Getting to win-win

Editor’s note: Tim Coffey is CEO and chairman of WonderGroup, a Cincinnati-based youth marketing firm. David Siegel is the firm’s president and Greg Livingston is its executive vice president. This article is adapted from a chapter in their new book Marketing to the New Super Consumer Mom and Kid (Paramount Market Publishing; www.paramountbooks.com).

Brands that are successful with moms and kids address the motivators of both mom and kid. There is no enduring brand that exists as a win-lose proposition in the mind of the 4i4l consumer. (4i4l, or four-eyed-four-legged consumer, is our way of referring to the partnership between moms and kids). To believe otherwise ultimately leads marketers to adopt wrong-headed approaches, such as “nag-factor” marketing from a kid-driven perspective or to believe that they are marketing a “mom-only” brand. Both of these approaches are in reality win-lose propositions. The “nag factor” mentality believes that you can be successful by creating such strong appeal to the kid that she will overwhelm mom with nagging requests, even if the product offers nothing for the mom. This is a win for the child and a loss for mom. The “mom-only” version of this believes that you can be successful by offering such a strong appeal to mom that she will force her child to consume or use the product. This is a win for mom, but a loss for the child.

How is it, you ask, that brand managers and their management constantly fall into the win-lose traps discussed above? We believe that it is because they confuse brand strategy with marketing execution. Instead of clearly defining how a brand delivers against both of its constituents, they focus only on the question of advertising and media mix. Should we advertise to moms or should we advertise to kids, or both? While this is certainly an important consideration, it is secondary to the job of defining how the brand will deliver against the needs of both moms and kids. Once this is understood, then the question of marketing mix can be addressed.

To help illuminate the needs of both moms and kids we developed a model of mom and kid motivators that highlights the major motivational themes that are in play for brands that are used by kids. The mom and kid motivators model has three main components: mom motivators, kid motivators, and the influence interaction styles. This model was developed based on our collective experience across a wide range of categories, and by examining the marketing efforts of many brands that have the 4i4l consumer as their customer. We will describe each component of the model, and then discuss a successful case that will bring the model to life.

Mom motivators

There are four major motivators for moms as they make decisions regarding kid/family products: ego, simplification, nurturing and satisfaction. Each of these basic motivators relates to and helps identify consumer insights.

  • Ego. This represents a mom’s need for a positive self-image. Some of the specific articulations of insights that come from this motive are:

Good mom: Moms want to be perceived as being a good parent, doing the “right” thing. The culture defines the role of motherhood, and moms are often motivated to live up to it.

Family affirmation: It is just human nature to want the affirmation and appreciation of others and moms are no exception, wanting their kids and or spouse to appreciate what they do.

Smart mom: The need to feel that they are making a good or smart decision is a strong desire among moms. They may express this as, “I like when I have figured something out that others may not have or when I have information that can help others.”

Sneaky mom: A version of the smart mom driver is when moms feel like they have provided something good for their kids, but the kids didn’t even know it. This is where the “you know it’s nutritious, they know it’s delicious” idea comes from.

Prestige: Although they might not admit it openly, “it feels good to own certain products that are more exclusive or elite” is a sentiment that often motivates a mom’s behavior.

  • Simplification. In our modern society, the need for simplification and convenience is unending. Some examples:

Time saving: We’ve often heard moms say, “I am always looking for ways to save time with chores so I have time for more important things like spending quality time with my family.” The notion of saving time for more important things is one of the key values of today’s Gen X mom. The Baby Boomer mom might have been more likely to express saving time as a means to accomplishing more.

Ease: There are a number of ways in which this motive is expressed. The first is to make it easier to do something that is valued, such as preparing a fine meal. There is also the proposition of making certain interactions easier, as in, “When I know what my kids want, it makes my life easier.”

Reduction of physical labor or unpleasantness: Drudgery, which is constantly being redefined, is forever a point of opportunity. By understanding each and every moment of unpleasantness in the consumer experience, we can uncover new ways to delight moms.

Elimination of family conflict: There are certain situations that seem to cause conflict between family members. Moms state that they wish there was a way to reduce or eliminate conflict, saying, “I don’t want to have to fight to get my kids to use/consume something I buy.”

Efficacy/durability: “I don’t have time for things that don’t work or break down” is the way moms view products today. Many will pay for high quality.

