VOLUME 23

We look forward to seeing you at Kid Power!!

Table of Contents

Heard on the Playground

What's New This Month

Tech Trends

Kids

Tweens

Teens

Trend Watch

Heard on the Playground

Sporting Kids

A recent poll conducted by Sports Illustrated for Kids surveyed over 1000 sports enthusiasts aged 7 to 17. While some of the results weren’t at all surprising, it did reveal some interesting trends.  The top four sports should not come as a shock, with basketball, football, baseball and soccer rating the highest in overall “hotness.”  This rating took into account the frequency the sport was played, watched on television and how many of their favorite athletes take part in it.  Basketball led the pack in almost every category. 

What is more interesting, and perhaps more useful to youth marketers, are the sports that made up the rest of the Top 10. Rounding out the top-ten hot sports were skateboarding, snowboarding, SlamBall, BMX biking, lacrosse and cheerleading.  The rise in popularity of skateboarding, snowboarding and BMX biking in popularity is no doubt due to the continued exposure of these sports in events like the X Games and the Gravity Games.  They are sports that have grown up with tweens and teens, providing a strong bond between the two.  The youngsters are more likely to get their extreme fix from watching rather than doing, though, leaving the dangerous stunts to the experts.

The other sports aren’t exactly for the faint of heart, either. Slam Ball debuted on television network TNN in the summer of 2002, and combines parts of basketball, hockey and gymnastics for a very high-contact, fast-paced game.  It is another high-flying and extreme sport that can attribute some of its success with this age range to the similarity with aerial sports like skateboarding and BMX biking.

Lacrosse has been played in North America since before the first colonist landed, and there are currently two versions being played: outdoor field lacrosse and the rougher, indoor box lacrosse. While cheerleading is usually thought of as an accompaniment to sports, it has become a sport in itself, complete with the requisite competition, training and injuries.

Looking beyond the hot sports, there are several other trends worth noting. Jogging/running and swimming/diving were listed in the top five sports kids played in the last twelve months, indicating an interest in personal fitness. And while top male athletes were almost exclusively basketball, football or baseball players, there was a greater diversity among top female athletes of which soccer, tennis, boxing, track, skateboarding and ice-skating stars were named.

So, what does this all mean to marketers? While many marketers pay millions to get Allen Iverson or Derek Jeter for their campaign, looking toward the other sports may be a way to both save marketing dollars and catch early adopters. Some early indications of this are the fact that skateboarders such as Tony Hawk and Andy Macdonald have gone as far as starting their own product lines.  Also, Mia Hamm and the Williams sisters are examples of female athletes who are making it big. Marketers can look to the extreme sports for promotion and sponsorship opportunities.

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What's New This Month

Ready…Set…Decorate

Recent announcements from two popular home decorating properties serve as a reminder of both the interest tweens and teens have in home décor, particularly their rooms, as well as an indication of where they may gain inspiration in the future.  TLC’s television program TRADING SPACES, the home-remodeling show aimed toward adults but extremely popular with teenagers, is “adding on” to it’s strong presence with the May launch of TRADING SPACES: Boys vs. Girls on Discovery Kids on NBC.  Meanwhile, trendy retailer Pottery Barn has a new catalog that’s landed in teens’ homes this week called PBteen that’s also supported by a website for this specific segment. 

In terms of a target market, the tween and teen segment has proven over the last few years to have an increasing interest in this area and it goes without saying the amount of influence they have on spending, both directly and indirectly.  In fact, WonderGroup has been interviewed recently on this topic by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Daily News and others, proving that this is a subject of great interest across the country.

TRADING SPACES: Boys vs. Girls, a 13-part series that will begin airing on Monday, May 19 at 7 PM and 10 PM , will include participants aged 8 to 13 years old.  The boys will work to decorate the girls’ rooms and vice versa, with help coming from a crew of grown-up experts to help in the transformation of plans from dream to reality.  Each team will have a set amount of time to create the ultimate room for their friends, with possible themes including turning a room into a skate park or a soccer stadium.                                         

Pottery Barn, a brand owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc., says that PBteen will offer products in five key categories: furniture, rugs, lighting, bedding and accessories for key teen hangout areas, including bedrooms, study and lounge areas.  With their penchant for multitasking, their bedroom often meets all of these needs, so having the power to totally customize it to their liking with a multitude of options should be quite popular.  The products will spawn from themes including Surfer, Sports, Bohemian and Camouflage.  The Surfer theme, for example, includes a cool Surfboard Headboard, Island Fever Pillow and Photo Reel Lamps, which bring real-life photos of surfers into the room.  Along with teen-friendly themes, the catalog itself is written like a teen magazine, including features like a personal style quiz and room horoscope guide.

