Missed out on the Nickelodeon-Brand Equity Kid Marketing Forum held in Mumbai yesterday, as i was away.   Among the questions that were raised and answered were those on the influence kids exert on purchase, what drives brand loyalty among children, what fundamentally appeals to children and how successful children’s brands get built and command loyalty over extended periods in time.

Here are a few excerpts from a report on the event ...

"Ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakar, of Genesis Films, argued that kids do not see advertising as advertising, but as entertainment. “If you appeal to kids and adults alike it’s good for you, but if your advertising doesn’t appeal to kids, you lose half your audience,” he says. Drawing from his filmmaking experience, Kakar also spent time explaining how allowing child models to have fun at the shoot and “be themselves” helped make better ads. He also strongly urged marketers to curb the tendency to talk down to kids. “Treat kids as equals,” he said, adding that the use of celebrities in ads targeted at kids will work “as long as the celebrity has been used properly, and is not condescending”. "

"Neerja Wable, senior vice-president & executive director, IMRB, and head of Millward Brown India, revealed that Indian tweens still place a lot of importance on honouring tradition. “‘Being better than others’ is also seen as a very important factor by Indian children, but the attribute ‘I want to be famous’ is highest in India, with 90 per cent of children desiring fame,” she says. She added that the research showed that Indian tweens are very optimistic and positive about the future, when compared to tweens from other countries."

"An opportunity: In sheer numbers, the potential to market brands to kids in India is bigger than the market potential of the whole of Western Europe. A threat: globally, ‘tweens’ (kids in the 8-to-14 age group) are 40-per cent less loyal to brands as compared to adults."

The typical picture that comes to mind of an upmarket youngster is..

"i wear only 'brands' ... clothes off the street are passe"

"the smaller the cell phone, the better .. i'd rather not have a cell phone than carry around the huge monster that my dad handed down to me"

"Eminem rocks ... pop sucks"

"my heroes .. Sachin Tendulkar and my dad .. a self-made successful businessman"

Get a bunch of eight upper income group youngsters together in a group .. start a conversation on trends ... you will usually find seven (if not all eight) voices trying to outshout the other on why 'i'm the coolest' ...

Superficial, materialistic, 'wannabe's', expedient, consumeristic ... these are some of the perceptions and misconceptions one could take away.  

But scratch deeper - go to their homes, hang-out with them for a while, look at their private space - their rooms, their slambooks, their collections.  Listen to their deeper thoughts and visions ... and you might be quite surprised at the different story unveiled.   

Lessons i learnt :

First, from a methodological standpoint, any qualitative researcher must realise and appreciate the extent of posturing that goes on in this 'artificial' focus group set-up, particularly among this young segment that is always out to 'impress' his peers. We must have no preconceptions, must be willing to look around the curve and lift the carpet to check what's beneath.

Second, there's more depth to youth than this techno-savvy, peer-driven, materialistic, expedient, wannabe consumer marketers focus on.  They can and do have visions of the future that might surprise us all.  Lets really listen to their stories for the cutting edge.

Sameer, Ashwini, Ashwin and co. ... would love to hear your visions for the future ....