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Marketing To Kids: How To Be Effective And Responible - This report explores the most important lifestyle and social trends affecting Kids in the US and Europe. It includes best practice recommendations for responsible and effective marketing of food, drink and personal care products to 5-13 year olds.

Product Code: dmcm2405

Publication Date: 04-Dec-2006

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Overview

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.

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.

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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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