Some product managers and their creatives were up just a little too late (and possibly smoking just a little too much) reading the latest Four-Year-Old-Girl-Thought-Leader data:

Says here that four-year-old girls love horses.

Yep. And that they love makeup. And princesses.

And tiny little thongs. Heh, heh. And strappy five-inch heels.

Hey! Wait. One. Minute!

Genius! 

I’m waiting for the day when one of them says, Maybe we should give those little girls another option.

“Fashion’s back and it’s got a brand new name… Struts!” 
 
The Struts brand is an attitude and a lifestyle for girls who are on the cutting edge of what’s hot in fashion 
 
Struts combine a girl’s natural fondness of horses and her love for fashion dolls.  
 
Struts will be the new buzz word on the playground - the new word of mouth brand with a sense of hipness - Fashion with a Kick! 

FOUR-YEAR-OLDS, people, do NOT have the attitudes or the lifestyles of adults, are NOT on the cutting edge of what’s hot, are NOT hip, and should NOT be classified as word-of-mouth marketers.

Just writing this post makes me feel like taking a shower. 

Fun details and commentary here, here, here, and here.

A popular response to the Target-snow-angel-ad issue (and to many critiques of advertising) was, “It’s just one ad — what’s wrong with that?”

Here’s an answer. This is about subliminal advertising, but works for any image we pass by every day.

If you didn’t find the Target ad offensive, think about advertising images that are. How do these enter our consciousness? And what happens to them there?

And what about product images?

Then, think about those images entering a child’s underdeveloped brain.

This is seven minutes long, which is quite a bit for blog readers, I know, but watch:

(via iamjoshbrown via dawudmiracle)

Nicole Green, a marketing student at the University of Cincinnati, has graciously allowed me to reprint an opinion piece she wrote for The News Record.

An old boss of mine shared with me an anecdote about her young nephew. The boy had overheard his parents arguing over finances, and naturally he wanted them to stop. He opened the door to the room in which they were arguing and profoundly stated he had the answer to their problems: debt consolidation.

Be not fooled; this boy was no seven-year old financial prodigy. His knowledge was derived solely from a thirty second commercial that probably interrupted his after- school cartoons.

I wondered about the way this commercial had stuck in the memory of the child. He may not have known what debt consolidation was, but he knew that whatever it was, it fixed money problems.

I was reminded of this story when I read about “pester power.” The term is used to describe the ways marketers endorse their products through the relentless way children nag their parents for goods. Not only do marketers recognize this behavior in children, they target and thrive from it. The goal is to appeal to a child so intensely that a child will whine and beg to receive a certain product.

(more…)

More predictions for 2008 from the marketing world (or, how else can we stick our logo in front of kids’ faces?):

AdWeeks’s hot trends in advertising for 2008 includes the catchword “authenticity:”

Next year, among other things, marketers will be more careful about the facts that support the ads. Antonio Navas, worldwide cd at Ogilvy & Mather in New York, says marketers won’t have much choice. “You cannot hide,” he notes, “because people are the critics.”

Funny how we people feel strongly about the truth-in-advertising thing.

And even more! ways to reach potential customers, especially in gaming:

More gamers, of course, equals more eyeballs for advertisers. And in-game advertising has been projected to grow from $56 million in 2005 to between $732 million and $1.8 billion in 2010 . . . . 

. . . . agencies will have to evaluate whether the current methods of in-game advertising—primarily billboards and product placement—are as effective . . . . look for more game sponsorships [such as live events and contests] with other partners to promote their products.

And elsewhere:

In 2008, online videos, Webisodes and other potential branded-entertainment productions are going to look better than ever, giving advertisers more sophisticated platforms in which to advertise.

Advertisers will also be looking, of course, towards making branded-entertainment inroads on people’s cell phones.

BrandWeek forsees positive things for word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) in 2008. The good news is that more marketers are seeing the wisdom in adhereing to the established WOM industry standards.

The bad news: not everyone does.

Unilever’s “Go Green and Small With All,” which used in-classroom magazine and Web ads to recruit participants, targeted elementary school kids . . . . Its ambassadors were encouraged to get their families to make small, green changes at home (like using concentrated All detergent) . . . . .

Using young students as ambassadors “reaches our target audience of mothers of school-age children,” says Helayna Minsk, marketing director for All. Incorporating it into a contest “encourages . . . word of mouth and got kids involved collectively,” she adds.

My prediction for 2008? More parents will reclaim their children and not give corporations free access. Find a place for that in your market niche.

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.

Josh Hallett at Marketing Profs wonders why Target isn’t held to the same ethical standards as, say, Wal-Mart. Evidently Target (through an agency) broke one of the golden rules of word-of-mouth marketing: they told some of their WOMMers not to let their Facebook buddies know who they were. Odd that we haven’t heard much about this here at Target HQ in Minneapolis (except here).

I maintain that word-of-mouth-marketing is necessary for only corporations or products that will not endure naturally. All WOMM seems to do is cheapen relationships, even the one you have with a stranger in line at a store.

Of course, my main gripe is with corporations that encourage kids to market for them. Isn’t rewarding kids by having them schill your product in emails, on message boards, and in chatrooms just teaching them that what you convey in your communications doesn’t really matter? As long as you get something out of it?

From MiceChat:

Please do me a favor and click the following links. you dont have to surf them just click them so i get points PLEASE and Thank you. and does any one know of any others?

Sounds like a real brand enthusiast! I mean, ambassador!

To combat excessive marketing to children, it’s important to understand how marketers think. How do they plan to get into your child’s head — and into yours?

While writing a post on extravagant birthday parties, I ran across the 2007 Youth Marketing Mega Event, a conference for marketers hoping to leverage the “kids, tweens, teens, and college student” markets.

I found some of the sessions particularly outrageous. Is this what marketers are really thinking about?

Create Online Loyalty Programs: Kid Friendly and COPPA Compliant. Sure, those pesky laws to protect children’s privacy online have really taken a bite out of our bottom line, but there’s no law against manipulating the little tykes! At least not yet!

Kids & Wellness: It’s the Next Big Thing, But it’s Already Here. Since those tree-hugging-hippie-health-nut scientists have somehow convinced the public that consuming an all-junk-food diet while sitting on the sofa playing Xbox isn’t actually good for kids, let’s jump on the bandwagon! Quick!

Leveraging Viral Marketing Through In-School Promotion to Start a Marketing Revolution! Kids in school are a captive market — if they try to get away, they’ll get sent to the principal’s office! There’s no way they can ignore us! Bonus: we’ll tempt the teacher with incentives, say, textbooks? And cut a check to the administration while we’re at it! They can’t say no, because they need the money!

Growing a Branch for your Brand on the Family Tree: Achieving Loyalty with the Family.* Well, now that’s just clever metaphor-making. Wait, shouldn’t it be Growing a Branch on the Family Tree for Your Brand?

Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the corporate dollars spent on new ways to manipulate my children. In a world of mounting personal debt and limited natural resources, is this akin to offering a kid a lollypop to get in the car?

*Not really a session title. I think it was a bullet about the conference’s goals. Or reasons to attend the conference. Something like that.

Originally published as a similar post at twoknives.net