Your heard it here first . . . uh, second: Parents, are you Tweenabees?
Insight into 2008 marketing trends from Tina Wells, the CEO of Buzz Marketing Group, which specializes in connecting companies with what teens/tweens really want (they’ve got 9,000 teenage “buzzspotters” worldwide).
Ms. Wells writes in the December issue of Media Magazine:
An interesting new trend that will definitely expand is the rise of Tweenabees. Tweenabees are essentially parents who want to be more like their tweens. We are living in an age when parents want to connect with their children as much as possible, even if it means learning the latest trends. They want to let their tweens know that they are not just their parents - they are their friends. Tweenabees open up a whole new hybrid segment in the market, creating the need for products related to tweens, but designed for parents. Parents want to be educated in what’s hot at the moment, from tween fashion to the latest craze in toys, to the most popular stars. They want to get in on these trends and show their tweens that they’re not so different.
Wow.
Now, I don’t want to say that Ms. Wells doesn’t know what she is talking about (she is an experienced professional), but last time I checked the cool parenting “trend” was to be an “authority figure” and not a “pal.”
I’m sure that Buzz Marketing Group has the research to back up this inevitable Tweenabee trend. It must show that we parents, in our well-intentioned quest to raise healthy kids, are creating a “whole new” “hybrid” “segment” in the “market.”
Wake up and smell the CEO’s salary, parents: Buzz Media is creating the market segment, by spreading the Tweenabee notion to their client companies, who will then begin to brainstorm, create, and market products. (Let’s see — related to tweens, but designed for parents . . . Clairol Nice ‘N Easy in Hannah Montana Blonde? The High School Musical Edition Blackberry?)
If we don’t stop buying into these manufactured “needs” — and teaching our kids how to avoid the same trap — we will never break the cycle of buy, use, and toss that is wreaking havoc on the planet and creating a nation of miserable kids.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Wouldn’t acting like your tween take away some of your credibility as a parent? I don’t have children in that age group, but the theory of trying to act like your child seems to me the opposite action you would want to take to earn the respect of your children.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 am
Exactly, Amber. I consider this bit of “advice” from marketing consultant to clients to fall under the cateogory of “interfering in the parent-child relationship.” That’s nothing new, coming from marketers.
I don’t think this consultant has children yet, either, so even though she may have her finger on the pulse of marketing trends, she certainly doesn’t know about responsible parenting. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be giving this advice to her clients.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
“Adultescent.” Apparently that’s a real word. It’s distressing that there are two words that mean childish adults.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
It’ll be a cold day in hades that I try to bond with my tween as a peer…There’s a difference between enjoying shared interests (see Gilmore Girls post on Shaping Youth here: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=934) and communicating by opening relevant dialog to see what resonates with your kids (yeah, I’m more conversant in some of her music choices than I care to be, but all the better to deconstruct for media literacy!) but to ‘brand’ the notion that we’re all ‘one’ so to speak, harkening back to lost youth in some tweaked way is downright scary…
Sadly, I DO see this time and again among parents. I keep thinking it’s ‘midlife mania’ kicking in when some parents try to dress/act/speak in middle-school madness…personally one time around was plenty for me in those years. bleh.
“Adultescent” is a classic…right up there with “Affluenza” for my faves…
January 6th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
p.s. OH! I’ll add that I TOTALLY AGREE with you that the ‘tweenabee’ bit is ALL ‘manufactured buzz’… the ‘wannabe’ bonding that I’m referring to is simply “bad parenting” in a desperate act of outreach/cluelessness under a misguided attempt to stay connected somehow…bleh. bleh. bleh.