insurance policy: BEST CAMPAIGNS TARGETING KIDS

Monday, June 1, 2009

BEST CAMPAIGNS TARGETING KIDS

Key take away facts

- Brand loyalty begins as early as age 2. The average 3-year-old recognizes 100 different brand logos.

- Toddlers cannot distinguish a commercial from a television show.

- It isn’t until age 8 that kids begin to realise advertising can be misleading.

- In 2000, $2 billion was spent on advertising to children in America. Today, that figure has increased to $15 billion.

- In a study of more than 1,000 U.S. families, researchers found that 40 percent of 3-month-olds and 90 percent of kids aged 2 years old and younger regularly watch television, DVDs or videos.

- In 2008 Coca-Cola and PepsiCo announced plans to stop -targeting under-12s in response to rising worries over child obesity.

Children have long been a desirable target for advertisers – reaching them at an early age helps build brand loyalty that will last for life. From the age of around three, children can identify brand logos, and basic forms of brand loyalty can start as early as two.

Kids' spending ability doesn’t stop at pocket money – advertisers can benefit from the influence of pester power, where children can actively have an effect on their parents' purchase decisions. Traditionally, campaigns that aim to harness pester power have been limited to those for purchases including breakfast cereal, drinks and toys, but smart marketers can expand their horizons to bigger purchases.

With the rise of tweens with more influence and more disposable income, kids are getting older younger. No longer content with dolls and teddy bears, children under 12 are choosing video games, MP3 players and mobile phones. This type of sophistication means that marketers must use more sophisticated techniques to communicate with them.

Captivating kids and targeting tweens

Don’t underestimate the sophistication of children’s taste

Parc Asterix (FREE)

Parc Asterix entices new visitors through a branded content strategy that attracts children to engage with the characters from the park.

Parc Asterix, the number-two theme park in France, aimed to engage parents and children with a TV campaign that could compete with market leader Disneyland Paris, but without Disney’s marketing budget.

Parc Asterix felt that the perfect children’s programme did not exist on French television so it decided to create one. The highest-rated show among kids was Intervilles, an adult programme that matches towns against each other in a series of games and sporting events.

In partnership with TV channel Gulli, Parc Asterix created Intervilles Junior, a new, prime-time programme that followed the format of Intervilles, this time with children and parents competing at Parc Asterix. The park got the kind of exposure no ad spot could provide and the fit with Parc Asterix’s brand positioning – The Gallic Mood – could be tailored to perfection.

The campaign received massive press coverage and the programme achieved 425,176 viewers. Some 374,208 of them were children aged 4-14. Channel Gulli is now the No 1 television channel for kids. The show has since been aired on other TV channels in France and beyond.