04 January 10

Reaching Kids: Modern Marketing Interview

Modern Marketing eZine recently quizzed us on how Paperhorse work with children, and our position on selling to them.

1. What are the main challenges when marketing towards children?

In the past, there was only really a basic age difference to overcome. For instance, Enid Blyton’s or Roald Dahl’s publishers were living in largely the same world as the children that they were selling to - their audience consumed comics and books much as they themselves had done. Media had moved on, but not such a great deal.

Today there is a lot of extra strata to penetrate. Underneath it all, kids are still kids, but they have grown up in a world which in many ways would be unrecognisable to a child living even thirty years ago. Education, entertainment, technology, family structure, relationship dynamics - the things that frame a child’s world - have changed, some of them radically, and all of them faster than at any other point in history. The would-be kids’ marketer must be abreast of these changes, yet not completely side-tracked into merely addressing them and forgetting the child user.

Kids are wired to explore and therefore want to get things fast. When they say ‘I’m bored’, they’re not lying - they can’t help it! As part of their natural development their brains are continually seeking fresh stimulus. That needs to be remembered when developing strategy - the tween sector is not one which stands still. Speed, simplicity and diversity are keys to reaching them.

Interestingly, for the first time in history, technology gives kids some opportunity to fulfil those natural inclinations. So the message ‘You can get whatever you want, how you want it, and it right now!’ is actually plausible and deliverable through the web, and therefore a very tempting message to use where kids are concerned.

However I believe responsible marketing and communication to kids should leave children less reliant on technology and encourage them to think beyond Google and iPlayer and Wii, stimulating non-technical participation with the product or offer. It is still possible to create good product-related experiences that don’t involve a PC.

And then, of course, it is getting increasingly difficult for any professional who is not a teacher to spend an amount of quality time with children, full stop. Recent comments from authors like Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo about how the increased level vetting would actually keep professionals away from children are well-founded. Working with children is becoming a real minefield, and marketing businesses will ultimately feel the effects too.

2. How do you get over these difficulties?

I’d say that by simply knowing the audience you can identify and side-step most problems before they happen. Clearly setting and applying benchmark criteria for every piece you produce will give you a means of measuring its success. Also, watch a six-year old testing what you’ve created for them - you’ll know in approximately two seconds whether it works or not.

3. How would you go about forming focus groups with children to glean valuable market research? This surely can’t be easy!

The challenges I’ve mentioned previously about professionals working with kids all apply - so we tend to use schools as safe environments for our focus groups. The benefit is you can segment into age-groups easily, the downside is that the kids look upon it as another lesson - and behave accordingly! We try and teach kids to think like clients and end-users, not as a novice with a teacher.

Children are always keen to give the right answers - but the right answers aren’t necessarily the true answers. So observation is as much part of this process as talking and listening. Very often what kids say to each other is more revealing than what they say to an interviewer or facilitator. We recently totally redesigned a children’s Content Management System as the result of one overheard comment, which completely switched the lights on.

4. What different approaches do you take between writing copy for kids and adults?

When a copywriter is given a brief and a target reader, they may imagine writing their piece for someone they actually know of that age, type or persuasion. You do the same for kids. But you wouldn’t write a brochure for, say, ‘AB Women aged 31½ to 32½’ - whereas within the category of children you may have to think exactly like that!

There are many possible segments because children are developing their skills and abilities all the time, maybe changing over the course of a term. So are you writing for 5-6 year olds, 6-11 year olds, or 8 & 9 year old girls? Or for older kids who fancy themselves to younger teens, but have a more limited vocabulary? The permutations are far greater.

Some people say categorically that kids read less these days. That is partially true, but of course it depends whether you’re giving them something worth reading in the first place. I believe 90% of marketing copy written for kids is wide of that mark.

5. If you were going to describe a perfect advert to catch a child's imagination, what might be in it?

The ones that work are the ones that relate. One that (in my opinion) completely misses the point involves chocolate breakfast cereal and dancing CG milkmen. Too much method over message - would a kid really imagine that sort of thing going on in their bowl?

Having spent time introducing kids to lateral thinking skills I know this is something they respond to well. They like to ‘get’ an idea. So the elements that you’d find in a classic 48-sheet poster ads - puns in headlines and straps, ideas turned about visually, graphic wit, logos with ambiguity - can all be child-sized and applied to different forms of media. Basically, give kids something to decipher and discover, as well as a clear message. Bury some treasure in your ad and let them dig it up - if I were a child I’d love that. It would show me someone’s thinking the way I think.

6. What kind of marketing do you feel is the most effective to get the attention of children?

It’s not a matter of which media channel so much as level and quality of content. For me it’s ideas-led, funny, creative, witty. Unfortunately, any kind of quality costs, and many organisations don’t see kids as valuable enough to spend what it takes, hence their solutions are poor.

You can also answer that question by eliminating every kind of marketing that is not effective. For example, I have a personal vendetta against limp kids’ characters which still seem to pervade an enormous amount of child-orientated work - you know the kind, like Sarnie the Squirrel, Percy the Paintbrush, Hettie the Hemorrhoid - you may think people don’t produce that level of stuff for kids anymore but I can give you a hundred examples.

7. What do you find enjoyable about marketing to children?

I believe marketing can and should be a conduit for improving their lives, not just filling their bedrooms with stuff. They’re not there to be milked - although much of the industry has no hesitation about doing exactly that.

So I like the challenge of selling responsibly. I like the audience - kids are honest, no-bullshit people. Creatively, they demand the best of you, they think laterally just by accident, they’re funny and - generally speaking - they have a pretty unsullied worldview. They’re great to be around. And when you see the lights come on in a child’s mind and you know you’ve imparted something - it just doesn’t get better than that!

Also, what you communicate to a young person - an idea, a concept, a belief - can significantly influence their lives and the effects can resonate for generations. Kids are impressionable and marketing does impact them. It’s an incredibly serious undertaking - and never childsplay.

Modern Marketing magazine:
www.newrealityltd.com/mmm/

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