The Brand Power of Kids
September 23rd, 2009 | Posted by René Hinz
I was lounging in our backyard pool this past weekend when my six year-old son caught sight of the bottoms of my feet. “Mommy, your feet need the Pedi-Egg,” he said. “You can get it at Walgreen’s. You better go today!”
Besides being shocked and embarrassed, I was surprised and rather impressed that my son recalled not only the name of the product, but what it was for and where to buy it. Why a six year-old would pay attention to a Pedi-Egg ad in the first place, I will never know, but that weekend, I went to Walgreen’s and purchased myself a Pedi-Egg. And I am happy to report that my feet are now baby-bottom smooth.
So what did this experience teach me as someone in the marketing profession for over 15 years? I’m now sold on the fact that while I may tune out a TV ad that is truly directed at me, the brand is still reaching me through the power of my children. It’s a bit scary.
And I am not alone. Friends of ours lamented how their five year-old son is obsessed with TV ads promoting Oxi-Clean. My friend Lisa said she was complaining about not being able to get the soap scum off her shower door. Her son came in the room and said, “Mommy, that won’t work. You need the power of Oxi-Clean to get that soap scum off.” You can guess the rest. Lisa went to the store (I bet it was Walgreen’s) and bought one of the many products containing some fun-to-say Oxi-Clean ingredient to clean her shower. And it worked. She was bombarded by TV ads for Oxi-Clean all the time, but it took her five year-old son to get her to actually go out and buy it.
The moral of the story is to never underestimate the TV advertising messages your children are not only exposed to, but truly processing and proselytizing. You never know when a timely pitch from your brand-loyal bambino will send you straight to the “AS SEEN ON TV!” aisle of your local Walgreen’s.
Tags: brand power, Branding, kids, Oxy-Clean, Ped Egg, TV, TV ads, TV advertising
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 8:42 am by René Hinz and is filed under | Advertising / Branding | Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
It’s scary indeed how kids are becoming brand sensitive at an ever younger age. They’re so impressionable, especially to that special breed of mindless, Ginsu Knife-type advertising.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Great story René! My niece and nephew aren’t even allowed to watch commercials, so they can’t pull the same type of thing. I’m sure as they get older though, they’ll be as exposed and remember to tell mom and dad.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:37 am
It is interesting that the kids are referring to “adult” products so clearly. Targeting kids to get to their parents has been going on for a long time. McDonald’s is a master at this. But this is a whole different animal and, yes, a bit scary. Who says advertising doesn’t work? Well, at least you have pretty feet now.
October 15th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
René I really enjoyed your article. My kids have always seemed to pay more attention to commercials than the TV shows themselves! That’s a testament to the power of a short-form story well-produced I guess.