Getting inside kids' heads - includes related article on moral aspects of selling to children

American Demographics, Jan, 1997 by Tom McGee, Kevin Heubusch

Children have a different perspective on things, so understanding their consumer behavior requires a different approach. New kids of qualitative research are emerging to get at the reasons why kids feel and act the way they do. These insights can go a long way toward developing messages kids will hear and products they'll buy.

In the history of man, childhood as a distinct stage of life is a relatively recent notion. Children as a distinct consumer market is an even more recent concept. Before the baby boom came along, there was no market for children's products and services to speak of Today, children aged 4 to 12 influence more than $165 billion in spending in the U.S., and some say this is a conservative estimate.

Doing research with children is an even newer idea than selling things to them. When the youngest boomers were in their tender years in the 1970s, many marketers scoffed at the idea of conducting research among children. Efforts were focused on the parents who ultimately paid for things. Today, products and services aimed at children are rarely launched without some idea of how, in a very literal way, they'll play to their prospective targets.

Although quantitative research has its place, creating products and marketing messages that appeal to children often requires additional input. This is particularly true for younger children who may have difficulty responding to standard survey questions. Qualitative research methods have blossomed beyond traditional focus groups and in-depth interviews. They have adapted to children's unique abilities and perspectives. Here is an overview of some alternative ways to gather information from these special consumers.

KEEPING A WATCHFUL EYE

Researchers and marketers can obtain a more complete picture of a child's life and how specific products and services fit into that life by simply watching children, although simple is probably not the best word to describe research that offers an understanding of children's behavior. Traditional focus groups can shed valuable fight on kids, behavior and lifestyles, but observational research paints a richer picture because it functions at "real time" and in "real space."

By observing and recording behavior in the same way anthropologists do, researchers can unearth nuggets in a child's subconscious response - the gesture or word that sparks an "a-ha" of understanding. For example, a child may not be able to recall or explain why he chose a particular pair of athletic shoes. But watching him interact with an in-store shoe display and then seeking out the same brand in an aisle stocked with boxes can,t "say" plenty. Observational research is sometimes the only way to get information about the youngest consumers. Preschoolers who aren't reading and writing yet can't answer standard surveys, and infants and toddlers who can't talk yet have even greater communication limitations. But it's possible to glean all kinds of insights by watching little ones interact with products and other people. In fact, infant research often involves parents' participation because the parent-child relationship is such a dominant element at this stage of life.

One way to observe children is in their own habitat - homes, malls, fast-food restaurants, skating rinks, video stores, and concerts. Other ways to elicit ethnographic insights include asking children to keep diaries of their everyday lives. These may be written, taped, or even on video. Through this type of documentation, children may reveal how parental or peer pressure directly or indirectly affects their choice of music, clothes, and food, even if they are unaware of or are unwilling to voice such influences.

TELEPHONE AND ONLINE TIME

Telephone focus groups were originally designed in the late 1960s to conduct research among consumers who were hard to herd into a traditional focus group schedule, such as doctors. Since then, they have become a very cost-effective and time-efficient way to reach older children and teens. Although researchers had initial concerns about youngsters, ability and willingness to participate in phone discussions (they clearly didn't have teenagers permanently attached to phones in their own homes), experience has proven that kids and teens are perfectly comfortable with this remote type of contact. In fact, in some circumstances, they are more comfortable talking on the phone than face to face.

Online focus groups offer some of the same anonymity that phone sessions offer. Although children introduce themselves to each other, they don't necessarily have to mention things that a face-to-face meeting would automatically reveal, such as their physical appearance or manner of dress. While online accessibility is currently limited to an elite subset of American children, it is on the rise. If the Internet becomes widely available to the general population through phone and/or TV technology, this tool will make even more sense.

Because telephones and computers offer anonymity, children participating in these kinds of discussions are often more open and candid. Girls may be more willing to divulge that they sometimes eat a pint of ice cream at one sitting. Boys may more readily admit that they watch educational TV or avoid violent video games.