Marketing To Kids: How To Be Effective And Responsible: Industry Report

Marketing To Kids: How To Be Effective And Responsible

Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: Datamonitor
Published: December 2006
Product Code: R313-18799

Description

Introduction

Marketing to 5-13 year old Kids is a difficult task laden with ethical issues as well as the increasingly complex nature of family life and consumer socialization. Nevertheless, Kids are strategically important consumers for a number of packaged goods' categories. In both Europe and the US, Tweenagers' per capita consumption of carbonates was 40% more than the population average in 2005.

Scope

*In-depth quantitative data covering Kids' consumption behavior across food, drink and personal care categories.
*In-depth quantitative data covering young people's media/technology usage by age and country.
*Extensive primary research of consumers of parenting age and senior industry figures to uncover the latest thinking and reveal emerging opportunities.
*Detailed action points offering practical strategies based on the trends and insights uncovered in the report.

Highlights

In 2005, European Children consumed over 8% more confectionery, ice cream and savory snacks per capita relative to the population average. US Children followed similar patterns over consuming by 19.5% per capita in confectionary markets compared to the population as a whole in 2005.

Rising childhood obesity rates and increased media coverage of unhealthy diets has put healthy eating on high on the shopping agenda for parents as they increasingly seek to influence their child's diet.

Kids are increasingly socializing through technology. US consumers spend more than 6 hours per day using differing forms of media while over half of European Kids are regularly using the Internet by the age of 8. The 'outdoor playground' is increasingly being replaced by a 'virtual playground'.

Reasons to Purchase

*Understand the attitudes driving the consumption behavior of 5-13 year olds and their parents.
*Obtain exclusive food, drink and personal care consumption occasion data for Kids in the US and Europe.
*Improve your marketing by following best-practice guidelines enabling more effective targeting with on-trend products and relevant communications.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

The hot topic 3

The future decoded 3

5 to 9 year old Children and 10 to 13 year old Tweens are declining in number 3

The demographic dynamics of family life are changing 3

Kids' autonomous spending power is growing 4

Poor diets have led to childhood obesity reaching record levels 4

'Consumer socialization' is occurring earlier than ever 5

Kids over-consume in a number of emotionally meaningful categories 5

Kids' media consumption and social habits are evolving and vary by age 6

Kids' behavior is characterized by a need for belonging, individuality and maturation 6

Products that are unique, fun, explorative and 'cool' will resonate most with Kids 7

Childhood is pressurized and complex 8

Health is a top-of-mind parental concern and is even gaining consciousness among Kids 9

Parents find it increasingly difficult to balance work and home life 10

Action points 11

CHAPTER 2 THE FUTURE DECODED 20

Introduction 20

Effective marketing to Kids requires a more complex 'layered' approach 20

TREND: Children and Tweens are declining in number 21

The number of Children is declining in Europe but increasing in the US 21

Tweens are decline in number across both Europe and the US 21

TREND: The demographic dynamics of family life are changing 23

The average age of parenting is rising 23

The average age of marriage is increasing 24

Families are becoming smaller 25

TREND: Kids' autonomous spending power is growing 25

Kids' discretionary income is on the rise 25

Children are getting more and more pocket money 25

Tweens are experiencing more freedom in their purchases 26

TREND: Poor diets have led to childhood obesity reaching record levels 28

More than one in three Kids will be overweight or obese by 2011 28

Kids' dietary patterns are deemed to have reached crisis point 29

A relatively high propensity to skip meals also characterizes Kids' diets 30

Lower levels of exercise contribute to childhood obesity growth 30

Diabetes rates in children are on the rise while heart disease and mental health are other side-effects 31

INSIGHT: 'Consumer socialization' is occurring earlier than ever 31

Children aged less than seven have limited understanding of advertising 32

The 'consumer socialization' of Kids contributes to pester power 33

Pester power has been rising over the past decade 33

Pester power is influenced by a broad range of factors 34

INSIGHT: Kids over-consume in a number of emotionally meaningful categories 35

Kids' Confectionery, Ice Cream and Savory Snacks consumption exceeds the population average 35

European and US Children consumed notably more confectionery per capita than the population average in 2005 35

Tweens are even heavier consumers of sugary and salty snacks 36

Kids are heavy consumers of carbonates 37

Children consume more carbonates per capita than average 38

Both European and US Tweens consumed 40% more carbonates per capita than the population average in 2005 38

Kids are currently insignificant personal care consumers 39

Children significantly under consume in personal care markets 39

Tweenagers under consume in most personal care markets but the fragrance and haircare segments are developing 39

