This article discusses the modern American family dynamic that elevates children's opinions, requiring researchers to rethink the established methodologies for evaluating family consumption and consider the family as a unit.
According to a recent The Family Room study of parents of K9-17 and K9-17, parents and kids have a different relationship than previous generations, including having a more shared experience through television.
A new marketing study suggests that parents include children in a wide range of purchasing decisions, including where to eat, where to shop, where to vacation and what to buy.
As marketers of products for children and families are increasingly discovering, family purchasing dynamics have shifted significantly in recent years.
For several years, marketers like Frito-Lay and General Motors have sponsored contests asking consumers to create television commercials, with winning spots appearing on shows including the Super Bowl. Now, a group of marketers has expanded the idea by sponsoring a contest asking consumers to create shows.
For the last fifty years, marketing to families and children has been a fairly straightforward affair: We chose a target based on who we perceived to be the primary decision maker (usually moms), we got to know her and her needs inside out, and we created products and marketing tactics that gained entry into the home through mom as gatekeeper.
Youth transitioning from childhood to adolescence (tweens) are exposed to increasing amounts of media and advertisement. Tweens have also emerged as a major marketing segment for corporate America with increasing buying power.
