How brands use advertising to target children for increased sales

Children are usually subtle and attracted to anything beautiful and convenient to them especially when it passes messages, related to their homes, schools and leisure times.

Children represent essential demographic to marketers because in addition to their own purchasing power, they also influence their parents’ buying decisions and are the adult consumers of the future.

The telegraph UK reports that a study showed that the trend was leading to a rise in “pester power” as children increasingly nagged parents for the most expensive brands and latest technology.

According to another study, suggested that parents consider that their authority is compromised by children’s desires which they see as fuelled by marketing.

Children become more attracted and retentive to most of their slogans, which end up becoming everyday rhyme to them. For instance, Indomie noodles ‘’the difference is in the taste’’ Bournvita ‘’do you have bournvita confidence’’ Pampers ‘’Peaceful nights. Playful days,’’ among others.

In Nigeria, various brands have adopted different methods, targeting kids for increased sales. They include:

YouTube and Advertisers target Kids in a Digital World

In February of this year, Google released YouTube Kids, an app created solely for children. From larger clickable features to easy search tools, the application has limited content to what the company deems appropriate for children.

Since its launch, YouTube Kids has been downloaded about 1.2 million times from the Google’s Play Store and Apple’s (AAPL – Get Report) App Store, according to Xyo, a company that tracks app usage.

And with at least 1.2 million users, advertisers have the chance to not only increase their brand awareness but also introduce a much younger audience to their brand with the hopes that those young viewers will use their products for many years to come.

Celebrity Endorsements

Brands have adopted the strategy of promoting their products through celebrity endorsements. Celebrities are used to strengthen their advertising campaign for increased sales. Children get enticed seeing their most cherished celebrities on television or internet campaigning for a particular product. We can recall mind blowing Etisalat advert which featured Nollywoood actor, Francis Odega with the ‘’Gerara here’’ slogan.

Cartoons and Imagery with Kids Appeal

Kids and teens love animation. Think back to your younger days, and you’ll remember that most of your favorite shows growing up were animated. Advertisers and brands are able to create cool animated characters into their ads. Cadbury Bournvita,  indomie noodles‘’indomitables’’ are among examples of brands that connected with children by introducing kids TV show, airing on some government-owned televisions.

Branded or Sponsored Content

This is another tool, brands use to sell products. Some advertisers go even further and produce series or “webisodes” featuring characters connected to the brand. With animations of kids favourite cartoon characters, brands put up sponsored content both online or on TV to attract kids. For example, some clothing brands, commonly use this to sell their products.

Corporate social responsibility Programmes

Brands mostly adopt this method to target kids especially by organizing social events for kids, educative and adventurous events as well. They also reach out to kids in schools by sharing reading and writing materials with the brand’s identity attached.

Others include, supplying schools with technology in exchange for high company visibility, exclusive deals with fast food or soft drink companies to offer their products in a school or district and advertising posted in classrooms, school buses, on computers.

TV shows like Maltina dance All, MTN ‘’who wants to be a millionaire children special edition,’’ are among numerous examples.

 Street Marketing or ‘’Buzz’’

Many companies are using “street or buzz marketing to target children. It also known as “word of mouth” method. The idea is to find the coolest kids in a street or neighbourhood and have them use or wear your product in order to create a ‘’buzz’’ attention around it. Maggi brand is an example of brand that has adopted this method.