Youth University Newsletter

Heard on the Playground

What's New This Month

Trend Watch

Heard on the Playground

Do Girls' and Boys' Play Patterns Really Differ?

This past month WonderGroup had the opportunity to work with some boys and girls ages 6 - 8. We wanted to get their response to a couple of new toys coming out on the market. (Actually, the toys are being re-released from the late 80s but are "new" to this generation.) It was interesting to see the kids' reactions.

First of all, for kids in this age group, observational research works best. This age segment is still on the cusp of literacy and they are not particularly articulate. They are crossing the cognitive boundary from prelogical to logical, and their responses can vary. However, observing reaction and play patterns can be most revealing.

Watching boys and girls interact separately with each toy confirmed that boys and girls truly are different in their play patterns. Girls cannot help but be nurturing—it is in their nature. Even though this stuffed animal figure did not immediately conjure up loving maternal instincts by its physical appearance, the girls responded as mother figures, loving and nurturing the "thing." The girls all remarked how "cute" it was and held it in their arms like a baby doll.

The boys couldn't help wanting to act out physically with their stuffed toy. Again, this reaction is part of their nature—the need to dominate. When given the rather over-sized, weird-looking animal, the boys immediately began to fight with it. They punched it and rolled around on the floor, wrestling with it. They admired its somewhat gruesome-looking features and liked its boy-friendly colors of red and blue. There was no "nurturing," although the boys admitted they would sleep with it in their beds and may take it on overnights. When shown the girls' toy, they recoiled, although I'm sure they would have been happy ripping its head off. The girls, on the other hand, did not know what to make of the boys' animal. This creature did not invite cuddling.

One other interesting note about this research: kids do not understand flashbacks or flash-forwards. We exposed the kids to commercials that previously had been done for the toys and watched their reactions. Their response was mixed. Because of the knowledge we have of the cognitive development of this age group, we know they cannot grasp time-lapse or time sequencing. They are not yet abstract thinkers. They can absorb many details, but only when presented in a concrete manner. Commercials that leap forward or flash backward lose them.

The commercials they watched were done several years ago (by another agency!) and reaction was varied. When the story line was straightforward, they responded positively. But when there was a flashback or flash-forward, they were lost or confused. Just keep these simple learnings in mind when producing commercials for this age group, and they will be much more effective and entertaining. And don't forget—boys and girls are different!

What's New This Month

New Year's Resolutions

Adults were not the only ones making resolutions at the new year: kids were making resolutions for positive change, too! Here are some of their thoughts for the new year:

I will be nicer to my brother . . .

I will stop eating so much junk food . . .

I will eat my fluoride pills every day . . .

I will keep my room cleaner by cleaning it at least once a month without my mother telling me to . . .

I will not fight with my sister . . .

Source: About.com Kids' Exchange

CyberStats

Parental Supervision of Internet Varies by Group

Parental supervision of 8 - 12 year olds' Internet usage varies by age and sex, according to a report by Nickelodeon Online/Harris Interactive KidPulse.

Eighty-eight percent of 8 - 9 year olds say their parents know where they are going on-line, and 69% say their parents will not let them enter personal information on the Internet. By ages 10 - 12, only 76% of kids say that their parents know where they are going on-line, and 55% report that their parents will not let them enter personal information on-line.

Parents are also pre-approving sites for their children: nearly half (48%) of 8 - 9 year olds report that a parent visits sites before they are allowed to visit them. Only 25% of 10 - 12 year olds report this level of parental involvement. Parents also appear to set time limits on the Internet by the child's age. Fifty-nine percent of 8 - 9 year olds report that their parents set a time limit on their Internet time. Only 46% of 10 - 12 year olds report that their parents set time limits on their Internet activities.

Parents not only seem to gauge monitoring Internet usage by age, but also by gender. Twice as many boys (15%) as girls (7%) report that their parents don't care where they go on-line.

Kids

Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio's Video Picks for Kids

Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio rates thousands of kids' products by category. Products are kid-tested by families nationwide, and the results are considered by experts as part of an overall evaluation of the products. Here are the latest Oppenheimer Toy Portfolio Toddler and Preschool Video Platinum Award winners:

Play with Maisy (Universal)

Birthday Stories (Time Life)

Discover Spot (Disney)

Little Bear's Band (Paramount)

Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepytime Tales (HBO Kids Video)

Tweens

What Should a Good TV Ad for Tweens Do?

High Tween usage of television makes TV advertising a good way to generate Tween awareness of a product. Here are some things to think about when targeting Tweens through television:

Make certain that your ad shows Tweens your product, what the product looks like, how to use it and, equally as important, who uses it—namely Tweens, like themselves, or in some cases, teens.

Make sure the product is the hero of the commercial. Make sure that whatever drama or story used in a spot revolves around the product.

When using humor, make sure that it directly relates to the information you want the Tween, especially the young Tween, to carry over from the commercial.

Make the goals of your TV spot simple:

Communicate the key selling message

Create and enforce brand name recall

Get tweens to express interest in requesting your product

Make it likeable

Test your TV spot before placing significant media dollars behind it. At the very least, show your finished TV spot to a group of Tweens to make certain that it is communicating what it should be. Simply because you are not a Tween, you cannot view a spot the way a Tween does.

WonderGroup CEO Tim Coffey, President Dave Siegel and Executive Vice President Greg Livingston, are authoring a book on Tweens, The Great Tween Buying Machine: Marketing to Today's Tweens. The book is due out later this year.

Teens

Teens and Reading

A majority of teens read for pleasure, reports a survey by Smart Girl Internette. The survey, which included 3,072 US boys and girls, showed that 72% of respondents read for pleasure when they have the time. Thirty-six percent of the reading group report that they read constantly for their own personal satisfaction. When not reading books, teens are reading magazines (75%), the newspaper (59%), and even the back of the cereal box (48%)!

Mysteries are the most popular types of books among teens, followed by adventure, horror and true stories. Girls showed more enthusiasm for reading than did boys: 50% of girls reported reading constantly, while only 35% of boys reported reading all the time.

One stumbling block many teens found to reading: their schedules. Forty-six percent of the teens surveyed reported that they didn't have much time to read for pleasure, saying that homework and extracurricular activities take up most of their time.

Trend Watch

Marketing to Gen Y

Today's marketing-savvy Gen Y can spot a marketing ploy immediately, reports SCW Online. They've grown up in an age where media saturation is the norm, with hundreds of television channels, websites and e-mail spam. Since they've been marketed to their whole lives, Gen Y has become a group of extremely savvy consumers.

How do you reach out to this group? Tap into their sense of community involvement--according to a study by Roper Starch, 91% of teens value companies and products that support causes, 87% will continue to buy products from companies that support causes, and 86% will tell their friends about companies that are committed to causes. Another way to reach this group is to use the technology they are used to, such as adding information kiosks in food courts or implementing entertainment zones that are globally connected.

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For more information about WonderGroup please visit our website at www.wondergroupinc.com

For advertising, product development, research and more, contact Greg Livingston at theshadow@wondergroupinc.com or (513) 357-2950.

See you in February!