INSIGHT: Kids are strongly influenced by a media orientated lifestyle 41

Today's Kids are increasingly exposed to new technologies and interactive gadgetry as they pass though infancy and become Children 41

Children and Tweens embrace and socialize via a disparate range of media 41

US children spend more than 6 hours per day using different media 42

Kids increasingly interact via digital content 42

Tweens are particulary open to viral marketing 42

The role of TV is still important as an entertainment source in Europe and the US 43

Kids are strongly influenced by TV advertising 43

Over half of European Kids regularly use the Internet aged 8 44

Mobile phones continue to grow in popularity with Kids 45

Mobile phone ownership rises significantly as Children become Tweens 46

Parents play a surprisingly small role in Kids' media choices 47

INSIGHT: Kids' behavior is characterized by a need for belonging, individuality and maturation 48

Attaining peer-group acceptance is vital for Kids 48

Kids crave empowerment and seek to express their individuality 49

Kids aspire to be older than they are, but also enjoy the responsibility-free lifestyle of childhood 50

INSIGHT: Products that are unique, fun, explorative and 'cool' will resonate most with Kids 52

There are numerous dimensions associated with fun 53

Kids, especially Tweens have a strong identification with fashion brands 53

Packaging cues are important in creating the "wow factor" for Kids 55

There are three key attitudinal groups affecting product popularity 55

INSIGHT: Childhood is pressurized and complex 56

Kids are exposed to ever more stress in daily life 56

Kids worry about succeeding in school 57

Kids experience time pressures 57

Appearance and body weight concerns increasingly create stress 57

INSIGHT: Health is a top-of mind parental concern and is even gaining consciousness among Kids 58

Parents have a key role to play in a child's consumer socialization 58

Parents are taking more control of their Kids' eating habits 59

Consumers of parenting age are trying to eat more healthily and this has a knock-on effect 59

Kids' ability to influence food purchases could be set to decline 60

Parents worry about and report difficulties in getting their Kids to eat healthily 61

Parents are increasingly scrutinizing product packaging to check for health information 62

Parents are untrusting of health related product claims 63

Parents will increasingly opt for natural and fresh food variants for their Kids 64

The presence of children plays an important role in positively influencing natural food and drink purchase decisions 64

Kids are also becoming more autonomously health conscious 65

INSIGHT: Parents find it increasingly difficult to balance work and home life 66

Time pressures are negatively affecting family life 67

Parent-child interactions remain aspirational for time starved families 68

There is evidence that families are seeking to re-prioritize and re-establish the family bond 68

Conclusions 70

CHAPTER 3 ACTION POINTS 71

ACTION: Make responsible marketing a central theme of all Kid focused targeting 71

Address parents' concerns over health and nutrition 71

Create better-for-you alternatives by reformulating products 72

Extend the appeal of existing adult brands with credible health credentials 74

Develop products that allow a more positive health-orientated communication 75

Target Kids' and parents' with natural personal care products 76

Develop Kid specific functional products 77

Use marketing tactics that help build trust with a skeptical parent audience 78

Develop parent and child orientated education programs 79

Embrace cause related marketing to demonstrate commitment and concern about the wellbeing of Kids 82

ACTION: Develop products that are fun, cool, and unique 83

Develop products that Kids can interact with 83

Recognize that fun and cool mean different things to Children and Tweens 84

Provide Kids with customization opportunities and provide them with a sense of brand ownership 85

Case Study: understanding what made Kellogg's Fruit Winders so successful 85

Develop products with a unique sensory appeal 86

Continuously update your product offering to stay relevant 87

Develop alliances with hip lifestyle brands 88

Undertake sensory profiling tests to determine product favorability 88

Involve Kids in the product development process 89

ACTION: Help families re-connect by championing family values and developing 'family-time' products 89

Become an information resource and campaigner for family time 89

Show understanding and sensitivity to consumers' problems of making time for sit-down family meals 89

Innovate delivery systems and attemp to straddle the boundaries between ready meals and home cooking 90

Communicate 'happiness' and 'parental interaction' in ads 92

ACTION: Incorporate new media and word of mouth approaches into the marketing strategy 93

Ensure there is a unique and compelling reason to visit your website 93

Focus on the four key factors that consumers respond well to when developing viral content 94

Ensure that new media campaigns are integrated with traditional media efforts 95

CHAPTER 4 APPENDIX 96

Definitions 96

Research methodology 97

References 98

How to contact experts in your industry 100

List of Tables

Table 1: European and US Children (5-9 year old) and Tween (10-13 year old) populations (millions), 2001, 2006 and 2011 22

