Table
of Contents
Heard
on the Playground
What's
New This Month
CyberStats
Kids
Tweens
Teens
Trend
Watch
Heard
on the Playground
Hot
Off the Presses!
The amount of differences that exist within the tween
audience is one reason it is so difficult to reach this dynamic
group. To adults, four
years signifies the coming of another presidential election.
This same time frame represents an incredible growth period
for tweens. Older tweens
are already 50 percent older than the younger ones, and they
have shown that they undergo a staggering amount of changes between
the ages of eight and twelve.
The Great Tween Buying Machine:
Marketing to Today’s Tweens, a book about tweens
by WonderGroup CEO Tim Coffey, President Dave Siegel and Executive
Vice President Greg Livingston explores this progression as well
as many other issues. With
the power to create a $100-million brand, tweens have proven that
companies can not afford to ignore them.
The book also addresses such “tween-heavy” topics
as Internet usage, clothes shopping, and what makes a good food
for tweens. It not
only looks at what they like, but why they like it, and how to figure
this out through research and product development.
Hard cover versions are due for release by Paramount
Market Publishing on June 11.
The book can be purchased at http://www.paramountbooks.com
or by calling 888-787-8100.
Back
to Top
What's
New This Month
Got
Quarters?
The dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” campaign is getting
a new look in school cafeterias.
The recent testing of school vending machines that dispense
$1 bottles of chocolate, strawberry and coffee-flavored milk in
colorful bottles has been very successful.
Plain milk is also available but has proven to be the least
popular. There are also low-fat varieties.
The initial success can be attributed to a few key
points. The cool and
stylish packaging is important, especially since it is being aimed
at image-conscience youth.
Adding a variety of flavors like chocolate, strawberry and
coffee addresses their need for exciting sensory stimuli.
In a world where kiwi-strawberry is the norm, milk
needed to have some zing.
It was also important to offer plain and low-fat varieties
for those teens who are most concerned with the health benefits
of milk.
The machines have been placed in several test markets.
Once the test ends this spring, they hope to persuade bottlers
and schools nationwide to incorporate these machines.
Along with the colorful packaging, the machines themselves
are decorated with some of the “Got Milk?” stars like the Backstreet
Boys.
Back
to Top
CyberStats
Slipping
Through the Cracks
Some industries have decided not to take teens seriously.
The big boys of wireless do not market to teens and instead
target parents with a message of cell phones being “a life productivity
tool”, according to Industry Standard.
Several smaller companies have launched wireless
products made specifically for teens.
Wireless carrier, Talking Drum, has taken it one step further
with their new KODE store. Unlike most wireless stores, KODE is
not a kiosk in the center of a mall walkway. The KODE store in a
California shopping mall has purple iMacs for teens to log on to,
two turntables and a microphone for DJ jam sessions, and inflatable
chairs.
The store is not the only aspect of KODE that is
totally teen. The cell
phones themselves come with flip covers, cheap calling plans and
popular features like five-way calling.
The company realized they had to make the concept tap into
the teen lifestyle when the founders saw teens using wireless devices
to do inventive things, like finding the frequency of fast-food
drive thrus to place phony orders.
The wireless industry as a whole
will undoubtedly continue to wake up to the teen market. It will be interesting to see if they follow some of the ideas
of KODE. If they do,
they will most likely have to take it one step further.
That is the trick with marketing to a group that is always
one step ahead.
Back
to Top
Kids
Is
the Pen Truly Mightier than the Sword?
Well, the answer to this question depends on who
you ask. According
to a recent article in Time, parents’ beliefs that they have
to provide their children with constant scholastic inspiration has
taken away from something very valuable—play. There are several myths that are not quite as accurate as was
once believed.
The
general belief that Mozart, black, white and red picture books,
and bilingual products can greatly improve the development of a
child’s brain is simply untrue.
It is not bad to utilize such stimulants every once in awhile,
but only if other areas of the child’s development are not sacrificed
to do so.
General
play teaches so many lessons in sharing, communication and following
directions. Several
specialists agree that the one thing that has been proven to benefit
childrens’ cerebral growth is a secure and trusting relationship
with their parents. A
parent allowing their kid to be a kid provides this kind of bond.
