"Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing" (PDF)

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Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing | Setting the Stage
Tapping into Childhood Development
Market researchers employ the expertise of an increasingly diverse array of specialists
in sociology, psychology and anthropology to explore youth subcultures and conduct
motivational research. 76 A considerable amount of contemporary market research is
focused on identifying ways to tap into the critical developmental stages of childhood. For
example, marketers have closely studied the adolescent process of identity formation, tailoring
their strategies to the key emotional and behavioral experiences that are part of
these important explorations of self. “As teens’ life-stage task is to sort through all kinds
of identity issues,” explained Julie Halpin, CEO and co-founder of the Geppetto Group,
“the money they are given or earn all goes to fuel that drive. How can what I buy help me
define who I am, to myself or the people I care about?” 77 Researchers are also closely
tracking how uses of digital technologies are being integrated into children’s social lives,
and identifying new social and psychographic subcategories, based on sophisticated new
data-gathering and -analysis techniques. For example, the “tween” demographic, which
was introduced by marketers during the 1980s, has become a key focus of research on
digital media. 78 “The transition from childhood to adolescence,” noted a 2006 report by
eMarketer, “marks a turning point in online behavior.” Thus, this age group is a particularly
valuable target for online marketers, explained the report’s author, senior analyst Debra
Aho Williamson. “They are forming brand preferences, and they have comparatively less
skepticism about advertising than older teens and adults.” 79
A 2003 market research report, Born to Be Wired, divided teenagers into definable
market segments, based on their attitudes, behaviors, and use of new media, suggesting
the most effective approaches that companies can use in order to influence
members of each group. For example,
• “Chic Geeks,” are “early adopters of technology and heavy users of gadgetry…
with cell phones as constant companions.” They have “wide social networks
that they actively cultivate,” and they are “conspicuous consumers… looking to
brands to get them noticed” and desiring “new news in their messaging… to be
the first to hear it.” Advertisers, therefore, should “give them a sense of exclusivity
with the information you provide to them,” keeping in mind that “image is
important to them.” 80
• The “Now Crowd” are also heavy media users with large social networks. A
“young segment, largely suburban,” with “a relatively high proportion of African-
Americans,” the “Now Crowd” are “wannabe” leaders. To best appeal to this
group, marketers are advised to offer them “social currency—information that
will raise their standing and credibility” among their peers. “The role of brands
to the Now Crowd is to help ‘brand’ them as being the ‘Now’ Crowd.” But companies
are warned not to let members of this subgroup down because “they are
influential and can spread negative word-of-mouth quickly.” 80