Targeting kids and teens? Listen, don't assume
By Yukari Iwatani
SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 (Reuters) - Internet marketers and content developers targeting the youth market should have few assumptions, and instead recognize that kids and teens react differently depending on age group and gender, according to experts at an Internet youth marketing conference.
A panel of executives at the Digital Kids conference, hosted by technology research firm Jupiter Communications, agreed on Tuesday that kids are so different, depending on environment, ethnicity, age and gender, that marketers should pinpoint their target niche and pay special attention to their consumers' needs and interests.
''Don't assume that just because you were once a kid that you understand their thoughts,'' said Catherine Davis, managing editor of childrens portal site Yahooligans (www.yahooligans.com). ''Boys do not necessarily like anything that has sports or violence, and girls are not always attracted to flowers and pink.''
Among the experts on the five-person panel, insights on targeting kids and teens differed significantly, depending on the age group they targeted.
''In order for a business to attract them successfully, it must first approach them appropriately,'' said Richard Goldsmith, president and CEO of BennySmart (www.bennysmart.com), a preschool entertainment site.
For example, on a teen site, the teen-ager will make purchasing decisions with parental approval. But on a preschool site, parents will make purchasing decisions with toddler approval, he said.
Davis said Yahooligans found that its audience of children aged 7 to 12 is very savvy and sometimes cynical. At the same time, however, she said they are passionate in their beliefs, idealistic, and tend to see things in black and white, with few gray areas. ''Preteens really want guidance, and independence,'' Davis said. ''They feel alone, but they travel in packs.''
Sites should offer practical solutions to real problems, provide opportunities for kids to express themselves, appeal to their sense of wonder, connect with their real-life experiences and extend their world, Davis said.
Teens, on the other hand, are primarily interested in communicating with each other and building communities through e-mail, message boards, and chat rooms, said Matthew Diamond, chief executive of teen site Alloy Online (www.alloy.com).
Diamond said his site tries to be an online version of a shopping mall. ''They go there (the mall) to talk to their friends. They go to the arcade, and they occasionally go there to shop,'' he said, suggesting that teen-targeted sites should try to meet the same needs.
Unlike teens, who already spend an average of seven hours a week online, according to a Jupiter study, preschoolers are much more difficult to capture. But they can be a loyal audience with significant marketing opportunities.
BennySmart found that preschoolers were much more interested in a site if they first saw and enjoyed the same characters on television. Goldsmith suggested that content developers interested in targeting the under-5 age group should develop television programs and build character recognition before launching a Web site.
''They love to surround themselves with related products (of favorite characters), so there are also tremendous marketing opportunities,'' he said.
Digital Kids is an annual conference organized by Jupiter for marketers, advertisers and content providers aimed at helping them better understand the youth audience.
In a study released Monday, Jupiter said teens and younger children are increasingly spending more money online and predicted they will spend $1.3 billion online in 2002. Teen and child Internet users are expected to more than double from 17 million in 1998 to 38.5 million in 2002, Jupiter said.
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