Kids Take Online Back-to-School Survey…With Pens

Selling to Kids, Sept 15, 1999

To make kids think of pens, even when they're on the inkless Internet, BIC Corp. gave them a choice of four virtual pens on its Web site (www.bicbackto school.com)to use in taking a survey. The company's new to targeting kids so it designed the survey to gauge kids' feelings about going back to school.

The survey, which ran Aug. 2 through Labor Day, showed kids the real-time effect of their responses on the whole. BIC got the word out about the survey with a press release to 2,500 media outlets and two banner ads on Yahooligans, says Maura McInnis, spokesperson for BIC.

To choose a pen for the survey, kids could download a plug-in called Comet Cursor, which, the page informed, "takes only a few seconds and works with almost any browser." They had a choice of four of BIC pens, including one with a NASCAR brand. (NASCAR, which has worked with BIC since last year, credits the company with opening up the convenience-store category and providing creative point-of-sales promotions, says Dee Scott, director of non-apparel licensing at NASCAR.) Once chosen, though, the pens didn't deliver much bang. The images were so small, they barely showed up on the monitor.

The company isn't telling which pen got the most votes. But they have released the other results of the multiple-choice survey, which got 1,121 responses. As an incentive for doing the survey, kids got a back-to-school checklist (which included clothes, not "1. Buy pens, 2. Buy more pens.") and a rebate coupon for supplies. In fact, although the pen focus is evident to a marketer throughout the survey, it may be subtle enough that it wouldn't annoy kids.

When the survey asked "what is the #1 reason it's cool to go back to school?, "I get to see my friends every day" got the most votes - 47% chose that answer over "I get new clothes" (21%), "I get to pick out new school supplies" (17%), "I like to learn and do lots of homework" and "I get to play school sports" (tied with 5%) and "I like school lunches better than my Mom's/Dad's" and "I like riding around in big yellow vehicles" (tied with 1%).

Respondents also took on such questions as:

* What's the biggest reason you'll get in trouble? Talking in class was the top answer: 49% (Only 6% anticipated trouble for violating the dress code.

* What I'm doing after school: 44%. In fact, for daydream space, leisure time decisions beat out boyfriends and girlfriends, which engaged 27% of respondents. It's probably an age thing. Most of the respondents are 9 to 11.

* What's your favorite school lunch? More kids agreed on this question than any other. Pizza's the hands-down winner with the top vote from 58% of the respondents.

* What's your best excuse for not doing homework? "What homework?" (33%)

* What's the one must-have item for back-to-school? Cool clothes led the list for the most respondents (40%), with school supplies most important to 32%, and backpacks came first for 11%.

Answers don't change too much among older kids. American Express asked 1,000 parents and 500 teens a similar question in its School Shopping Retail Index, although it didn't ask for a ranking. Clothing was on the shopping list for 93%, and school supplies, for 92%. About a third also planned to buy textbooks (no word as to how the others planned to avoid that), sporting goods and cosmetics (S2K8/4).

* What's your favorite after-school activity? Having a friend over (26%) edged out watching TV (24%). Other close calls: Talking on the phone was the favorite of 16%, beating 'chatting online' (15%), but just barely.

(BIC Corp.: Maura McInnis, 203/783-2051; NASCAR: Dee Scott: 704/348-9642; American Express: Valerie Soranno, 212/640-5997; Smart Girl Internette: Channing Kelly, 212/752-8300)

What's on Kids' Minds About Back-to-School

Best excuse for not doing homework
"what homework?"                            33%
"I got sick"                                24%
"My computer crashed"                       20%
"I think it's still on the bus"              8%
"I had a game"                               6%
"My dog ate it"                              4%
"I forgot my locker combination"             4%

One must-have item for back-to-school
Cool clothes                                40%
School supplies                             32%
Backpack                                    11%
Haircut                                      5%
Cell phone                                   4%
Watch                                        2%
Beeper                                       1%

Kids expect to get in trouble by
Talking in class                            49%
Not doing homework                          24%
Being late for school                       10%
Passing notes                                8%
Violating the dress code                     6%

Kids' favorite school lunch
Pizza                                       58%
Hotdogs/hamburgers                          13%
Mac & cheese                                 9%
Peanut butter & jelly                        9%
Meatball hero/hoagie                         3%
Fish sticks                                  2%
Meatloaf                                     1%

In class, kids daydream about
What I'm doing after school                 44%
Boyfriend/girlfriend                        27%
Making money                                 8%
Lunch                                        6%
Sports                                       5%
Music                                        4%
Cars                                         2%

Favorite school subject
Math                                        19%
Art                                         13%
Computers                                   13%
Music                                       13%
Science                                     12%
English                                     11%
Physical Ed                                  9%

Source: BIC Corp.