It
is not only simple play that seems to work best with kids, but also
simple toys. While toy
companies often strive to make their toys as flashy as possible, simple
toys always seem to engage kids for longer periods of time.
Simply put, simple is often better.
Back to
Top
Tweens
I
Want My Tween TV
Although
the tween group makes up just 20 percent of the TV viewing audience,
they still influence how a couple hundred billion dollars is spent.
According to an article in Broadcasting & Cable,
networks have taken notice of this and are starting to produce programs
directed specifically at tweens.
This
reflects the power they have on how money is spent—not only by them,
but by their parents too.
Now with so many products being marketed directly to tweens,
it makes sense for networks to market entire shows directly to them
as well.
Nickelodeon
recently added two and a half hours of programming towards tweens
on Sunday night called “TEENick.”
The March launch included live-action and animated programs
like Taina, Kenan and Kel, As Told By Ginger and Caitlin’s
Way. They run from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Disney
and Fox Family, the two major networks that compete with Nickelodeon,
already directed programming towards tweens.
Disney’s “Zoog Weekendz” lineup, a tween-targeted original
series, airs on Sunday nights.
Fox Family Channel has chosen to go after the tween market
during the day instead of at night, where they still target adults.
Will
programs in the future continue to be geared towards tweens and even
smaller age segments?
The answer to that is yes and no.
Networks will always strive to target markets that demonstrate
high buying power.
These programs, however, will continue to be aired along side
shows with more appeal to the masses.
Back
to Top
Teens
European Vacation
According
to an article in the New York Times, the blueprint that has existed
for years with successful high school graduates has been getting
some minor alterations. Taking
a year off between high school and college is becoming more and
more popular.
Instead
of heading off to an ivy-covered campus and hanging out at the student
union, some of today’s grads are checking out places like Nepal,
Africa and various parts of Europe.
This quest for adventure can be attributed to several things,
including burnout or a desire to enhance their applications for
elite schools.
There
are also more practical reasons for taking a year off from school.
The ever-increasing cost of higher education has made many
18-year-olds want to take the extra year to decide “who they are”
and “what they want to be.”
Advancements in technology have also made it easier to find
out about exotic opportunities and then stay in touch once teens
are away from home.
While
a UCLA survey of freshmen at four-year colleges found that 98 percent
had come straight from high school, the number of those going abroad
has significantly increased and looks to continue to do so as more
and more opportunities arise.
These
far-off adventures may seem very grown up, but they are really a chance
for kids that have grown up too quickly to act as kids.
It allows them to step back and observe, and in the process
learn a lot about themselves that they were too busy to find out during
their hectic adolescence.
Back
to Top
Trend Watch
What’s Weighing
on Kids’ Minds?
A
recent study by Harris Interactive found that two-thirds of teenage
girls are currently trying to lose weight or have done so in the
past. The findings
were part of a study conducted online with 3,878 respondents between
the ages of 8 and 24 in January 2001. The study also indicated that
by the age of 18 about half of U.S. girls say they are overweight.
Signs
of dissatisfaction with personal appearance start with the very
first group, the 8-9-year-olds.
A dramatic increase begins among girls aged 10 to 12 with
a total of 36 percent who said they are trying to lose weight, while
tween boys are not as concerned.
Collectively, boys and girls between the ages of 13-21 possess
the highest likelihood of trying to lose weight at one time or another.
Another
key finding was that even though girls are more likely to consider
themselves overweight, they spent less time participating in an
activity that made them “sweat or breathe hard” in the past week.
While the difference was slim in each age category, it is
an interesting disparity since the number of girls who are trying
to lose weight are not exercising as much.
These
numbers could suggest that one of the only things trendier than
being skinny is saying that you are trying to be.
As this study shows, it is difficult to find a teenage girl
that says she is not trying to lose weight.
Back to
Top
Please
feel free to forward Youth University to friends.
If
you have received this message as a forward, and would like to receive
Youth University monthly, please go to www.youthuniversity.com
to sign up for your free subscription.
For
more information about WonderGroup please visit our website at www.wondergroup.com
For
advertising, product development, research and more, contact
Greg Livingston at theshadow@wondergroup.com
or (513) 357-2950.
See
you next month!
|
