Marketing to Kids and Tweens - US

• Publication date: January 2008
• Report size: 180 pages

With $51 billion in spending power, children and tweens represent an important and lucrative demographic, offering companies an opportunity to build life-long brand loyalty. Children’s and tweens’ tastes, however, are notoriously fickle. The Internet as an entertainment medium has also changed the way products are marketed. Some of the topics covered in this report include: Categorization and ...

With $51 billion in spending power, children and tweens represent an important and lucrative demographic, offering companies an opportunity to build life-long brand loyalty. Children’s and tweens’ tastes, however, are notoriously fickle. The Internet as an entertainment medium has also changed the way products are marketed.

Some of the topics covered in this report include:

• Categorization and analysis of children and tweens by three mutually exclusive personality types: Leaders, Followers, and Rebels
  
  
• An examination of how these three personality types affect the purchase of MP3 players, music downloads, computers, video games, cell phones, and other electronic products
  
  
• Details of children’ and tweens’ attitudes towards drive-in and casual dining restaurants, snack foods, and staple foods
  
  
• Discussion of advertising targeting children
  
  
• Forecast of future trends, including an examination of online marketing tactics

Readers of this report will gain insight into the values and attitudes of leaders, followers and rebels towards a host of topics, and be empowered to create marketing campaigns that speak to these influential cohorts.

Mintel defines children as boys and girls between the ages of six and eight. Tweens are between the ages of nine and twelve.

Restaurant And Food Services Industry in the United States

Scope and Themes

Definition

Consumer research studies

Abbreviations & terms

Abbreviations

Terms

Fast Forward Trends

Trend: The Rise of the Screenager

Virtual Worlds

Which One Is For Me

Little Adults

Trend: Play Ethic

Food, Kids, and Happiness

Structure or Freedom

Executive Summary

Demographic snapshot

Spending power of tweens and children

Leaders, Followers, and Rebels: three personality types

Reaching Leaders, Followers, and Rebels

Leaders, Followers, Rebels and MP3 players and downloads

Leaders, Followers, Rebels and technology

Use of and attitudes towards fast food/drive-ins

Use of and attitudes towards family-style restaurants

Use of frozen dinners

Use of and attitudes towards snack foods

Attitudes towards common foods and drinks

Advertising spending explodes

Looking ahead

Demographics

Demographic snapshot

Figure 1: U.S. children population projections, by age groups, 2002-12

Figure 2: Births by race/ethnicty, 2006

Figure 3: Population by race and Hispanic origin, 2002-12

Composition of the U.S. household

Figure 4: U.S. households, by type, 2006

Figure 5: Number of married and single U.S. households with children, by age, income and race/ethnicity, 2005

Spending Power of Tweens and Children

Figure 6: Households with discretionary income*, by race and Hispanic origin of householder, 2002

Single-mother families and out-of-wedlock births

Figure 7: Single-mother family groups with children under 18, by marital status, 2006

Tweens have their own spending power

How much money they spend

Figure 8: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, by gender and age, December 2007

Figure 9: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, by number of children in household, December 2007

The Mind of the Child and the Tween

The mind of the child

Character merchandising works

Figure 10: Parents attitudes towards character merchandising, October 2005

The mind of the tween

Three Kid Archetypes: Leaders, Followers and Rebels

Summary

Figure 11: Types of children, December 2007

Demographics of Leaders, Followers and Rebels

Figure 12: Attitudes towards group decisions

Figure 13: Attitudes towards deciding an activity, by age and gender

Figure 14: Attitudes towards deciding an activity, by ethnicity

Figure 15: Attitudes towards being different from other kids, by age and gender

Figure 16: Attitudes towards being different from other kids, by age and gender

Characteristics of Leaders, Followers and Rebels

Figure 17: Making decisions, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 18: Talking the most, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 19: Helping others, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 20: Like to be different, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 21: Like trying new things, by types of children, December 2007

Leaders, Followers and Rebels: TV Watching, Online Activity and Game Playing

Summary

Spend on entertainment outside the home

Figure 22: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, level of spend by types of children, December 2007

Hours spent watching TV

Figure 23: Hours spent watching tv per week, by types of children, December 2007

Online activity

Figure 24: Hours spent watching tv online per week, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 25: Hours spent chatting on a social network per week, by types of children, December 2007

Time spent on video games

Figure 26: Hours spent playing video games per week, by types of children, December 2007

Leaders, Follower and Rebels: Influence on Purchase and MP3 Players and Incidence of Digital Downloads

Summary

Influence on MP3 player purchases

Figure 27: MP3 player purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007

Weekly spend on music and movie downloads

Figure 28: Money spent weekly on downloading music and/or movies, by types of children, December 2007

Figure 29: Amount spent on downloads, by age and gender, December 2007

Leaders, Followers and Rebels: Influence on Purchase of Other Technology Products

Summary

Influence on computer purchases

Figure 30: Home computer purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007

Influence on software purchases

Figure 31: Home computer software purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007

Influence on video game system purchases

Figure 32: Video gaming system purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007

Influence on cell phone purchases

Figure 33: Cell phone purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007

Fast Food/Drive-Ins: Who Visits, Which Is Favorite

Summary

Incidence of visiting favorite fast food/drive in restaurants

Figure 34: Frequency of visiting favorite fast food/drive-in restaurant, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Fast food/drive in restaurants visited in past month

Figure 35: Fast food/drive-in restaurants visited in last month, by age, June 2007

Figure 36: Fast food/drive-in restaurants visited in last month, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

What makes a fast food/drive in restaurant a favorite

Figure 37: Why fast food/drive-in restaurant is favorite, by age, June 2007

Family-style Restaurants: Who Visits, Which is Favorite

Summary

Incidence of visiting favorite family-style or sit-down restaurant

Figure 38: Frequency of visiting favorite family-style/sit-down restaurant, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Family-style or sit-down restaurant visited in the past month

Figure 39: Family-style/sit-down restaurants visited in last month, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Favorite family-style or sit-down restaurant

Figure 40: Favorite family-style/sit-down restaurant, by age, June 2007

Consumption of Common Foods and Drinks

Summary

Foods and snacks eaten

Figure 41: Foods and snacks consumed, by age, June 2007

Figure 42: Foods and snacks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Single-serve drinks consumed

Figure 43: Single-serve drinks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Consumption of Snack Foods

Summary

Single-serve foods and snacks eaten

Figure 44: Single-serve snacks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Fruits and vegetables eaten

Figure 45: Single-serve fruits and vegetables consumed, by age, June 2007

Single-serve fruit and vegetables eaten

Figure 46: Single-serve fruits and vegetables consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Consumption of Frozen Dinners

Summary

Incidence of eating frozen dinners

Figure 47: Frozen dinner consumption, by age, June 2007

Numbers of frozen dinners eaten in past month

Figure 48: Frozen dinners consumed in last 30 days, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Frequency of frozen dinners in the house

Figure 49: How often frozen dinners are in house, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007

Advertising and Promotion to Kids and Tweens

Humor

Figure 50: Toontown.com, TV ad, 2007

Figure 51: Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone

The Cool Factor

Figure 52: Disney Mobile Phone, TV ad, 2007

Figure 53: Skechers sneakers

Fantasy

Figure 54: EA Sports NBA Live 08, TV ad, 2008

Figure 55: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, TV ad, 2007

Figure 56: The Game of Life, TV ad, 2007

Marketing to kids and tweens: a snapshot

Television is still the primary channel

The Internet is critical

Other marketing techniques

Future Trends

Virtual worlds, advergames, and the Internet

What obesity epidemic

Keep away from my kids!

Appendix: Trade Associations