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Tech Trends

Turning the Gaming Community On and Off

This spring, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. has definitely sprung forward with regards to their involvement in the online gaming experience.  In March they become the largest online console gaming community in North America .  They continue to grow at a rate of 2,500 new members per day.  Demand has been high for the Network Adaptor for PlayStation2®, with a total of one million units having been shipped by the end of March.

For those who never evolved past Space Invaders™, the online gaming community allows for someone in Boston to play a selected video with someone in Seattle .  Of course, this isn’t limited to those in the land of tea parties and constant precipitation.  Similar to how DVDs have extra features, manufacturers of videogames are including special features and capabilities on their games.  This gives both serious and novice gamers alike the opportunity to play a videogame with someone around the block or a continent away.  PlayStation2 currently offers close to 20 titles in their online library, including titles in several genres like action, sports, racing and role-playing games.

One of the most recent games, My Street™, appeals to both kids and the “kid” that exists in many adults.  Developed by Idol Minds, the same creators of Cool Boarders®, an extremely popular snowboarding game, the game features a collection of arcade-style mini-games that you can play both on- and off-line with up to three friends or total strangers.  The games include schoolyard classics like dodgeball, volleyball, RC racing, marbles and more.  Those looking to really compete can even create a customized character and then be the captain of their own online game tournament.

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Kids 

10 Essentials for Good Ads

WonderGroup president Dave Siegel’s column in the last issue of Youth University got such a great response we decided to bring him back for an encore. This time he’s taking a cue from another Dave (Letterman) and sharing a top-10 list, specifically 10 essentials for creating a successful ad for the younger youth segments – kids (aged 3-7) and emerging tweens (aged 8-10). These tips come from Dave’s 30 years experience in the ad industry, and countless hours reviewing hundreds of kids’ commercials.

So, without further ado, from our home office in Cincinnati , Ohio , here’s the Top Ten Essentials for Creating a Successful Kids Ad.

1. Be mindful of the cognitive development of your ad’s target age group. As we discussed in the last column, kids of different ages think and process information differently. Younger kids operate on a much simpler level than their older counterparts. Your ad must be understood by the target age group before it can do anything else.

2. Grab your audience’s attention early and hold it. Many kids, especially younger ones, cannot refocus their attention once they’ve moved it to something else. So if something confuses or bores them in your ad, they “leave” it and cannot mentally come back.

3. Link your brand to the story. Kids, younger kids in particular, tend to remember things in story form, including ads. Having a brand that is strongly linked to the story told in your ad increases the chances that kids will remember it when cruising the aisles.

4. Make the brand memorable. Further building on the theme of brand recall, using mnemonic devices such as jingles and characters (i.e. Kid Cuisine’s KC the Penguin and Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger) will help kids remember your brand.

5. Be literal. As most people with children already know, kids are very literal. What they see and hear is what they get. Therefore, don’t make your messages or claims too vague or abstract. Kids will either misinterpret or not even comprehend the point you’re trying to get across. For example, if your product comes in certain flavors, tell the child exactly what those flavors are.

6. Watch out for distractions. Kids pay attention to the darndest things, sometimes the wrong things. Kids suffer from centration, and will center their thoughts and attention on just one part of your ad or product that stands out to them. It might be the little kitten in the ad, it might be the cute baby, but it might not be the product or the message.

7. Humor, music and anticipation increase kid involvement. Kids are all about fun, and nothing says fun more than jokes, tunes and the element of surprise. Any combination of these can serve as a hook for your ad. But make sure the joke is understood by the child. If it’s not, he or she will think that you are stupid.

