Insight Annual Round-up thread 2015: chances to win!NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The time has come for the insight team at MNHQ to do our annual round up of the year, to plead for those of you not yet on our panel to sign up and to thank you all for taking part in some amazing projects this year!

(In case you don't know insight covers surveys, product events, product tests and sponsored threads on MN, as well as bloggers reviews, and reviewers recruitment)

Read on for the chance to win...
~ A £100 Mitchells & Butlers dining out gift card or
~ A £50 giftcard to spend at M&S or
~ A selection of the new range of Bassetts Vitamins worth over £15 and tailored to you and your family's needs or
~ One of 20 chances to win a Cadbury’s selection box

In 2015, we have given away over £40,000 in prizes - mainly in the form of vouchers but also products including iPad minis, a van full of mini milks, a year's supply of ASDA Little Angels nappies, and excursions such as a family ticket to the Harry Potter studio, an annual family membership to Historic Royal Palaces, and a 7-night camping holiday!

The range of products you have tested and given feedback on is as varied as ever – from Miele tumble dryers and vacuum cleaners, Kenwood kCook food processors, Snazaroo facepaint to Bear Paws and Anchor butter!

We have also run some extremely popular threads, enabling you to have your say on a varied range of topics from the things you let your kids get away with when they’re poorly, to your child’s rapper name, and your ideal celebrity cinema buddy! Recently, the issue of real or fake Christmas trees stirred great debate amongst you Mumsnetters.

We love meeting you face to face – and giving you the chance to experience something new – from a crash course on all things digital with Barclays' Digital Driving License, to a children’s shoe fitting experience with Brantano. Many of you put the new kids' menu at Café Rouge with your family to the MN test.

There was even the chance to test drive the SEAT Alhambra, to see the videos click , as well as visit Thorpe Park again this year.

And ta-da can you spot our new insight ads on this thread, unveiled for the first time? Look out for them across MN in the future.

For a chance to win one of the prizes, please share on this thread what you have enjoyed taking part in this year, or appreciated reading about. Or tell us what you’d like to product test next year?

Most of the product tests are on site but we also do a lot of projects with our lovely (and fast growing) insight research panel, as well as often giving them the heads up about the latest things and chances to win on site. If you are not yet on our panel please do sign up now. You can select how often you get emailed and you can leave at any time if it’s not for you.

Thanks as ever for your time and feedback - all very much welcome

Happy Christmas! [santa]
AnnMumsnet, FreyaMumsnet, AngelieMumsnet, and ZaneMumsnet.

I really love being on this panel! :D My kids have enjoyed the book reviewing we've done, and my favourite test this year was the smart phone! That was super exciting and I use it all the time!

For me the hi light was the Miele vacuum I absolutely love it!
For the family it was cafe rouge as we very rarely go out to eat.
I love the books I get to review from mumsnet as I commute to work..although rarely get picked for kids books which is a shame as my son is an avid reader( well he is 3 and looks as the pics and makes up his own story!)

In the future any family days out or over nighters such as butlins would be fab, but I've enjoyed everything I have tested. Thank you
Happy Christmas!:)

Thanks for another super fun year of being a MN panellist....I can't believe how many years we've been lucky enough to participate - we all love the product tests!

This year I've been a bit busy with work actually had to do some for a change so haven't stayed on top of the threads and missed signing up for some great trials and events. Loved reading the feedback though, especially for the kidzania trial, which resulted in my dcs going after.

For us, then, this year was Bear Paws (for dc3 only, which was super special for her, as she normally misses out on the action!); Cafe Rouge for me and the dcs - an absolute highlight of the summer hols; Mini milks (which became an ongoing addition to my summer shopping list); audiobooks - again for dc3, and a huge success coming at the perfect moment when she was just starting to read and needed a boost; not forgetting my personal favourite: the MN Olive cookery event!!

Gosh. When I list them out like that, I suddenly realised how much we got to do, even in a "quiet" year

Thank you MNHQ. Enjoy the Xmas gin and have a great start to 2016!

I have not been fortunate to be picked to product test anything this year nor win any vouchers for surveys which I generally do instantly, nor won any competitions! Let's hope 2016 is more lucrative!

This is the first year that I signed up for product tests. I enjoyed the valspar paint testing, There's no way we would have painted a room in a week without the pressure of having to give feedback. Also appreciated the brantano shoe voucher - was able to get full price trainers for a change.
Thank you Mumsnet.

We've enjoyed doing anything good related ;-) and had some yummy treats over the year. It's also a real joy to test read some new books to market - thanks so much!

I just think being a member of Mumsnet is really worthwhile and I love just hearing about everything that you get involved in and the changes you bring due to allowing all of us to test things etc. I have done well in terms of product testing and always like to provide lots of feedback. A good thing to test would be to choose various types of mums/grans etc and have them be a secret shopper as I have so many varied (good and bad) experiences of shopping on the high street with some places always providing a good service and some being terrible.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all at Mumsnet!

