Aug 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Ted Mininni

There's a lot more to kids' marketing today than trying to keep brands relevant, hip and cool. Today's kids want two additional things from marketers: brands that are interactive and brands that are instant.

These are kids who were born using technology. Television and the Internet have sped the world up and created substantial challenges for marketers. Kids aren't talking or writing to their friends anymore; they're instant messaging on a computer or cell phone. Forget the girl next door; the Y Generation is globally wired, and by the time they are tweens, these kids regularly chat with kids around the world just as easily as they do with their friends in the neighborhood. They play online games for days and share music with friends in other countries. If you thought the MTV Generation wanted things fast, brace yourself: The iPod generation wants everything right here and right now.

Most kids can recognize 200 logos by the time they're in first grade, according to James McNeal's The Kids' Market: Myths and Realities. By age three, they can recognize brands by package shape and color — long before they can read. By the age of five, 50% of kids are asking for specific brands.

That gives marketers a tremendous opportunity to build brand loyalty for the long haul. To do that, brands must be positioned as powerful tools that satisfy kids' core emotional needs — yes, they want to seem cool, and also express their individuality and make their own choices.

Smart brand managers and design experts identify the drivers that build the loyalty of these youngsters, recognizing that kids' emotional needs are more important than any brand attribute. Whether kids make their own purchases or influence their parents' purchases, brands that stand for specific values score better with kids than brands touting the usual features and benefits.

Kids wield more influence than ever over family purchases. Industry statistics indicate that kids influence 67% of family car purchases and 65% of ready-to-wear brands. That means marketers must engage kids as fully as they target moms and other gatekeepers.

This puts the onus on marketers to strike a balance, reaching kids and their parents at the same time, with the right message. Kids are too savvy to let marketers talk down to them. Successful marketers assume today's kids are sophisticated and precocious.

Despite recent sociological shifts, some things haven't changed. Kids respond to honesty in marketing. They expect the brand promise to deliver. They can sniff out phoniness in a second. Millward Brown collected kids' insights on brands and found some strong revelations: Kids respond to authenticity, points of differentiation, freshness and multi-channel brand messages. Brands that offer kids fun, fantasy and a bit of humor connect well, but must stay true to the core brand message.

Kids who become emotionally involved with brands go beyond developing basic brand loyalty to brand passion. By the time they're tweens, kids want to interact with, shape and make brands their own.

Since kids can form this kind of bond with brands, it's more important than ever to maintain the highest ethical standards in marketing. It's our responsibility to make certain that our brands — and their marketing messages — have a positive impact on kids and their lives.

Ted Mininni is president of brand identity and consumer promotion design consultancy Design Force, Marlton, NJ. Reach him at tmininni@designforceinc.com or www.designforceinc.com.

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