in the news or
even by the customers (eg: this tweet about Nestle, still vividly remembered even 40 years after the scandal).
• But most conversations about sanitary scandals are from the media, and about the various consequences:
• A few articles published by the SG news websites are about the mainland Chinese consumers going to Hong Kong to get
baby formula imported products, which creates tensions in HK whose inhabitants have reduced availability to these
products. This is still one of the consequences of the 2008 poisoning scandal killing 6 children and destroying trust in
local brands.
« China has been cracking down on quality and corporate malpractice in the sector over the last couple of years, fining
mostly global milk powder makers for price fixing in 2013 and probing firms for bribing doctors to promote sales”.
• According to another article, food regulations become tougher and 50 new articles, mainly about infant formula, will be
added 1st October 2015 in China.
• Another article shows that China’s infant formula imports are down for the first time since the drama, but due to import
restrictions.

• The past infant formula scandals also have an impact on buyer’s purchasing decision :
• 5 years ago story on the recall of Similac baby formula resurfaced on Twitter after someone found it through
google and put it on an online parenting forum, thinking it was current. The story went viral and was shared on social
media with 404,934 page views; 116,00 Facebook shares; 178 tweets as of 9 a.m. April 28, 2015. This has prompted
the brand company to trot out a pop-up box letting readers know the story was published in 2010.
• Other than the above, most of the conversations are about the sanitary scandal from 2008 killing 6 children in China
and its implications destroying trust in local brands and leading to a mad search for formula manufactured outside of China
and a supply problem in Hong Kong. They come from online media publications (Sinchew.com , Free Malaysia Today News
, MalayMail, The Star Online).
• There is also a blogpost talking about the Nestle scandal in 1970, and claiming that Nestle aggressively pushed infant
formula in developing countries that caused the decline of breastfeeding and the skyrocketing of infant malnutrition and
death.
• In the past two months, there were two mentions on baby choked to death while drinking milk.

• The mentions about scandals are dominated by News from Chinese Goverment plan to either ban infant formula
advertisement and even ban selling infant formula.
• The news received a lot of attention from Netizen. Combined they received 19.4k shares on Facebook alone (data from
Buzzsumo), which seems to show that they are highly supported by the population.

RECOMMENDATIONS
1 Moms need constant reassurance
- In all countries, the benefits of breast feeding are of common knowledge,
so it is important to reassure the mothers that using infant formula can be
healthy for their child as well and that is not making them a bad parent.
- Statistics or experts are good to reassure moms, but as moms are relying
a lot on expriences from other moms, our suggestion is to also relate
authentic stories of happy and well grown-up children from previous
customers.
Moms are concerned about convenience
- Formula seems to be a convenient solution for mums who are working or
traveling.
- In Singapore and Malaysia, we noticed a concern about the household chores
of using infant formula. Solutions to facilitate the preparation of infant formula
at night could be explored.
MILK

RECOMMENDATIONS
3 What about brain claims?
- Claims about brain impact are not completely rejected by the population
but must be heavily supported by research.
- As in Indonesia, people tend to think that children are smarter when breast
feeded, using that kind of claims could be a good strategy to reassure the
moms, as long as it is supported by experts.
MILK
Get alerted in case of a crisis
- As seen with Similac in Malaysia, a crisis can occur even a long time after
the initial sanitary scandal, and start with a simple misunderstanding of the
consumer.
- It is primordial to have a crisis management strategy and get alerted before
it expands and creates a bad buzz, especially when it is an outdated
information that can easily be invalidated by the company.
22

RECOMMENDATIONS
5 Support those bullied moms in Indonesia!
- Many mothers are bullied because they can’t provide breast milk for their
babies. Several mothers also feel guilty because they can’t provide breast
milk for their baby. There is a need of marketing campaign that can ease
the pain that they are having.
- Those debates between infant formula and breast milk are counter
productive. A marketing campaign which support mothers to believe
regardless what kind of nutrition they provide what important is building a
Happy Family and it all starts from Happy Mother.
MILK
22

Thank you !
Let your customers decide your next move.
Go where they express emotions.
Let us help you refine the raw data into gold insights.
About Tesla Insights
We are offering actionable social media insights to help you connect with your customers main concerns,
passions and aspirations, in Asian markets.
Please do get in touch for more custom social media insights for your own needs:
www.teslainsights.com
insights@agencetesla.com

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