The disappearance of advertising opportunities around TV programs like Z@pp (NPO), Telekids (RTL8), Boz (RTL7) has created a reach problem towards kids in elementary school age. Not to mention brand safety, ethics and device choice: slippery ice for many advertisers involved in kids marketing. We'll look at some brand and marketing communications insights and then link back to media. In other words, how can you use other perspectives for kids marketing efforts?
Kids marketing in recent years has looked a lot at "Pester Power." This concept revolves around the power of nagging children. If they just ask often and long enough then eventually the parent tackles and buys. Pretty recognizable, of course. And thus a nice cultural social insight: but to build a complete media or communication strategy around it?
What is the impact of Pester Power?
That "Bully Power" is primarily about the children in the family is not a strong point.
Kids are not only increasingly difficult to reach, they themselves have (almost) no money and very importantly, they are not about the actual purchase. An average parent as a target group does not have these limitations and may buy presents for other children at more times throughout the year, than for their own child? So the parent must primarily think about what is fun, popular and responsible for birthday friends. From that perspective, there is no (direct) "Pester Power" influence, but rather the tips and suggestions of other adults. Parents, grandparents & grandfathers, uncles & aunts, neighbors, the schoolyard parents and even the good St. Nicholas, they think of something.
Another perspective on this challenge is the idea of making a switch to parents/caregivers as the primary target audience. We can then look at 3 relevant elements from brand and marcom: moment segmentation, mental market share and target the market
Moment segmentation
Socio-demographic segmentation based on age, income and social class has quite a few limitations and in itself offers little guidance. In this case, children aged 6 to 12: there are about 1,116,000 of them and there is not 1 the same: each child has his own interests, hobbies, sports, worlds of experience, social development pace etc etc.
Therefore, it is better to ask at what times your product should be thought of: moment segmentation. Boyfriend/girlfriend's birthday coming up soon? Always wanted something in the closet? Got a swimming certificate? Christmas? Sick - foster creativity? Sports?
This not only gives many more entrances to the market (Category Entry Points), it also gives direction to the communication materials to be developed such as TV, online video, radio, etc. Because if you choose some moments and have creation developed specifically for them, those moments will stick to your brand. Memory structures are built and you are actually working on a strong brand. Provided the execution is consistent and recognizable, of course.
Mental market share
So as an advertiser, if you think from moments, you recognize the behavior of your target audience better and better. Moreover, a media agency can create a much more effective and innovative plan for this and thus stand out.
In other words, it's important to rise up in the adult consumer's brain at the right time: to strike a hook based on emotion, intelligence and creativity. See the lego expression "airplane": brilliant in simplicity, impact and stopping power. Primarily targeted to adults with 1 visual, 1 logo, 1 big idea. For media planning that means broad thematic deployment with, for example, print or (digital) outdoor, but also display online targeting all parents, adults and therefore bystanders of a child. And who isn't? Mental market share is what you want to create with a broad target group, continuously, always on.
Target the market
Back to media. It's pretty clear: "The market" in this aspect is anyone who ever buys a gift for a child. So besides mom and dad, family, acquaintances, also that student of 21 with a nephew of 8. And they remember this kind of impactful Lego expressions. Because expressions with emotional impact are processed and stored by long-term memory. Dare, for example, to make and buy an intelligent, adult-oriented expression on SBS 6 at 10:30 p.m. around a movie like Pulp Fiction. For a product that at first glance has no connection to the subject. To stand out, to plant a seed. Because the growth is in the non- and light users of your category. But then you have to reach them.
By the way, this is not only true for budgets over 2 million. A good media strategy that balances brand and performance messages with target growth, coupled with continuous (perceived) presence is almost always possible.
Martijn Jaartsveld is Strategy Director at STROOM. He has worked on both client side (ING, T-Mobile, PostNL) and agency side (McCann-Erickson, Ogilvy, Havas Media) in various brand, marcom and media positions.