Table 2: The average age of mothers at time of first child's birth, by country, 2001-2011 24

Table 3: European and US 5-9 year old Children's sources of discretionary income (per week), by country 2001-2011 26

Table 4: European and US 10-13 year old Tweens' sources of discretionary income (per week), by country, 2001-2011 27

Table 5: Number and percentage of overweight and obese Kids (5-13 years old) in Europe and the US, by country, 2001-2011 28

Table 6: European and US Children and Tweens' per capita consumption in selected food markets (US$), 2005 36

Table 7: European and US Children and Tweens' per capita consumption of soft drinks markets (US$), 2005 38

Table 8: Children and Tweens' per capita consumption of selected personal care markets (US$), 2005 40

Table 9: Consumer survey: the extent that European and US 25-49 year olds took 'active steps to eat more healthily' over the previous year, by country, 2006 59

Table 10: Kids and Teens (5-17 year olds) who state that "above all, they eat what they wish", 2000 61

Table 11: Consumer survey: the extent to which European and US 25-49 year olds 'used nutritional information on product packaging to make choices' in 2006, by country 63

Table 12: Consumer survey: levels of consumer trust towards claims made by cosmetics and toiletries brands and health related food and drink claims , by family status, Europe and US 64

Table 13: Consumer survey: How important 'eating fresh foods and drinks' is to 25-49 year olds, by country 65

Table 14: Minutes per day spent on leisure for selected European markets, 2005 68

Table 15: Consumer survey: the extent to which 25-49 year old consumers made conscious attempts to improve their work-life balance in 2006 69

Table 16: Definitions of terms and abbreviations used in this report 96

List of Figures

Figure 1: Kids are made up of two demographics: Children (5-9 year olds) and Tweens (10-13 year olds) 20

Figure 2: Tween number are declining in both Europe and US 23

Figure 3: Mid-lifers are delaying marriage and parenthood 24

Figure 4: Consumer socialization occurs rapidly from the age of 3 to 9 32

Figure 5: Pester power is influenced by a number of factors including product involvement, family income and age 34

Figure 6: Kids snack more than most other age groups in Europe and the US 37

Figure 7: The Netherlands has the highest percentage of under 17s online in Europe while as many 85% of 12 and 13 year olds use the Internet across Europe 45

Figure 8: Sweden has the highest percentage of under 17s that own mobile phones in Europe 46

Figure 9: 70% of 12 and 13 year olds owned mobile phones across Europe in 2005 47

Figure 10: There are numerous dimension kids associate with 'fun' 54

Figure 11: Three key attitudinal groups influence product adoption of Kids 56

Figure 12: Marketing to Kids requires an understanding of a broad range of factors 70

Figure 13: Negative images associated with poor nutrition will accentuate parent interest in healthy or better-for-you alternatives 72

Figure 14: Reformulating food and drink products is one step towards a more responsible approach to marketing to Kids 73

Figure 15: Healthy brands can be made to appeal to both adults and Kids providing that there are design cues that appeal to each audience 74

Figure 16: Organic and fresh products are well placed to capitalize on the fact parents are choosing healthier products for their Kids 75

Figure 17: More discerning parents are going to choose natural formulated cosmetics and toiletries for their Kids 76

Figure 18: Functional and fortified products need to be heavily promoted to parents, but equally accessible and fun to Kids 77

Figure 19: Leverage the product attributes and communication cues that consumers perceive as trustworthy 78

Figure 20: Informative advertising and community based marketing can attract information hungry parents 79

Figure 21: Celebrities can provide more buzz and excitement when it comes to informative advertising 81

Figure 22: Products co-developed with trusted professionals are deemed more trustworthy 81

Figure 23: Marketing messages encouraging physical activity levels will generally be regarded positively 82

Figure 24: Interactive products that evoke play value are more likely to engage the interest of Kids 84

Figure 25: Giving Kids brand ownership and linking brands with fashion can create more dynamic brand propositions 86

Figure 26: Maximizing sensory appeal is crucial to successfully attracting Kids in the short-term 87

Figure 27: Marketers can help families re-connect by demonstrating empathy for parents, championing family values and developing 'family-time' products 90

Figure 28: Bulk buying dinner schemes are gaining popularity in the US and are indicative of consumers' desire for convenience solutions for meal preparation chores 91

Figure 29: Advergames can be used to engage Kids with brands 93

Figure 30: Two phases characterize successful viral and word of mouth campaigns 95

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