8. Do not pick on living things. So far we’ve been talking about “dos,” but we felt it necessary to include one “don’t.”  Make sure your ad does not show kids picking on other kids or animals. Kids picking on adults is okay, and cartoon animals picking on each other might be okay, but in general it’s better to show the nicer side of kids.

9. Boys will be boys, girls will be either. Girls respond to either boys or girls in ads, but boys will usually not respond favorably to ads with girls as the only talent. There are a few exceptions to this; for instance if the girl is an athlete.

10. Test before committing. Before committing the big bucks on media, make certain that your audience likes the ad. Likeability is still the strongest, most important part of any commercial to a child.

It bears repeating that marketers must approach kids differently than they approach adults. These 10 rules will help you bear this in mind, and create an effective ad that will hit home with your youth audience.

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Tweens 

For Youth, By Youth

For years the focus of retailers has been on the expanding market of urban fashion.  In fact, in an issue earlier this year (Volume 21), Youth University reviewed a study that gauged the impact of urban youth on future trends.  Lines of urban clothes for both men and women continue to fill stores each season, backing this study even further.  In fact, in the past few years, several musicians have turned a “side project” fashion line into successful brands geared directly toward these trendsetters.

Major players in the Hip Hop segment of the music industry, including Sean “P. Diddy” Combs (Sean John), Russell Simmons (Phat Farm) and Jennifer Lopez (J. LO by Jennifer Lopez) have all created new urban clothing lines that have proven to be very successful.  But the latest trend in the fashion world is urban apparel made specifically for young boys.  Adults and teens are no longer the only ones that can dress like their favorite rapper.  Kids admire superstars just the same, and now they can dress like them, too, with the release of two new clothing lines this season.

Percy (Master P) Miller and Lil’ Romeo have created a father-son urban line available for adults and juniors.  The P. Miller Shorties line for young boys is an extension off of the P. Miller adult line.  The collection features velour sets, denim, sweat suits, and hats.  Throwback jerseys and brightly colored nylon jackets are predicted to be huge sellers this season.  Boys now have the option of dressing in urban fashion that is comfortable, colorful, and stylish.  The line will be carried exclusively at Mervyn’s Department stores.   

Another musician-turned-fashion enthusiast is young rapper, Bow Wow.  Earlier this year the star released his urban–inspired line, Shago.  The popular brand FUBU, based on the acronym “For Us, By Us,” was started by young African-American entrepreneurs in New York with the message that their brand was relevant because of its creative source.  Bow Wow’s marketing strategy is similar to this, but even takes it one step further by also incorporating the age into the equation.  It is the first line of its kind that is created by a youth, for youth.  The collection features clothing that Bow Wow actually wears so now boys can dress identically to the superstar.  Bow Wow says he has always loved fashion and this was a way he could remain on top while doing something he enjoyed. 

Both fashion labels say that a young girls collection is the next to come.  They will be entering an arena in which the future Mrs. Affleck is already a big player.  J. Lo’s clothing line for tweens, J. Lo Girls, is already available to young girls in department stores.  Velour sets, hats, and her new perfume, Glow by J. Lo have already been met with enthusiasm and helped to bolster her overall fashion portfolio.  Much like other product categories that have noticed the increasing purchase power of pre-teens, fashion brands have realized the importance of making their brand available to younger audiences.  Hence, it makes total sense that with the increasing popularity of urban-inspired clothing lines, children and tweens have the same fashion choices.

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Teens

Catching a New Wave at the Mall

For those looking to know what teens will be wearing before they even know, you can look to a banker.  Retail analyst Jeff Klinefelter of Bancorp Piper Jaffray recently released his fifth research survey detailing teen spending habits and their retail brand perceptions.  The results of his Spring 2002 study were highlighted in Youth University last April, and with the economy proving to be of high interest with current world events, it made sense to review these updated findings.  Mall research tours were conducted with nearly 600 teens from 12 high schools in 11 states and, when compared to the results from the past year, highlighted the continued popularity of some retail outlets along with the emergence of a new kid on the block.

In terms of destinations, Abercrombie and Fitch was listed as the retailer visited most frequently overall for the fourth time in a row, followed by The Limited’s Express, Pacific Sunwear and American Eagle Outfitters.  While these four retailers have been rated consistently high over the past few years as part of Klinefelter’s study, the fifth member of the Top 5 is quite an up-and-comer.  Teen retailer Hollister Co., an offshoot of Abercrombie, rose from number twenty four in the Fall 2002.  This meteoric rise is impressive, especially when the fact that Hollister only had stores in two thirds of the markets that were surveyed.

