Kids are simply adorable, ask any newly turned parents. Let some years pass by, most of these parents may still say that their kids are adorable, but the truth may be far from what they admit. A child secures many relationships in its formative years, and the ones they establish with brands at an early age are usually long-lasting therefore extremely precious.
KIDS MAY SEEM ANNOYING BUT NOT FOR MARKETERS, THEY SIMPLY ADORE THEM
To marketers, kids represent a lifetime of opportunities for a brand. Kids are among the most important demographics who on top of having considerable purchasing power, they can also influence their parent’s purchasing decisions.
The kids can influence their parents to make purchasing decision on things ranging from entertainment choices like trips, movies and excursions to clothing, foods, drinks and breakfast choices. These factors have forced brands to look at ways to reach out to young population and the advertisings to them have catapulted in the recent decades.
Parents globally and in fast paced economies like India are more than willing to buy their kids whatever they demand due to factors like reduced family size especially in metro cities, the rise of dual incomes in the family and couples having fewer kids than they traditionally would have.
TAPPING INTO THE PSYCHE
The most valuable factor for a brand marketing its products to kids is understanding the psychology behind what ticks the kids. If a child identifies himself/herself and associates with a brand at a young age. He/she is likely to remain a loyal customer for a very long time into adulthood. It is not uncommon for most of us to cherish products we may have consumed during our childhood and the feel good factor surrounding it. As more research and technology is available at our disposal, brands are increasingly utilizing them to analyze and understand kids’ emotional, social and developmental needs.
CUTTING THROUGH THE CLUTTER
The market is littered with brands and their products targeting kids primarily. It becomes vital for brand managers to cut through the mundane and offer an experience that sets themselves apart. Marketing to kids alone isn’t enough, providing an experience is much more vital. This is where experiential marketing becomes vital.
GLAXOSMITHKLINE ENGAGES KIDS WITH A GAME
With the recent launch of its Horlicks brand’s new ‘Kesar Badam’ flavour, it took to video games for reaching out to youngsters and engage them with the brand. The experiential campaign included an online game named ‘Chote Sultan Hunt’ followed by a TVC and offline activities.
Since, a lot of kids do not like drinking milk with the usual flavours, Horlicks introduced kesar badam flavour to get them drinking milk. The first touch point towards achieving this included the online game that encourages the player to collect as many kesars and badams as possible while running towards its destination. The highest scorers could win prizes that were carefully selected, which included popular gadgets like Xbox 360, iPads etc.
On-the-ground activities followed with the game being taken to schools in Gujarat to attract school kids. They could play the game on a large projector screen with motion sensing. Similarly, they also planned on-ground activities in other parts of India to allow kids to experience Horlicks brand through gaming, which is very popular among youngsters.
Select City Walk Mall targets Kids this Summer
The Select City Walk mall located in the southern part of Delhi is quite popular and frequented by many through most part of the year. However, it would not be surprising to see a drop in footfall during summers when the temperature soars in Delhi. What Saket came up to counter this during the 2014 summer was to target kids by organizing a summer camp for them. The camp lasted two months from May till June when the temperature usually peaks. The camps offered theatre workshops, fun packages at hangout, special art & craft activities, ‘paint your pottery’ competition and workshop on Hindustani and Classical Western Music.
As schools usually have two months holidays during this time, it was clever of the brand to entice kids to the mall, which would eventually bring their parents as well as friends that translates to more footfall, more spend on food and shopping. Hence, a clever way to beat the reduced number of visitors during the part of the year when most prefer to stay inside their air conditioned rooms.
What’s more? Being kids, they would always remember and cherish the best days of their lives when they could do what they love carefree (having fun with other kids, painting their favourite cartoon characters, playing their favourite music and eating out at their favourite joint at the mall). This not only lasts for just two months but an experience that will keep bringing them back to the mall and relive their best times.
These children-oriented experiential experiences not only provide a temporary reach for marketers to children, but tinkers with the psyche of kids in a positive way that is beneficial to any brand for a long term association.
