With the nation’s children now back in school after the summer holidays, it’s only a few weeks until the first midterm break. According to Caroline Decourcy, family days out, shopping trips, catching up with friends and last-minute plans will take priority.
Mid-Term breaks are a recurring feature of the school calendar. They may only last a few days, but for many households they can feel like a logistical marathon squeezed into a single week.
For parents, it’s often one of those moments that seems to arrive far quicker than expected.
Yet while Mid-Term may be relatively short, the behavioural shift it creates is far more significant. Routines change, journeys change and with that how we spend our time and money changes too.
Talon’s latest Pulse Brand Tracker research, in collaboration with Opinions, set out to understand what Irish consumers are really planning for October Mid-Term. Having tracked audiences through some of the key moments in the calendar this year, we’ve seen priorities continually evolve. was characterised by experiences, leisure time and making the most of the longer evenings, while returned to routines. October Mid-Term signals another shift with family time and shopping moving back up the agenda.
MORE TIME OUT, MEANS MORE TIME OUT OF HOME
One of the clearest findings from the research is that Mid-Term doesn’t necessarily mean staying at home. For many households, it creates the time and opportunity to do more outside of it.
Almost half of consumers (46%) have plans for Halloween or Mid-Term, ranging from family visits (28%), day trips (17%) to staycations (14%) and holidays abroad (10%). A further 22% haven’t made plans yet but expect to organise something closer to the time.
Shopping and leisure also feature prominently. Almost half (48%) plan to visit a shopping centre or high street during the break, while family events (24%), sports matches (12%) and concerts (11%) all feature on the list.
MORE FREEDOM LEADS TO MORE SPENDING
And it should come as no surprise then that more time spent outside of the home is also translating into increased spending.
More than a third of adults (38%) expect to spend more during Halloween and Mid-Term than they would at other times of the year. The figure rises to 46% among 25 to 34-year-olds and 47% among parents with school-going children.
What’s interesting is that this spending isn’t tied to one specific category. Rather, it reflects a combination of retail, food and drink, entertainment, travel and family activities.
The planning window is also relatively short. While some households organise months in advance, 30% wait until September before making plans, while 13% leave decisions until the week before and 2% wait until the day before. This creates valuable opportunity for brands to influence decisions while plans are still taking shape.
THE COMMUTE PAUSES, MOVEMENT DOESN’T
Perhaps the biggest misconception about Mid-Term is that audiences become harder to reach whereas in reality, they’re still moving, albeit a little differently.
Almost two-thirds of consumers (63%) expect to travel by car during the period, while 34% plan to walk. Public transport remains a key part of the mix, with 59% planning to use some form of transport network during the break.
While the traditional commuter journey may ease temporarily, it is replaced by a broader mix of travel patterns. Some consumers are venturing further afield, with 13% planning longer journeys during the break, rising to 17% among parents. At the same time, 22% expect less routine overall, signalling a shift away from predictable weekday movements and towards more flexible, leisure-led travel.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BRANDS
For brands, the opportunity isn’t just understanding what consumers are doing during Mid-Term, it’s recognising that they’re approaching the week differently.
Unlike September, where many households are focused on getting organised and settling back into routine, Mid-Term creates a small window to switch off from some of that structure. Family days out, shopping trips, catching up with friends and last-minute plans take priority.
That’s reflected in our findings, with 45% of consumers saying OOH influences their Mid-Term plans. When people are actively deciding how they want to spend their time, where they want to go and what they want to do, brands have a greater opportunity to become part of that decision-making process.
It’s also why we continue to track behaviour throughout the year. Summer, Back-to-School and Mid-Term each tell a different story about the same consumer. The challenge for brands isn’t simply understanding the audience, it’s understanding how that audience changes throughout the year.
With Christmas fast approaching, it’ll be interesting to see how consumer priorities evolve once again in the final weeks of the year.
Caroline Decourcy is Effectiveness Director, Talon Ireland.
