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Someday when I make it big doing this nonprofit advocacy thing and I have an extra $4,000 to throw away, I’m going to buy me a market research report, like the recently published Marketing to Kids and Tweens — U.S.
From the press release:
With $51 billion in spending power, children and tweens represent an important and lucrative demographic, offering companies an opportunity to build life-long brand loyalty. . . . Some of the topics covered in this report include:
– Categorization and analysis of children and tweens by three mutually exclusive personality types: Leaders, Followers, and Rebels . . .
– An examination of how these three personality types affect the purchase of MP3 players, music downloads, computers, video games, cell phones, and other electronic products . . .
Readers of this report will gain insight into the values and attitudes of leaders, followers and rebels towards a host of topics, and be empowered to create marketing campaigns that speak to these influential cohorts.
The research company, Mintel International, classifies ”children” as between the ages of six and eight. So now I’m wondering if my own six-year-old is a Leader, a Follower, or a Rebel. I’m not sure how her personality affects her purchase of electronic products, I guess because SHE DOESN’T HAVE ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS. Come to think of it, neither does her “tween” sister.
Do reports like this affect the way companies market to children? Would Disney, for example, read a report like this and decide that they best start making Disney Princess cell phones for six-year-olds?
I can’t see the actual report, of course, without dropping the $4,000, but they do let us peek at the table of content [sic]:
Future Trends
Virtual worlds, advergames, and the Internet
What obesity epidemic
Keep away from my kids!
Looks like we’re on their radar.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
“and be empowered to create marketing campaigns that speak to these influential cohorts.”
It’s all about empowerment, Lisa. Sort of like the civil rights movement? Or Solidarnosc in Poland, or the suffragists? It’s pretty much the same thing, really. I mean, I don’t want to exaggerate, but it calls to mind Nelson Mandela and Gandhi. You know, in terms of the whole empowering social change thing. Maybe not Gandhi.
Say, speaking of your six-year-old, you must be proud that she’s part of an influential cohort. So, like, does that mean the part where she’s all, “Today, I’m going to get on the bus with my left foot first,” and then the kid behind her is all, “I will too.”
You know what that makes her? Empowered! That is like so totally way cool!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:18 am
LOL - not quite that simple but, marketers look at both children and adults this way.
BTW - Lisa - you would be labeled an “opinion leader” or an “innovator” - which is another way of saying “leader”.
Disney might not read this and think they should license their princess properties to a cell phone company but, if they did then they would start their ad campaign by focusing on the types of programs that “leaders” watch.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:32 am
@NQC, I don’t mind being labeled an opinion leader, but a six-year-old? Or a ten-year-old, for that matter? The fact that a little kid is “influencing” my child’s “purchasing decisions” is kind of creepy, and encouraging that notion is even creepier. Is that the kind of position that adults want to put kids into? And I don’t buy the excuse that “it happens anyway, we just document it.” Reports like this encourage adults to give more power to children than they should/are ready to have.