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| indiantelevision.com's Media, Advertising &
Marketing Watch |
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| Pester power picks on more products |
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The Indiantelevision.com
Team
(10 February 2003 5:00 pm) |
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MUMBAI: Pester power is on the rise. Even Cartoon
Network, the channel that commissioned NFO to study brat power of
persuasion on the purchasing power of their parents, is pleasantly
surprised to note that Indian kids (particularly in the advertiser
friendly SEC A & B categories) have greater influence on the brands
bought in their homes than they did last year.
New Generations 2002, the December 2002 study that surveyed a total
of 3218 kids and their mothers across 14 cities, six of them metros,
found that a whopping 75 per cent of the kids that receive pocket
money get it weekly or oftener, a trend that's showing an increasing
trend in Generations surveys since the first one conducted in 1998.
39 per cent of children from all cities surveyed get at least Rs 100
monthly as pocket money, the list led by the relatively smaller northen
city of Ludhiana where nearly 69 per cent of kids draw regular pocket
money.
 Pester
power this year also comes with a measure of parental validation.
A good 31 per cent of parents today are willing to let kids accompany
them when they are out to buy a durable, 43 per cent would take their
kids along when on a trip to buy a computer and 39 per cent when out
to purchase a music system.
Done with a focus on India as one of its key markets, the Cartoon
Network survey ostensibly aims at studying juvenile media habits and
the growing phenonmenon called pester power that enables advertisers
to target elders using children as a via media. The number of categories
to which pester power is increasingly applicable over the years makes
for what ad guru Alyque Padamsee terms the transformation of parents
into an 'extension of kids' desire to buy.'
Interestingly, as many kids in smaller cities like Ludhiana, Jaipur
and Guwahati get pocket money to spend as they wish, as do their counterparts
in Delhi and Mumbai, and often more than kids in Chennai, Bangalore
and Kolkata. The amount pocketed too is on the rise, if the results
of Generations 2002 are to be believed - 20 per cent of those who
get pin money get it once a week, 23 per cent get it two to three
times a week and 32 per cent get it daily.
A good 53 per cent of the kids who get allowances receive over one
hundred rupees a month, most of which is spent on indulgences like
chocolates, soft drinks and chips. Pester power however extends to
products like cornflakes, biscuits and milk food drinks, where the
reasons for brand choice among kids could range from liking the advertisement
for the product to freebies that go with it and noticing its presence
in the shops.
Parents interviewed during the month long survey show an amazing tolerance
for their children's brand preferences. For a product like a kids'
bicycle, 42 per cent said they would buy a brand the child preferred,
if it met their requirements. 32 per cent said they seek the child's
opinion before buying and 16 per cent said they would buy the brand
the child liked most, indicating that in nearly 90 per cent of the
cases, the child has a distinct say in brand choice.
For the first time, the Generations survey also studies the values
and attitudes of kids in urban India, revealing that while achieving
good grades at school remains a top priority for all children, the
freedom to do what they please too ranks high (72 per cent) as does
owning the latest things in the market (59 per cent) and looking good
(90 per cent).
As regards kids' media habits, the study indicates that three quarters
of the kids choose the channel they want during kids' prime time between
4 pm and 8 pm. Star Plus, the general entertainment channel follows
Cartoon Network as the most watched channel among kids, with 46 per
cent children voting it their favourite channel. |
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