Keeping Brands Kid Cool

Brands that are targeting various kids’ demographics had better know this: there’s a lot more to marketing to kids today than trying to keep their brands “hip and cool”. Today’s kids want three things from brands: interactive, instant and non-invasive.

Today’s kids were born into a high tech age. With an explosion of new communication platforms that are “on” 24/7, the speed of the marketplace continues to increase, creating substantial challenges for marketers. Kids aren’t talking or emailing their friends much anymore; they’re IM’ing (instant messaging) them. Our youth are globally wired; by the time they hit the Tween and teen stage, they’re chatting with kids in the neighborhood, across town and around the world. They play online games, share music, opinions and favorite brands with friends globally.

If marketers thought that the MTV generation wanted things fast, they haven’t seen anything yet! The iPod generation wants everything right here and right now.

In the U.S., kids are brand-conscious at an early age. According to James U. McNeal, Ph.D., author of “The Kids Market: Myths and Realities”, most children recognize the key attributes of product packaging, such as color and shape, and at least 200 logos by the time they enter school. 50% of kids, aged five, ask for specific brands by name.

For young children, brands must be “kid accepted and mom approved”. As kids grow older, they generally approve products themselves. And, no matter what age, kids wield substantial influence over family purchases.

As is the case with their parents, today’s kids are too savvy and sophisticated to allow marketers to talk down to them. Successful marketers know that the kids’ market is sophisticated and precocious.

Yet, with all of the cultural shifts we’ve experienced in recent years, kids have really remained the same in core, significant ways.

• Kids respond to honesty in marketing.  
• They expect the brand promise to deliver.  
• Kids can detect anything phony from light years away.  
• They go for authenticity, points of differentiation, freshness and multi-channel brand messaging in traditional and new media.  
• Kids are still heavily influenced by TV advertising; more so than mature demographics. 
• They are engaged by fun, fantasy and a bit of humor. These elements keep brands fresh and alive – but care must be taken to maintain the core brand and its assets.
• Kids don’t want to be approached and bombarded by brands on social media sites; they want to choose when and how they interact with these sites themselves.
• Those who choose to interact with brands on social media sites want their questions answered, problems solved and above all: they want to be treated with respect. No condescension allowed. The brands that do not respond quickly are equally quickly discarded by kids who move on to find brands that do give them fast feedback.

Kids deserve the highest ethical standards that can be delivered as marketing strategies are formulated.  Children’s product companies have the added responsibility of making certain that their marketing and branding initiatives have a positive impact on kids’ lives. Creating brand leaders and loyalty for a new generation of consumers depends upon this. These kids will then endorse their favorite brands for their own children one day.

The point: kids who become emotionally involved with brands develop more than brand loyalty; they develop brand passions. And they don’t hesitate to actively share it with their peers. While kids think they seek “individuality”, they in fact operate as part of a larger peer group. Early adopters tend to be group leaders; reaching them and getting their endorsement largely leads to their groups doing the same through the buzz they generate. WOM (Word of Mouth) marketing is important to any demographic, especially kids.

By the time kids get to the Tween stage (ages 8-12) studies show that they want to interact with, shape and make brands their own. Brands that seek the endorsement of Tweens and teens have to be elastic. Marketers need to pay attention to how their brands are shaped by these groups and deliver accordingly.

Delivering.

Marketing to today’s kids is about a whole lot more than trying to keep brands relevant as marketers think best. Much of this is out of their hands and dictated by the consumer.

While kids are skeptical of many brands, the companies that really take the time to focus on them and delve deeply into their culture, find that their efforts can pay strong dividends. By understanding the factors that motivate them here and now, and delivering it consistently as kids themselves change and demand something fresh and new, marketers will be rewarded by their loyalty.

Remember: kids respond to brands on an emotional level, rather than responding to tangible or functional brand attributes. Developing meaningful relationships with them gives brand managers and marketers a tremendous opportunity to build brand loyalty for the long haul.

It is crucial that brands position themselves as powerful tools that satisfy kids’ core emotional needs:

• To appear cool and self-determined.
• To exercise personal freedom.
• To have control over their own choices. 
• To have control over their own destinies.
• To have freedom to express their perceived individuality.

The brands that take the right approach to kids’ marketing will have devotees for life. As Martin Lindstrom said in his ground-breaking book: “BrandChild”: “A brand is more than a word. It is the beginning of a lifetime dialogue.”

 

About the Author

Ted Mininni is President and Creative Director of Design Force, Inc., the leading package and licensing program design consultancy to the consumer product and entertainment industries. Ted's articles have been published in many noteworthy trade and marketing publications, in print and online, such as such as Brandweek, Adweek, Playthings Magazine, Brand Packaging Magazine, Package Design Magazine, Packaging Digest, brandchannel.com, TheDieline.com, MarketingProfs.com, License Magazine and Shelf Impact!, among others. Ted’s articles have also been picked up by international business blogs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the U.S. He is also an ongoing contributor to MarketingProfs.com’s “Daily Fix” blog, POP Online and Beverage World Magazine.

To contact Ted, please call 856.810.2277 x10, or send an email to tmininni@designforceinc.com.