Consumerism may be the bread and butter of marketers

Read the caselet carefully and answer the following questions :

1. Consumerism may be the bread and butter of marketers, but this does not empower them to start converting kids to consumerism at the age of three or five. Justify

2. Children being increasingly targeted, there is a need for responsible advertising. What could be the elements of responsible advertising?

3 .Prasoon Joshi, creative director of McCann Erikson says, “Kids are responsible for making an ad a hit or flop.” How has pester power become increasingly advantageous to marketers?

There is not much Atul Bendre, an engineer with Indian Airlines, can do when both his children demand the latest gizmos and fancy foodstuff they get to see on television. “My 15-year-old daughter demanded a cell phone when she passed out of school. I had to buy one for my 12-year-old son too, otherwise he would have got a complex,” he says. “It’s difficult for me to manage a household, but today parents are helpless. Our children are constantly comparing us with neighbours.”

        That sums up the dilemma of parents – and the new-age marketing mantra. “Pester Power” is the new buzzword in marketing circles and the country’s business houses have realized that the child is the key to loosen his parents’ pursestrings. No wonder then that a number of children’s channels are waiting to take off in the next few months – they’re

sure to find brands eager to advertise on them, which means good money.

Apart from the already popular Cartoon Network, Pogo and Nickelodeon there is news of Disney and Star keen on making an entry. UTV is expected to have launched the country’s first full desi channel with localized content in Hindi, this year. The channel will target 50 million Indian children spread across 44 million cable and satellite homes.

         Skeptical adults may wonder who’s going to watch all these kid channels, but a survey by AC Nielsen, UTV’s research partner, showed that, the time spent in front of television goes up with age, and the preferred language of viewing is Hindi across all age groups. Apart from the programs, the children also view a lot of the advertisements.

     “Kids are better consumers of advertising”, says Samit Sinha of Alchemist Brand Consultancy. “Their minds are not as cluttered as adult minds and so they can assimilate the message faster.” That receptiveness translates into pester power.Schools were considered to be a place where children could be prevented from the horde of advertisements. However, in order to make their brands more visible, companies are targeting children through in-school promotions. Budget shortfalls are forcing school boards to allow corporations access students in exchange for badly needed cash, computers   and educational materials.

A study conducted by Millward Brown and IMRB showed that kids influence decision-making on categories beyond those just meant for kids. Data also suggests that recognition of corporate logos happens at the age of six months, brand name requests begin by the age of three years, differentiating between brand values happens by age 10 and brand loyalty begins by the age of eleven. Marketers realize that if they can get tweens (children in the 8-14 age-group) positively inclined to their brand, they could literally have consumers for life.The research also showed that six out of 10 children pester an average of nine times even after their parents say ‘no’ to a particular request, and that 80 per cent of all brand purchases by parents with tweens are controlled by their children. Says Purnendu Bose, COO, New Ventures, UTV, “Pester Power research indicates that 30 per cent of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) purchase decisions are influenced by kids, they also influence selection of brand for non-kids category like refrigerator, music system, car etc.” In some ways, kids always provide expert opinion especially since they know a lot about modern technology, and advertisers do understand the impact of pester power, he says. “Probably that is why you see children associated with seven out of ten commercials.”

“Kids in India have always had the pressure vote: by sheer dint of either child-like nagging or persuasion they can get doting parents to get them what they want”, says adman Suhel Seth. “The situation today is even more delicate because today they can effect purchase with increased pocket money. Preteens are thus definitely having a greater say in the whole buying decision-making and they should, since the borders of consumption are no longer age-restricted”, he says. So, innovative marketing strategies are increasingly targeting kids, directly or indirectly. A growing slew of ads feature kids - think of the Maruti ad with the little Sikh boy, the Hutch ad with the boy and the dog, the LG TV ad with the bespectacled boy, and several Pepsodent ads.

“Kids are responsible for making an ad a hit or flop”, says Prasoon Joshi of McCann Erikson. “If a kid likes an ad, he remembers it and keeps repeating it. Soon enough the parents are humming the tune as well.”