I have really enjoyed being part of the Mumsnet panel this year. I enjoy filling out the surveys and giving my opinion. I also enjoy product testing. My favourite would be the Little Dish meals. My son loves them and they are the perfect size for his appetite, I now buy these regularly. The Christmas Cadbury baubles were also a big hit. I would like to try a mystery shopper experience next year and take my son somewhere and test how child friendly they are. I am looking forward to getting even more involved in the panel next year.

I've done quite a few this year.

Best one for me was the recent Valspar one. It made me redecorate a room I wouldn't otherwise have bothered decorating for years and it was great to discover a new product that was actually really, really good (having written off the brand after trying the economy range).

I enjoyed the thread about kids and mobile phones, can't wait to start the Cadbury panel and would love some techie product tests as am a true techie geek. Wasn't picked for anything else this year so here's to next year!

I've had a fun and interesting year as an insight panel member, as a family we have been lucky enough to get to road test lovely family meals at Cafe Rouge. My youngest is now sporting the new pampers pull ups, they are Defo the best ones out there for active mischief seekers! Thank you fir the chance to try new experiences out , fun for mums and small people alike.

I've answered loads of surveys and enjoy doing that, but apart from some chocolate I was sent to test last year, I haven't done any product testing and have never won a prize, either! How do you get onto product testing?

I've filled in quite a few surveys this year but haven't tested much because I only apply for things that are relevant to us. I like being on the panel but I too would like to see some more beauty items to test.

I love trying products and felt very lucky to be given a smart phone to try out (it was about time I caught up with the modern world).
And whoever got one of those food-mixer-cooking-multi-chef-things earlier in the year will have got really lucky.
I do take notice of Mumsnetters' feedback on products and take it into account if I'm thinking of buying something.
In fact with the phone I will probably purchase the same one for DD and perhaps DH, and I will definitely use EE. So I can see it is in the company's interests to have testers.
Win win :)

I hope to be involved in more trials in the coming year.
Thank you

I enjoyed finding out what sort of Christmas host I am although my family would say they could have told me I am am a Military Planner without me needing to do the survey!

It has been a fun year again for the family reviewing lots of items, the year started with the end of the weight watchers review, which saw me finally reaching my goal of a healthy weight, we have had face paints, books, chocolate, paint, a mobile phone, going to the Suffragette showing, really lots of things. Mainly low to mid range value items at around £50 or under mark but it soon adds up. It isn't really about what you get though, it's about trying something new that you might not have tried otherwise.

We all enjoy getting the products and the DC take the reviewing quite seriously often sitting in a circle and thinking hard about the product. We are looking forward to next year and hope to get another batch of items to ponder over and rate.

I have enjoyed most of the tests and surveys I took part to. Last year I even won Love to Shop vouchers....

I would like more tests on tech products like TVs, PCs, Tablets, etc...but I am happy with everything as I enjoy taking part very much..

I was one of the luckiest MNers ever! I was asked to test the KCook and I now don't know where I would be without it! It has helped to get me back in the kitchen and made me feel good about myself because I have been able to cook again. I thank MN every time I use it, and have recommended it many times!

have really enjoyed taking part. Especially in the video projects! The years seem to blur one to the next so can't remember exactly what fell into this year and what was last year.

In particular love the things the kids really get stuck into too like the mini milk video, the egg wraps video. Also enjoyed the snazaroo facepaint and the cadbury baubles more recently.

Would love the opportunity to do a bigger product at a time when we are looking for a new one eg new microwave, iron, vacuum cleaner etc but i guess it is a low chance of things like that coming up at just the time that you are looking to buy one.

I definitely have purchased more of what we've either put to the test or read about on mumsnet so it must be effective for the brands involved.

thanks for the opportunity to take part!

I never win anything but have had some freebies. The best one must be my copy of the novel Purity. I also discovered Bassetts orange vitamin pills, which have been a big hit with the kids, although I didn't realise when I tested them that they contain gelatine.

My son has been lucky enough to test the Kinder website and received his own book through the post and also reviewed another book. He really enjoyed them and it made him feel involved in mum's work. I always enjoy filling in the surveys.

I got free chocolate! More of that please...

I've really enjoyed being able to give my opinion on matters that effect families and knowing that the feedback we all give is used to make businesses work towards family friendly products and practices make me want to continue.

I always feel like I have won a prize when I am chosen to product test so this cheers me up.

Next year I would like to product test family screenings at the cinema, bookshops and if you are running another shoe event, free shoes for growing feet is always appreciated

We were selected for three trials this year - Cow and Gate baby food, the Pampers Pull Ups and the Genius gluten free meal plan. We really appreciated doing them all, but most especially the Genius GF week.

Next year we'd like to take part in trying books and toys, if we're lucky to get chosen for anything else.

Merry Christmas to all at MNHQ!

we really enjoyed the Kidzania testing and Cafe Rouge. i enjoyed decorating my bedroom with the brilliant Valspar paint and many other things including Thorpe park which my children had a fantastic day out with. really looking forward to next year and hope that i get picked to try more new products. The cadburys chocolate baubles were a nice treat for the children too we have been lucky to get to try them out.