Thursday, April 24, 2003Missed 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."
9:42:55 PM comment [] # trackback []
During a recent study, i was particularly taken with the thoughts, attitude and behaviour of a 20 year old in Bangalore. He was a participant in one of a series of focus groups i was moderating in large metros across the country. At the focus group, he was quiet, for the most part, yet he knew all there is to know about all the 'right symbols'. His manner was gentle, collaborative, non-confrontational, conversational - not once did he try and force his views on the group, yet when he had a different point of view than his peers, he stated it confidently. At one stage I felt he was as much an observer as I.
As part of the study, i met him later at his home - we did the usual round of photographing his personal space ... he showed me some of the modelling he was doing (an engineering student after all), his music collection, his favourite clothes and other such stuff. We got talking about heroes and role models - this is an interesting area .. increasingly there are fewer and fewer icons the youth speaks of .. barring Sachin Tendulkar, a few Filmstars and a few topshot Industrialists. While each of these had a place on his list of traits in people he admires, this guy found it very difficult to pinpoint anyone that he considered to be an icon in the true sense of the term.
Then he took me over to his computer .. and took me through all the many discussion groups he was on - most of them initiated by him. What struck me was the amazing range of topics - from aeromodelling to music, religion to politics, the search for individual identity to visions of a better India. He told me that these discussions are not restricted to the virtual world - and that there is the need to act. He was involved in so many things .. keep the neighbourhood clean drives, many campus activities, running little playgroups for kids in his neighbourhood.
And then we moved on to discussing what he wanted to be - and i was quite stunned by his answer ... a Politician is what he said. Stunned because we tend to look at politicians with some suspicion (i realise my own bias here :) ). And in his quiet manner he told me how he wanted to use the education, the opportunities he had been fortunate to receive, to change the world.
In his words ... "We must each clean our own toilet. Unless we ourselves get our own hands dirty, how can we expect it to get sparklingly clean, so that we are proud when we take a guest into it. And so we don't turn up our own nose when we use it"
7:30:28 PM comment [] # trackback []
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 ....
7:26:19 PM comment [] # trackback []
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Copyright 2005 Dina Mehta
