The Evidence of the Existence of a Global Kids Segment - Essay Example

Children’s Products Marketing Report The evidence of the existence of a ‘Global kids’ segment. The evidence of a global kids segment is so prevalent that every marketing director needs to allot a specific budget for this niche. Children spend money and their time with a casual and carefree attitude. They shop with the mindset of getting what they want and when they want. Todays segment of global kids is the first generation that has grown up with an understanding of economy. Stock market simulation software is like a computer game for them. Global kids talk about trading indices while swapping baseball cards. They also watch financial news as if it is a soap opera. It is for this reason that 8% teenagers of the United States have some portion of their money invested in futures and stocks (Lindstorm, 2004). Almost 20% have their personal checking accounts and 70% love using a credit card if the parents allow it (Lindstorm, 2004). It is hard to argue that global kids segment does not exist when this generation spends over $150 billion a year. And that is not it, they also control another $150 billion through influencing what their parents are buying for them. Martin Lindstorm writes in Brainchild that the money which the new generation is spending is unprecedented, which is why every marketing director needs to allot money for this niche (Sudworth, Cray and Russel, 2007). The 21st century is full of information overload. The new generation is being fed a steady diet of information 24 seven. This information is changing the way they perceive the world and shaping their behavior. The global kids segment is the product of technological advancements. They use mouse, computer screens, smart phones, tablets and other gadgets to see the world. Toddlers now understand icons before they can even start to read. Smart phone manufacturers and app developers specifically target their marketing strategies to toddlers. They can play with the smart phone, listen to the funny sounds but they do not know that the icons and marketing tactics are targeting their subconscious and effecting their decision-making behaviors. The new generation thinks in terms of megabytes and screen resolutions the same way the previous generation used to think in terms of memorizing football scores and doing wheelies on bicycles (Lindstorm, 2004). If the marketing directors need to target global kids’ segment they need to think the way this generation thinks. They need to understand that the new generation is very different from the older generation because they have no hindrances in fully embracing the digital media. Electronic media has become a crucial part of their lives. For this reason the new generation is addicted to interesting things. If one thing (toy, program, song, mobile app etc.) does not interest them they simply give up waiting on it and move on. They want instant replies to their messages. They want instant downloads and instant processing on their computers. For this reason they usually prefer chatting live than sending mails and waiting for days to get a reply. The Definition of Global Kids The generation of the 1970s and 80s grew up independently in each country. The American kids grew up in a culture that was very different from the one in Japan. Today this is no more the case because kids today are part of the global culture. Any international event effects the world immediately. The pop icons of the 1970s and 80s created the trends that the kids followed. The Aqua, Madonna and Michael Jackson were the some of the leading trendsetters for the kids of 1970s and 80s. They were international stars, the sensation of the international stage. Today customization and personalization has found a whole new level. It used to be a dream for a company to have their own website where users could come online and engage. Today kids are designing their personal websites and blogs. The marketing experts need to know that this new generation can be accessed almost 24 seven. They almost always have a software running on their laptops or phones because they never want to miss something interesting. This generation fears boredom probably more than anything else in the world. The industry is booming and the projections for babies’ retail products look lucrative for the marketers. Please see Appendix 1 for details in US Domestic market and Appendix 2 for global trends in children’s products. Marketing to Children Marketing and advertising campaigns across the world spend billions of dollars to persuade and manipulate people into buying their products. Children are a specific niche that are highly vulnerable of advertisement tactics. Over the years the amount and cost of advertising to children has increased unprecedentedly. It is because of the money that the kids are spending these days. From a marketing perspective a marketing director needs to look at the global kids going through two stages. The first stage is where they influence their parents into buying the things they like and the second stage is when they get to spend money out of their own hands (Beder, 1998). This can be either after earning or getting their pocket money from the parents. Previously marketing to children was confined to sweets and toys but today it has expanded to sports equipment, fast food, computer products etc. The successful marketing campaigns target children through things they directly use and also those things they indirectly use like cars and credit cards (Beder, 1998). It means that when advertisers target their ads they should keep in mind the childrens needs and wants. If the head of the house is buying a minivan for the family advertisers need to show happy kids in the van. Credit Card Company needs to offer more benefits for children shopping and product when they want to offer a credit card subscription plan. A How-To Example from Coca-Cola There are different ways to target the global kids segment and Coca-Cola is a textbook example. The company secured $150 million sponsorship rights to the first Harry Potter movie. The company put the recognized Harry Potter logo on almost 850 million Coca-Cola bottles across the globe (Warren, 2009). Jeremy Monahan wrote in The Guardian that Harry Potter acquired a similar popularity that makes it a perfect fit for a global industry like Coca-Cola (Warren, 2009). They consider those products that match their company’s image. The Time Warner Company spent $120 million producing the first Harry Potter movie (Warren, 2009). Coca-Cola Company approached this media giant with $150 million licensing deal (Warren, 2009). This way even before the first ticket was sold AOL Time Warner Company return a profit of $30 million by turning the childrens fantasy movie into a big business deal. It was not only Coca-Cola that benefited from this