Kid-tested, mother-approved

Editor’s note: Ted Mininni is president of Design Force Inc., a New York consulting firm.

Today’s kids are very savvy. They are brand-conscious from a young age. Kids are growing up in a fast-paced, ever-changing, tech-driven world. Many of their lives are so full of activities that our kids are already over-scheduled, just as their parents are!

How do global corporations face the challenges of positioning food and beverages for these vital demographic groups? How do they brand and package these products with confidence? How do they keep their brands and packaging vital in this day and age? One of our corporate clients, a global food company, commissioned my consultancy to research and compile a study. This article is based on findings from the study, titled Kids Rule: Marketing to Tweens and Teens.

Given the shorter and shorter lifespan of product vitality, not to mention the saturation of products in every category, corporations have to continually revitalize their brands. Especially for the teens/tweens demographic, which is continually restless for the newest and coolest brands on the horizon!

The target mindset of each group, tweens (ages 9-13) and teens (ages 14-19) are critically different, and a challenge to marketers. Tweens want food that is just for them and they want control of their food choices. They are seeking empowerment at this stage in their development. While tweens are still interested in “fun foods,” they are also becoming more accepting and experimental.

Tweens respond to the “aging down” of adult foods. They respond to foods that are packaged in their portions, and foods that can be prepped by them, not only by mom. Fun attributes like handles that make packages portable, games, and promotions inside or outside of packages are seen as “just for me.” Tween choices are also generally mom-approved. Tweens are teen wanna-bes and generally see themselves as older than they actually are. Food products for this demographic are generally tween-demanded/mom-approved.

Teens, on the other hand, make their own food choices, often without mom, and want food on their own terms. They are flavor experimenters and are now ready to eat Mexican, Italian, Asian, etc. Teens’ tastes are maturing, and they are beginning to develop an adult palate that tempts them to be flavor experimenters. Teens are consumers of the ubiquitous fourth meal! Teenaged boys, in particular, want to be filled up, and are quite serious about their food. They want their food fast so they can eat when they get home from school and get online or hang out with their friends. Teen girls are conscious of portion sizes and fat and avoid messy-looking food visuals on packaging.

This group will prep their own foods. Teens respond to satisfying portions and packaging that speaks to them of portability. “Grab and go” fits the demands of their busy lives. Teens make their own choices, and long to exercise more and more control of their choices, but most of these choices are still purchased by mom.

Mom’s the word

Enter in mom, the ultimate decision-maker and gatekeeper. Moms today feel guilty when they aren’t there to select and prepare food for their kids. Moms want their teens’ food choices to conform to their own “real food” values. They are concerned about their teens’ consumption of unhealthy, bad foods. These moms seek foods from trusted brands and convenience with quality and good taste. Safe, easy preparation and fast solutions are also high on moms’ lists.

Many moms are very concerned about their teens’ and tweens’ proclivity for snacking. School snack bar and cafeteria offerings have been of huge concern to parents for some time. For good reason. “Kids, just like adults, prefer the taste of sweets and fat,” says Karen Cullen, a Children’s Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) behavioral nutrition researcher and assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. “Knowing how to balance highly desirable but low-nutrition foods with more healthy ones is learned and takes maturity.” Cullen tracked 594 fourth and fifth graders for a two-year period to study how the transition to middle school affected tweens’ food consumption.

In an April 2004 article for the CNRC Nutrition & Your Child  newsletter entitled “Snack-Bar Temptations Derailing Kids’ Diets,” Cullen reported some startling statistics. After making the transition to middle school, tweens’ consumption of healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables and milk, dropped by at least one-third. At the same time, tweens’ consumption of fatty foods like french fries and chips rose by 68 percent. Soft drink consumption increased by 62 percent. School systems are responding to the increase in childhood obesity and pressure from parental and medical groups to change the food choices they offer to school children of all ages. Tweens, then, are at a critical developmental stage when it comes to nutrition.

