Abstract
With $51 billion in spending power, children and tweens represent an important and lucrative demographic, offering companies an opportunity to build life-long brand loyalty. Children' s and tweens' tastes, however, are notoriously fickle. The Internet as an entertainment medium has also changed the way products are marketed.
Some of the topics covered in this report include:
- Categorization and analysis of children and tweens by three mutually exclusive personality types: Leaders, Followers, and Rebels
- An examination of how these three personality types affect the purchase of MP3 players, music downloads, computers, video games, cell phones, and other electronic products
- Details of children' and tweens' attitudes towards drive-in and casual dining restaurants, snack foods, and staple foods
- Discussion of advertising targeting children
- Forecast of future trends, including an examination of online marketing tactics
Readers of this report will gain insight into the values and attitudes of leaders, followers and rebels towards a host of topics, and be empowered to create marketing campaigns that speak to these influential cohorts.
Mintel defines children as boys and girls between the ages of six and eight. Tweens are between the ages of nine and twelve.
Table of Contents
Scope and Themes
- Definition
- Consumer research studies
- Abbreviations & terms
- Abbreviations
- Terms
Executive Summary
- Demographic snapshot
- Spending power of tweens and children
- Leaders, Followers, and Rebels: three personality types
- Reaching Leaders, Followers, and Rebels
- Leaders, Followers, Rebels and MP3 players and downloads
- Leaders, Followers, Rebels and technology
- Use of and attitudes towards fast food/drive-ins
- Use of and attitudes towards family-style restaurants
- Use of frozen dinners
- Use of and attitudes towards snack foods
- Attitudes towards common foods and drinks
- Advertising spending explodes
- Looking ahead
Demographics
- Demographic snapshot
- Figure 1: U.S. children population projections, by age groups, 2002-12
- Figure 2: Births by race/ethnicty, 2006
- Figure 3: Population by race and Hispanic origin, 2002-12
- Composition of the U.S. household
- Figure 4: U.S. households, by type, 2006
- Figure 5: Number of married and single U.S. households with children, by age, income and race/ethnicity, 2005
- Spending Power of Tweens and Children
- Figure 6: Households with discretionary income*, by race and Hispanic origin of householder, 2002
- Single-mother families and out-of-wedlock births
- Figure 7: Single-mother family groups with children under 18, by marital status, 2006
- Tweens have their own spending power
- How much money they spend
- Figure 8: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, by gender and age, December 2007
- Figure 9: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, by number of children in household, December 2007
The Mind of the Child and the Tween
- The mind of the child
- Character merchandising works
- Figure 10: Parents attitudes towards character merchandising, October 2005
- The mind of the tween
Three Kid Archetypes: Leaders, Followers and Rebels
- Summary
- Figure 11: Types of children, December 2007
- Demographics of Leaders, Followers and Rebels
- Figure 12: Attitudes towards group decisions
- Figure 13: Attitudes towards deciding an activity, by age and gender
- Figure 14: Attitudes towards deciding an activity, by ethnicity
- Figure 15: Attitudes towards being different from other kids, by age and gender
- Figure 16: Attitudes towards being different from other kids, by age and gender
- Characteristics of Leaders, Followers and Rebels
- Figure 17: Making decisions, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 18: Talking the most, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 19: Helping others, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 20: Like to be different, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 21: Like trying new things, by types of children, December 2007
Leaders, Followers and Rebels: TV Watching, Online Activity and Game Playing
- Summary
- Spend on entertainment outside the home
- Figure 22: Kids and teens weekly spend on entertainment outside the home, level of spend by types of children, December 2007
- Hours spent watching TV
- Figure 23: Hours spent watching tv per week, by types of children, December 2007
- Online activity
- Figure 24: Hours spent watching tv online per week, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 25: Hours spent chatting on a social network per week, by types of children, December 2007
- Time spent on video games
- Figure 26: Hours spent playing video games per week, by types of children, December 2007
Leaders, Follower and Rebels: Influence on Purchase and MP3 Players and Incidence of Digital Downloads
- Summary
- Influence on MP3 player purchases
- Figure 27: MP3 player purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007
- Weekly spend on music and movie downloads
- Figure 28: Money spent weekly on downloading music and/or movies, by types of children, December 2007
- Figure 29: Amount spent on downloads, by age and gender, December 2007
Leaders, Followers and Rebels: Influence on Purchase of Other Technology Products
- Summary
- Influence on computer purchases
- Figure 30: Home computer purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007
- Influence on software purchases
- Figure 31: Home computer software purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007
- Influence on video game system purchases
- Figure 32: Video gaming system purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007
- Influence on cell phone purchases
- Figure 33: Cell phone purchase influence, by types of children, December 2007
Fast Food/Drive-Ins: Who Visits, Which Is Favorite
- Summary
- Incidence of visiting favorite fast food/drive in restaurants
- Figure 34: Frequency of visiting favorite fast food/drive-in restaurant, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Fast food/drive in restaurants visited in past month
- Figure 35: Fast food/drive-in restaurants visited in last month, by age, June 2007
- Figure 36: Fast food/drive-in restaurants visited in last month, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- What makes a fast food/drive in restaurant a favorite
- Figure 37: Why fast food/drive-in restaurant is favorite, by age, June 2007
Family-style Restaurants: Who Visits, Which is Favorite
- Summary
- Incidence of visiting favorite family-style or sit-down restaurant
- Figure 38: Frequency of visiting favorite family-style/sit-down restaurant, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Family-style or sit-down restaurant visited in the past month
- Figure 39: Family-style/sit-down restaurants visited in last month, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Favorite family-style or sit-down restaurant
- Figure 40: Favorite family-style/sit-down restaurant, by age, June 2007
Consumption of Common Foods and Drinks
- Summary
- Foods and snacks eaten
- Figure 41: Foods and snacks consumed, by age, June 2007
- Figure 42: Foods and snacks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Single-serve drinks consumed
- Figure 43: Single-serve drinks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
Consumption of Snack Foods
- Summary
- Single-serve foods and snacks eaten
- Figure 44: Single-serve snacks consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Fruits and vegetables eaten
- Figure 45: Single-serve fruits and vegetables consumed, by age, June 2007
- Single-serve fruit and vegetables eaten
- Figure 46: Single-serve fruits and vegetables consumed, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
Consumption of Frozen Dinners
- Summary
- Incidence of eating frozen dinners
- Figure 47: Frozen dinner consumption, by age, June 2007
- Numbers of frozen dinners eaten in past month
- Figure 48: Frozen dinners consumed in last 30 days, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
- Frequency of frozen dinners in the house
- Figure 49: How often frozen dinners are in house, by race and ethnic origin, June 2007
Advertising and Promotion to Kids and Tweens
- Humor
- Figure 50: Toontown.com, TV ad, 2007
- Figure 51: Sony Ericsson Mobile Phone
- The Cool Factor
- Figure 52: Disney Mobile Phone, TV ad, 2007
- Figure 53: Skechers sneakers
- Fantasy
- Figure 54: EA Sports NBA Live 08, TV ad, 2008
- Figure 55: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, TV ad, 2007
- Figure 56: The Game of Life, TV ad, 2007
- Marketing to kids and tweens: a snapshot
- Television is still the primary channel
- The Internet is critical
- Other marketing techniques
Future Trends
- Virtual worlds, advergames, and the Internet
- What obesity epidemic?
- Keep away from my kids!