deal. The Harry Potter books got mass exposure when they were distributed free of cost in some of the most remote areas of the world. The franchise found more fans through Coca-Cola. The Most Common Thing in Childrens Products Daniel Acuff writes in his book What Kids Buy and Why: The Psychology of Marketing to Kids (2010) that there is a common thing among the popular kids’ products. Be it Barbie, Power Rangers, Ghostbusters, Home Alone, Pop-tarts, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Lion King, Hot Wheels Cars, Hercules or the likes, they are all winners with kids (Acuff, 2010). Barbie doll alone accounts for over $1 billion in gross annual sales for Mattel Inc. (Acuff, 2010). But this does not mean that a market success formula has been discovered. There is no guarantee of success for a new product. There is a bigger list in comparison to the names mentioned above that did not find success in the kids’ segment. However there are certain strategies that definitely improve the chances of success among the global kids industry. By studying success stories like Barbie doll and He-Man series there is a system that increases the chances of success. This system cannot be attained without in-depth understanding of children and teen psychology in the context of the 21st century. Recommended ways in which such a global segment could be targeted Before delving into recommended strategies for targeting the global kids’ segment ethical limits and practices need to be considered. For instance in addressing the issues of boys consumer desire the Canadian Toy testing Council in cooperation with consumer Association of Canada were specifically interested in the logic of fundamental childhood innocence governing toy market. The research revealed that marketing tactics used by the companies were frightening and generated inside evil demands invoice emerging power dynamics in the family (Sandin et al. 2010). If a company is promoting a product that is causing child to behave erratically, like putting sweeteners that make children hyperactive, it is against ethical guidelines. In certain cases, such strategies can backfire. In the worst case scenario, the products can be banned by the federal authority, deeming them unfit for children. The same applies to programs on television. Anything inappropriate for children such as racial stereotyping or obscenity can be detrimental for the success of the product. It is also a violation of ethical code for children market. But there are many success stories that can be used as inspiration and examples for launching a successful product/program targeting the global kids’ segment of the market. Product/Medium To target the global kids segment the child psychology needs to be considered very carefully and the changing trends in the past need to be considered. For instance to launch a product the first thing is define what they are trying to sell. For example in which category the product falls in. Is it a TV show, a fast food outlet, a book or a toy? Any person who wants to be successful in the global kids segment needs to look at winners to solve this problem. For instance Star Wars is not just a movie it has also translated into a book series, comics, toy line, video games, fast foods and even clothing (Acuff, 2010). Frisbees on the other hand are only toys that fall under the sports equipment category. The Concept The marketing team must be sure about the concept of the product for their program. They need to answer the question what their core idea is. For instance the Cabbage Patch kids concept is a textbook example of successfully utilizing the core idea, which was adopting orphans (Acuff, 2010). The cartoon series Pound Puppies also captured this idea and enjoyed tremendous success. Point of View The marketing director of the program or product needs to clearly define the psychological and philosophical orientation. For instance the mood of the program or product can be conservative antisocial or authoritarian. So they need to know what the message is and what kind of communication about the companys image is going out through the product or program. Friends and there are certain TV programs that hangs on the edge and are somewhat controversial. The Ren & Stimpy Show and other MTV cartoons fall under this category (Acuff, 2010). Their point of view or psychological orientation does not hesitate referring to boogers and slot as well as other gross events and things (Acuff, 2010). Therefore any company who wants to market these products should understand the methods going through to the global kids segment. The Content The marketing campaign should shred the central concept into visual and verbal tools. The character sonic the hedgehog has a definitive visual appearance. It is a cute little animal and at the same time it has an aggressive attitude. This content has played a definitive role in the success of this reunion character. Similarly other cartoon characters like Winnie the Pooh show each characters different personality and voice. Probably this is why children pick different characters as their favorites. The one they most relate with or the one they want to become are usually their favorites. The example of content can also be found outside of TV and cartoons. The happy meal at McDonalds also have a definitive visual content. It has catchy drawings of Ronald McDonald and appealing graphics (Acuff, 2010). The verbal content also speak to the kids, the words are specifically chosen to make it easier to read and understand. This content also needs to be crafted very carefully as it will deliver the message and the image of the company. The Context It is the time and the geographical setting with a social ambience that defines the context. The marketing director should consider what the social environment he or she is dealing with. The product and program has a unique context that needs to be considered. The marketing director also needs to look at the competitive products. Barbie doll had the context where the environment incorporates todays teenager as well as post-teenager living in America (Acuff, 2010). Sometimes a product or a program is specific released when the context is right. For instance it is an obvious success strategy to release Christmas animation movies around the time of Christmas. Deciding the Power of the Product or Program The marketing team needs to answer the question what difference it would make in the lives of their audiences. The marketing director needs to understand what the power of the product is and what kind of impact it can leave on the targeted consumer. The answer is not always launching a bigger product than the competition. If it does not have the wanted impact all efforts can go to waste. Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? Is it classic example of this impact? The game separated itself from the competing software games in different ways (Acuff, 2010). The protagonist of the game was turned into a villainous. Learning was made fun and the process of playing the game was also made unique because the players would be searching for Carmen San Diego in the world. Positioning This means how a marketing director wants the product or program to be categorized in the mind of the consumer. If a company is trying to launch an action figure of Hercules. They need to think what their consumer will think when he sees the action figure. Will the kids say it grows twice in size when put in water but other action figures also do that. Or the consumer will say just another action figure. Emotional appeal plays a decisive role in positioning. The he-man action figures were advertised as he-man the strongest man in the universe. Using the positioning strategy cheerfully can make the difference between failure and success in global kid’s segment industry. Offering something Unique There are many examples that would bewilder the regular marketing strategists. For instance the successful character of Pokémon begs the question that how come the marketing and fantasy of this character became a huge success in the United States? The character was intended for the Japanese boys but found its home among the American kids. It indicates that very little is actually known about globalization and how global flows of various kind actually travel (Allison, 2006). Allison Anne (2006) mentions the example and entry of Pokémon into the United States. In February 2000 the official Pokémon lecture tour started in the United States. It is interesting to note that the event was organized by the Japans Foreign Ministry and not by marketing team of Pokémon. At the docket there were three participants all of them Japanese who played the central role in negotiating Pokémons entry into the US marketplace. Within two years it triggered a national mania in the United States. The Pokémon lecture tour was an immense success. The Foreign Ministry of Japan was not interested in just selling the product they were more interested in publicizing the story of Pokémons remarkable history that started in Japan. An obvious marketing question would be why would the Japanese characters and animation monsters not translated or made more American? It was suggested to the marketing team of the characters to change them and adjust them for American tastes. However the Japanese toy manufacturers refused to make any changes and willingly stuck with their Japanese ways. The only amendments made in this regard were the changing of character names to make it easier for the American audiences. The success of Pokémon was immense. A research suggested that children liked to see themselves as the characters. Girls wanted to be called kawaii and how they wanted their boyfriends to see them like the cartoon characters (Tobin, 2004). Despite having smart marketing strategies and products the role of mass media in shaping child psychology can never be ignored. The research of marketing to children has primarily focused on mass media advertising and quite recently how children engage with online advertisements (Marshall, 2010). The debate is also active when the children possess the required amount of information and life experience to be influenced by TV advertisements. However when they see something interesting certainly want to explore. Marketing to children is not as easy at it as it seems to be. There is fierce competition in this niche. It also means that marketing specifically to kids and teenagers means innovating new methods and strategies for persuading such a ‘moody’ audience. The most prominent tools the marketers use are internet, cell phones and the ever exclusive power of ‘coolness’ to sell their products to children (Lusted, 2010). The best strategy is to use the best fit for all of these tools. The famous kids channel Cartoon Network conducts marketing research along with the global marketing research company Taylor Nelson Sofres, such market research is the key for the cartoon channel to stay on top as the global expert on children (Parasuraman, Grewal & Krishnan, 2006). Despite the course altering role of internet, the television advertisement still remain marketer’s primary tool for selling food to children (Frith & Mueller, 2010). Research reveals that children on average see over 10 food advertisements per hour they watch television. Sweets and fast foods make up 83% of food advertisements (Frith & Mueller, 2010). On the other hand advertisement for healthier foods like fruits and vegetables are rarely seen. Persuasive advertisement tactics go beyond television; they can be found online, in school marketing, product placement and sometimes the movie tie-ins (Frith & Mueller, 2010) (the example of Coca-Cola collaborating with Harry Potter franchise has already been discussed in this regard). Sometimes the debate ventures into ethical dimensions where the ethics of advertising to children is discussed. For instance what is the right age of children so that the advertisements can be targeted to them. The advent of digital marketing has also altered the course of this debate. Previously it was believed that teenagers were less vulnerable towards advertisement however recent research suggests that they are as persuadable as young children through successful digital marketing (Marshall, 2010). The only tactic that certainly works is innovative marketing strategy. References Acuff, D. (2010) What kids buy and why: the psychology of marketing to kids. Simon & Schuster. Allison, A. (2006) Millennial monsters: Japanese toys in the global imagination. University of California Press. Beder, S. (1998) marketing to children. New College Institute for Values Research. pp. 101-111. Retrieved April 15, 2014 http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/children.html Frith, K. T. & Mueller, B. (2010) Advertising and societies: global issues. Peter Lang. Lindstorm, M. (2004) Brainchild: Remarkable insights into the minds of todays global kids and their relationships with brands. Kogan Page Publishers. Lusted, M. A. (2010) Advertising to children. ABDO. Marshall, D. (2010) Understanding children as consumers. SAGE Publications. Parasuraman, A., Grewal, D. & Krishnan, R. (2006) Marketing research. Cengage Learning. Sandin et al. (2012) Situating child consumption: rethinking and notions of children, childhood and consumption. Nordic Academic Press. Sudworth, T., Cray, G. & Russel, C (2007) Mission-shaped youth: Rethinking young people and church. Church House Publishing. Tobin, J. (2004) Pikachu’s global adventure: The rise and fall of Pokémon. Duke University Press. Warren, K. (2009) Global marketing. Pearson education India. Appendix 1 State of Industry: US Domestic Market1 Appendix 2 Babies’ Retail Products across the Globe2 Read More