Marketing to Kids
They might not make as much as
adults, but they still spend $$$…
Important Demographic
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Kids have their own purchasing power
Kids influence parents' buying choices
Kids are the adult consumers of the future
Industry spending on advertising to
children
Millions
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1990
2000
Parents are spending more on their
kids
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Families of today are smaller than ever
Dual incomes families and delaying
children until later in life. This means that
families have more money to spend
Feelings of guilt influence spending
decisions as busy parents substitute gifts
for time spent with families
“Pester Power”
Children can now nag their parents into
buying things they might not have
otherwise. Marketing to kids is all about
creating “pester power”
Psychology and Marketing
With the help of psychologists, advertisers
now have in-depth insight to children's
developmental, emotional and social
needs at different ages. Using research
that analyzes children's behaviour, fantasy
lives, art work, and dreams, companies
are able to create sophisticated marketing
techniques to reach the young.
Brand Name Loyalty
Marketers plant seeds of brand recognition in
children at very young ages in the hopes that
these seeds will grow into a lifetime relationship.
The Center for a New American Dream said,
“babies as young as six months of age can form
mental images of corporate logos and mascots.
Brand loyalties can be established as early as
age two, and by the time children head off to
school most can recognize hundreds of brand
logos.”
Interesting Quote
"Brand marketing must begin with children.
Even if a child does not buy the product
and will not for many years... the
marketing must begin in childhood."
James McNeal, The Kids Market, 1999
“Buzz Marketing"
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Another technique marketers use is to find
peers that kids look up to and have them
use or wear their product in order to
create a hype around it. “Buzz” can help a
company to “successfully connect with the
savvy and elusive teen market” by using
these idols to give their products cool
status.
Marketing in Schools
School used to be a haven for children,
protecting them from the advertising and
consumer messages that are so prominent
in our society. Due to budget cuts, school
boards are beginning to allow corporations
access to students in exchange for money,
computers, and educational materials.
Marketers Exploits
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Sponsored educational materials. For example, a Kraft "healthy
eating" kit to teach about America's Food Guide (using Kraft
products).
Supplying schools with technology in exchange for high company
visibility.
Exclusive deals with fast food or soft drink companies to offer their
products in a school or district.
Advertising posted in classrooms, school buses, or on computers in
exchange for funds.
Contests and incentive programs. For example, the Pizza Hut
reading incentives program in which children receive certificates for
free pizza if they achieve a monthly reading goal. Or Campbell's
Labels for Education project, in which Campbell provides educational
resources for schools in exchange for soup labels collected by
students.
Clip from
Daria - “Fizz Ed”
Ep.501
Marketers target Kids for Adult
Entertainment
Marketers are activly marketing
entertainment meant for older audiences
to children. In a report released in 2000,
the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
revealed how the movie, music and video
games industries routinely market violent
entertainment to young children.
•Movies
The FTC did a study on 44 films rated "Restricted,"
and found that 80% were targeted to children
under 17. Marketing plans included TV
commercials run during hours when young
viewers were most likely to be watching. One
studio representative said the following
regarding a violent R-rated film, "Our goal was
to find the elusive teen target audience, and
make sure that everyone between the ages of
12 and 18 was exposed to the film."
•Music
CDs containing the "explicit-content" labels
are being marketed to kids through
extensive advertising in the most popular
teen venues on television, radio, in print,
and online.
•Video Games
More than 2 out of 3 video game companies
regularly market Mature rated games (17
years and older) to kids. Marketing plans
included advertising in media that would
reach a large percentage of children under
the age of 17.
•Toys
The FTC also reported that toys based on
characters from mature entertainment are
frequently marketed to kids. Mature rated
video games are advertised in youth
magazines and toys based on Restricted
movies and M-rated video games are
marketed to children as young as four.
Interesting Facts
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Channel One's twelve-minute in-classroom broadcast features 2
minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of news, is compulsory
on 90% of the school days in 80% of the classrooms in 40% of U.S.
middle and high schools. Companies pay up to $195,000 for a 30second ad, knowing that they have a captive audience of 8 million
students in 12,000 classrooms across the country.
In the 1960's, children influenced about $5 billion of their parents'
purchases. By 1984 that figure increased ten-fold to $50 billion. By
1997 it had tripled to $188 billion. In 2000, children 12 and under
influenced family purchases to the tune of $500 billion.
It's estimated the average child sees more than 20,000 commercials
every year - that works out to at least 55 commercials per day.
47% of children have a television set in their bedroom.
At three years of age, before they can read, one out of five American
children are already making specific requests for brand-name
products.
Children who use the most media tend to be the least contented.