How foods are packaged and the brand communications and visuals expressed has a great deal to do with consumer perception - for moms as well as the teens/tweens demographic groups. Moms, as mature adults, obviously want to see honest, realistic food imagery and nutritional information on food packaging. Clear communication of nutritional benefits is very important to moms. They are concerned about fat, artificial ingredients, too much salt and sugar, etc. Brand trust is built over time with moms, and this is a significant factor in their food choices for their families. In families where there are two or more teens present (including friends), quality at the right price becomes a determining factor.

Moms have the added challenge of finding solutions for their teens’ and tweens’ school lunches, snacks, after-school snacks and camp needs. They are also concerned about their kids’ food choices when they are home alone. They are looking for help and support in assisting their kids in making sound choices. The federal government, universities and physicians’ groups offer moms sound advice as they struggle with the nutritional needs and food choices of their kids.

Taking up the challenge

Food and beverage companies are responding to moms’ nutritional concerns for their kids. General Mills Corporation, for example, has announced that while 60 percent of its ready-to-eat cereal line is whole grain, the remaining 40 percent of the line will be converted over the next few months. The low-carb craze has succeeded in convincing food and beverage companies to cut down on sugars, refined carbohydrates and trans fats in their products. Frito-Lay began manufacturing with corn oil, from the less-than-healthy partially hydrogenated oils it was using, in all of its snack foods last year. Nabisco is now marketing new 100 Calorie Pack Thin Crisps - lower-calorie, lower-fat versions, with no trans fats - of some of the most popular cookies and crackers on the market: including Oreo and Chips Ahoy. These are just a few examples of nutrition-oriented initiatives being taken by corporate food giants that teens and tweens won’t notice, and moms will endorse.

In a Nutrition & Your Child article entitled “Kitchen Makeover Makes Healthy Eating Hassle-Free,” published in the Summer 2000 newsletter, there are some great tips for moms dealing with a growing family’s needs. In this article, Janice Baranowski, a research dietitian with the CNRC’s Behavioral Nutrition section, stated that: “Individual portions are most attractive to the ‘eat-it-now’ crowd.”

Suggestions of portable foods that appeal to our demographic groups include: “grab-and-go” bottles of low-fat milk and water, 100-percent fruit juice, yogurt in tubes, low-fat string cheese and snack bags of veggies with low-fat dip.

By switching from juice drinks to 100-percent fruit juices, whole grain breads and cereals and low-fat dairy products, moms can make big-impact changes very subtly. Adding nuts, seeds, pre-cut fruits and ready-to-eat veggies in snack-sized plastic bags fills the need for quick, grab-and-go food. Helping teens and tweens by buying smaller snack packages of their favorite snack foods also enables moms to control portions. Again, moms might re-portion snacks that come in larger, family-sized bags into smaller plastic bags. As the CNRC’s Janice Baranowski said in her article: “Snacks need to be quick, easy-to-find and easy-to-eat.”

Teens and tweens respond to exciting, colorful food and beverage package design: specific imagery, bright colors and colors that meet their frames of reference. Both groups respond to graphics that are not for “kids.” Realistic, appetizing product representations have great appeal to these groups. Bold, exciting imagery is good, but busy packaging is bad. Teens and tweens are interested in ingredients and flavors but don’t want too much description on packaging. They want brand communication that speaks to their moms, too, since moms have to be “convinced” that the foods their teens and tweens desire are good choices. Package communications have to convince moms of this and not turn them off.

On the rise

Segmentation of this market is on the rise. Savvy food and beverage corporations seek to create products and brand, name and package these products as offerings just for teens and tweens. Great opportunities exist in the marketplace for such food products. For tweens, food product names have to be cool. Tweens respond to portions sized for them, fun flavors and names that target their demographic. Teens respond to cool packaging on their terms. They like satisfying, adult portions (teen boys) and portability; no utensils required. Teens do not like cute product names. Bright exciting packaging that doesn’t try to impose cool gets a positive response from this demographic!

A brand perception that a product has been created just for teens and tweens can yield great dividends for food companies. This is a way to use brand heritage to build the next generation of consumers. By innovating and customizing products and product packaging, food corporations can build their brands with this very significant demographic. How brand managers choose to manage their brand communications in their packaging has a lot to do with creating leading brands and brand loyalty for a new generation of consumers.