From Toddlers to Teens: How to Market To (and Through) Kids

Kids today wield tremendous purchasing power. Their combined purchasing power for both direct buys and influenced buys is estimated to exceed $200 billion in 2011 in the United States alone. Note: For most pre-teens, children are influencing parents’ shopping rather than doing the buying themselves.

Revolution Foods’ entire line of packable snack-ables are marketed to kids

Keep my age in mind
Before we get to the fun stuff like packaging, we need to review a few bullet points from your college developmental psychology handbook. Kids of certain ages have well-defined cognitive limits and interests you should keep in mind.

Ages 3–7

• My fantasy life is alive and well.
• Want to hold my attention? Animate it.
• Rabbits and tigers can speak, as can apples and oranges.
• No abstract thinking for me please.
• I still need a straw.

Ages 7–12

• I’m on-the-go non-stop
• I like disappearing magic tricks
• Don’t’ confuse me with pros and cons, keep your logic simple
• I’m hungry all the time. Pack me a snack.
• I’ve probably got a phone, so create an app for me.

Ages 12–15

• I can handle abstract thinking.
• You’ll find me online.
• Let me worry about my mom. Convince me, not her.
• I have unlimited text messaging, so go ahead. Send me a mobile ad.

Make it snack-able and packable
Children won’t be slicing up fruit and packaging it in small baggies before heading off to school. This means, either you do it or mom does it. Help mom out by making sure your functional food or supplement is one or more of the following:

• Individually wrapped
• Freeze-dried
• Sprinkles for the tongue
• Gummies
• Straw included
• Pre-diced and pre-sliced

Never too old for cartoons
Kids of all ages (adults too) love a good story, especially one with fantastic cartoon characters. Famous brands that animated their brand story include M&Ms, Pez candies, the Trix rabbit, Tony the Tiger, not to mention Sonic the hedgehog.

Flavors I know and love
Strange flavors are risky when it comes to kids. Much like favorite songs, kids have favorite foods and flavors. For example, Revolution Foods put a new snack size twist on a lunchbox favorite with a product called the Jammy Sammy. The Jammy Sammy comes in kid-tested flavors like PB & strawberry and PB & grape. And Jammy Sammy’s whole grain goodness comes, not in the form of whole wheat (not a favorite for a lot of kids), but through whole grain oats. Yum.

Reward me now
Cracker Jacks got this right. Whether the reward is a colorful story on the side of the packaging, a QR code to scan that downloads a game, a toy inside, a figure kids can punch out of the side of the empty package, or some other reward, the need for instant gratification holds true for kids of all ages.

Throw some “does not contain" reassurances in for mom
Help the kid out. He’s doing his best to sell mom on your product, but she needs a reason to buy something new. Let mom know which naughty ingredients are NOT in your product, and she’ll be more willing to overlook other things. Ingredients currently trending on mom’s high watch list include:

• Trans fats
• High fructose corn syrup
• Artificial flavors and colors
• Preservatives