So what is Hollister Co.? In the big picture of retail, it definitely can still be considered the “new kid on the block,” with it’s first store being introduced in July of 2000.  Hollister Co. is described as a “West Coast oriented lifestyle brand” that targets teens aged 14-18 years old.  For those that haven’t been there, it could be described as a mix of Abercrombie and Pacific Sunwear, offering both surf/skate inspired wear with clothes that have the classic “collegiate campus” feel, giving the preppy look a more casual and sporty look.

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Trend Watch

A New “Generic” Brand

Running into Superman and Batman in the grocery store is quite an interesting occurrence to say the least.  Of course, when the caped superheroes you bump into are on a box of store-brand fruit snacks, you’re really talking about news fit for the Daily Planet.  Seeing a Justice League™ license on some Kroger-brand fruit snacks, along with Snoopy™, Curious George™, and Tom & Jerry™ was enough to give this Clark Kent whiplash.  A license on a store brand was quite an interesting scoop, but the important “w” question to ask was, “What does this mean to the world of youth marketing”?  A full-scale investigation was launched at the local grocery store, providing a recount of what the grocery landscape is and providing, more importantly, a glimpse into what the future could be.

In today’s grocery store, you really do have to try to find the “generic” store brands.  There is no longer a plain white and black box in basic categories sticking out awkwardly like the kid that gets picked last in dodge ball.  The improved stature of the private label brand is by no means a new phenomenon.  This segment has enjoyed substantial growth and an incredible image makeover in the past few decades, and more significantly, over the past few years.  Aside from financial increases, private label brands have grown in other ways as well, aside from the aforementioned use of licenses in some categories. 

For one, product offerings in categories like salty snacks and canned pasta, two categories that are extremely popular with kids, have seen an improvement in product innovation and packaging.  While still a little timid when it comes to trying new types of food, kids and tweens enjoy seeing their favorite foods in fun new shapes or colors.  Once again, this is not new news, but a store brand taking these steps to attract consumers is.  And of course, packaging that includes characters and colorful logos catches young shoppers’ eyes, and more importantly to national brands, makes differences between the brands and products even harder to detect.

The blurring of this line that previously existed between national brands and store brands has a particular impact on today’s young family, especially with the continued evolution of the 4-Eyed, 4-Legged Consumer.  This term, first introduced by WonderGroup last year, refers to the blended purchase behavior of today’s Mom and her children.   They work as one unit when it comes to shopping, both inside and outside the store.  The “nag” factor has given way to this new behavior, with busy moms relying on their children’s input on many of the products they buy in a store.  If the child isn’t there picking out what cereal they want that week, Mom is still surely making the decision with an understanding in the back of her mind of what her kids will and will not eat.

So what does this mean?  Don’t kids want the most expensive and flashy item?  That is only partly true.  They are smart consumers who have grown up expecting to have a say in purchase decision, often picking products in categories like yogurt, fruit snacks, cereal, beverages, canned pasta, fruit, salty snacks and many others.  Mom is also a smart consumer and often bargains with her children in the aisles.  Having a cheaper-priced product that looks just like the name brand gives her an opportunity to persuade her child to accept the less-expensive alternative, a task that is much more difficult when the product is obviously inferior in the child’s eyes.

Overall, this makeover is not a trend.  It is a fact that national brands have been forced to recognize.  Look for store brands to continue to emulate the innovation of national brands in product categories considered to be safe by the store brands.  They will continue to quickly incorporate overall food and beverage trends, like the bowl-package format of frozen entrees and individual servings of beverages seen in flavored milks to name just a few. 

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Youth University is brought to you free each month by WonderGroup.  

We hope you find Youth University valuable and helpful.  WonderGroup, a 360º youth marketing agency provides services including:  Advertising, New Product Development, Research and Promotions.  You can learn more about WonderGroup at www.wondergroup.com or by calling Greg Livingston, theshadow@wondergroup.com, at (513) 357-2950.

See you next month!