How you communicate your message to kids can have a tremendous impact on the perception your promotion and even your brand have among kids and among families as a whole.
Some companies spend millions of dollars in helping the environment, aiding people in need and trying to do positive things and also, during the process, make sure their customers and clients are aware of this. There was a study done by a company in Denmark that found out that 69% of kids/teenagers ages 8-15 thought that these attempts to “better the world” were great. However, this same study discovered that 25% of the total group could not recall a single brand they admired for their social and ethical involvements.
What is wrong with this study? It clearly does not represent the brands that actively target kids and teenagers. What it fails to mention is that the 75% of the group recalled at least one brand that had focused on passing a specific message to them. Further, this small percentage of kids and teenagers could not only recall the brand that they admired, but could tell you more about that specific brand that workers that had spent months working for those specific companies.
So if you are in a business that targets kids, you most definitely do not want to be on the 25% category that fails to be remembered by kids. How important is the message you transmit to people and how is this scenario related to a restaurant business? How is the environment related to the television or to cell phones or to a computer? Well, it is not. The only correlation here is that your message is either going to get lost in space or it will hit the target: I am afraid there is no in-between.
How can you make sure your message hits the target when it comes to kids? Make sure you keep your message in a CAGE
- Culturally diverse: In today’s age nothing could be more disastrous than to include a product, toy, food item, etc., that would be considered border-line offensive to a certain ethnicity, culture or geographical region. But even with this in mind, there are still certain businesses that take a chance. Sure, they will make the front pages of a magazine or even the headlines as the talk of the town in local forums and blogs, but, is this a positive thing or a negative thing?
- Age specific: Again, kids will notice, and so will parents. We are not only talking about safety testing here, but we are talking about age appropriateness. Your expectations of a 3 year old putting together a complicated 3D puzzle is most likely going to fall short. What would be even worse is to expect a 12 year old to be satisfied with a bath toy rubber ducky that would be more suitable for a 2 year old. You might as well have given him a pacifier and talked to him in baby language. Get the point?
- Gender: Yes, kids notice. You are dealing with boys and girls. If your product is targeted to boys, then make sure you do it appropriately. At the same time, if you are selling windup cars, you best stick to boys, correct? WRONG!! Do not stereotype. Do your research. There are certain items that will appeal to both boys and girls regardless of your personal feelings.
- Educational vs Entertainment: While the “edutainment” trend is ever growing, there are times where you should focus ONLY in one or the other. A lot of brands struggle trying to meet both and sometimes this could lead to failure. Make up your mind about what message you want to carry. E is for Education, Entertainment and Edutainment…there is nothing wrong with concentrating only in one.
Yes, there are plenty of other things to be considered when it comes to the message you want to deliver but these should keep your message safe and from falling in empty ears.
