What is "Paparabo," the research team for dual-income dads?

With dual-income households exceeding 10 million and more fathers actively participating in childcare and housework, working dads are increasingly becoming figures with high purchasing power and decision-making authority over family spending, alongside moms.

In response, Dentsu Inc. launched "Papa Lab" in October 2016—a team dedicated to researching fathers in dual-income households. Here, Papa Lab member Tomoharu Chida introduces the project's activities and key characteristics observed through analysis of dual-income dads.

Paparabo, now?

In 2009, Dentsu Inc. launched "Mama Lab," a team supporting corporate marketing activities from a mother's perspective, providing consulting and product development based on "mothers' true feelings" and family insights. Today, Mama Labs have been established in China and India, with their scope of activities continuing to expand.

Seven years later, we have decided to establish Papa Lab. Papa Lab does not target all fathers. Our research focuses specifically on fathers in dual-income households raising children together (hereafter, dual-income fathers) and their families.

You might wonder, "Why launch Papa Lab now?" We believe this timing is precisely why it's necessary.

Dual-income dads are an attractive target for companies

To put it bluntly, companies could sell products simply by targeting women. Within households, mothers typically held the purchasing power for items like food and daily necessities, while fathers used what mothers bought. It was an era where products sold even without marketing to fathers, who had little influence over purchasing decisions.

However, as women entered the workforce, dual-income households increased. In the midst of busy days, fathers had to actively participate in housework and childcare for the household to function. Fathers found themselves compelled to get involved in shopping, which had previously been left to mothers.

This marked the progression of fathers becoming more like mothers—no longer just running errands to buy requested items, but actively selecting and purchasing household necessities themselves. Furthermore, it became clear that these dual-income dads are highly attractive targets for companies: they are information-savvy, enthusiastic consumers, and dedicated to household chores and childcare.

We wanted to study these attractive dual-income dads more deeply and support marketing activities that leverage insights unique to them.

Furthermore, every member of our project team is a dual-income dad. By gathering dads who give their all to household chores and childcare not just at work but also at home, we aim to build a planning team that can provide solutions from the same perspective.

What kind of people are dual-income dads?

Here are some characteristics of dual-income dads revealed by our proprietary research.

To highlight differences more clearly, we analyzed fathers in dual-income households where the mother works full-time. For comparison with dual-income dads, we refer to fathers in households where the mother is a stay-at-home parent as "single-income dads."

■ Household Environment
・Individual annual income: ¥4 million to ¥5 million; household annual income: ¥10 million to ¥12 million is the volume zone
・Most own detached houses

■Participation in Housework and Childcare
・Weekday time spent on housework and childcare: 51 minutes (about 2.3 times that of single-income dads)
・Fathers' participation in weekday household chores and childcare is most common between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM
(3.8 times more participation in the morning and 2.3 times more in the evening compared to single-income fathers)
・Weekday free time is around 1 hour (or less than 1 hour) for the majority

■Values
・90.4% of dads believe women should have their own careers
・90.4% of dads believe women should continue working even after marriage
・75.9% of dads believe better education requires more money

■Product Selection
・Actively utilize time-saving and flexible services like online reservations, auctions, and convenience store ATMs due to consistently limited time
・High purchase rate for time-saving appliances like dishwashers and robot vacuums, and items that enhance QOL (quality of life)
・74.4% of dads buy higher-quality products even if they cost more

Overall, they appear to be serious individuals who, despite being busy with work, childcare, and household chores, spare no time or expense for their children. Their proactive purchase of time-saving and QOL-enhancing items suggests a kind father figure who values family time precisely because of his busy schedule.

Launching "Hanako Papa" for dual-income dads!

Alongside researching dual-income dads, Papalabo is developing media to reach them. For Magazine House's free magazine "Hanako Papa," scheduled for spring 2017 release, we will provide planning, research, and marketing support focused on working dads.

Hanako Papa, like the already published "Hanako Mama," will be distributed to daycare centers, making it an effective medium for reaching dual-income dads with high purchasing power. Future installments will feature interviews with the editor-in-chief of "Hanako Papa," so stay tuned.