Markomania Discussion: Are Children Bigger Influencers of Purchase Decisions Than We Give Them Credit For?

The answer is very simple and can be found with a little introspection. The last time your parents bought a car or an electronic item, who decided the colour and the brand? Obviously, you (more than 80% of time). Marketers pay special attention to children and young adults as they are more susceptible and enjoy advertisements to the maximum.

Today, the world belongs to kids. They are the profit-makers for brands. ‘Kidfluence’ is the mantra for marketers to rake in more customers and revenue. The major force behind this influence is advertising. Advertising has changed the way kids perceive ads and react to them. With the entry of TV channels like Cartoon Network, Pogo, Hungama, Toonami etc., the child-targeted advertising industry has received a huge boost!

For marketers, children are the most inquisitive and enthusiastic category. BRANDchild, a research study conducted by Danish author and branding expert Martin Lindstorm, examined how children are targeted by advertisers to influence the buying behavior of their parents. He studied the buying behavior of customers and found that close to 80% of all brands purchased by parents are controlled by their children. It’s not unusual for parents these days to take advice from their kids before buying a product, especially if it involves technology. It has been observed that the older the child gets, the more likely he is to control the final purchase decision.

These days, marketers use a strategy known by the acronym AIDAS:

A: Attention
I: Intention
D: Desire
A: Acquisition
S: Satisfaction

It is a model to target and generate more customers. Advertising first catches the attention of children, creating an interest in their minds, leading to an interest about the product seen in the advertisement. This in turn develops into a desire to possess that product, which finds expression by the child buying the product or forcing his/hers parents to buy it. The end result of this is a feeling of satisfaction.

Television advertisements and the Internet are the main source of awareness creation among children. Children constitute three different markets: the primary, the influencer, and the future market. Certain products are simply children’s products for which they are the primary users/buyers. They sometimes purchase the product themselves or select the product before their parents purchase it. For other products which are used by the entire family unit, they may influence purchases made by parents. Decision-making about household products is seen to change with the mere presence of children.