Trust/confidence: Trust in brands and advertising is at an all-time low, so brands that can garner today’s moms’ trust are rare and powerful. She wants to be able to trust brands when she doesn’t have all the information or expertise, or when the risk of a wrong decision is costly.

Reduction of choices or indecision: Today’s marketplace is overflowing with choices, so sometimes moms just need someone or something to simplify the decisions, to be a partner in the process.

  • Nurturing. A mom’s need to nurture begins early, arguably it began when she was a child. Insights that are related to nurturing are as follows:

Child development - mental and physical: More than ever before, moms are acutely tuned into the objective of helping their children progress both mentally and physically.

Safety/well-being: The world we live in today has created a stronger focus by moms on protecting their children from harm.

Sustenance/good for health of child: Moms want to be sure that their children are getting the nutrition they need to grow and be healthy.

Provides child self-esteem/confidence: One of the emerging values of today’s moms is the desire to cultivate their children’s confidence, self-esteem, and future success.

  • Satisfaction. Arguably, the most powerful motive for moms is to make their children happy. There are two insight areas that exist here, as follows:

Child enjoyment: Talk to any mom and you’ll hear, “Nothing makes me happier than to see a smile on my child’s face.” Of course this is a natural and normal expression of a parent’s love for her child, and is typically offered with appropriate parent responsibility. We’ve identified a more permissive mom segment that seems to respond to this motive more than others based on an underlying value of wanting to provide more to their children than they had as a child.

Child popularity: Every mom remembers the trials and tribulations of fitting in as a child, which makes them sensitive to whether their children fit in. We’ve often heard “I don’t want them to be left out or teased.”

Kid motivators

Just as there are four major motivational areas for moms, we have found four major areas for kids, which are: fun, power, belonging and freedom. In our last book, The Great Tween Buying Machine, we explained these areas and broke them down into a number of different centrics. Here, we simplify and modify them somewhat for the 4i4l consumer model.

  • Fun. It has been said many times that the work of kids is to have fun, and of course this is true. Nearly any kid product includes a healthy helping of fun. Truth is, though, to be an enduring brand, marketers must deliver more than just fun. Breaking it down from a motivational perspective, we look at fun as follows:

Sensation: Kids enjoy pleasurable sensory experiences, such as bright colors, scents, sour tastes or a rush of excitement or thrill. The desire for sensory experience grows and evolves as kids grow into tweens and teens. One of the most interesting examples of this motive is the popularity of strongly fragranced shampoos and cleaning products that most certainly appeal to tweens and teens.

Interactivity: They will twist and turn, and stretch and stir, dip and dunk, deriving enjoyment from the action alone. Many adults cannot understand the appeal of a product such as Lunchables Pizza that kids eat with cold bread, cold sauce and cold cheese. This is not a great pizza experience, but it offers the opportunity to build it the way you want it, and this seems to be its own reward.

Amusement: Sometimes kids just want to be silly or laugh. Products that facilitate laughter and silliness can have a place in their hearts.

Satiety: Before lunch or after school, kids’ fast-revving engines begin to thirst for fuel. They’ll say, “I crave something to feed my hunger, satisfy my sweet tooth, re-energize me.”

Imagination/creativity: Kids’ imaginations are their vehicles, which can transport them to new and exotic places to meet amazing people. Many products are based on providing the portal to this imaginary world, including such perennial favorites as Barbie and GI Joe.

  • Power. For the most part, kids live in a world where they don’t have a lot of power or control over their circumstances, so it is not surprising that brands that offer this can be very motivating. Some of the particular insights around the power motive are:

Control: They say, “I want to be able to have influence on my world. I want my voice to be heard.” Brands such as Nickelodeon have done a good job of giving kids the sense of control with such programs as the Kids’ Choice Awards. Others build in elements of customization into their products.

Mastery: Kids are driven to master new skills, especially as they grow into the tween years. This desire is reinforced in school from early on. We’ve heard them offer, “I feel good when I have mastered a game or achieved a goal.” This is one of the key drivers behind video games.

  • Belonging. As discussed earlier, the need for belonging begins very early, with young children needing a physical and emotional connection to their parents. As they grow into tweens and beyond, the need for belonging to parents is replaced by a similar need to belong to their group of peers.

Nurturing: There is an interesting recent example of products whose appeal is largely based on the desire of the child to nurture, such as Neopets. This Web site offers kids and tweens the ability to adopt and care for virtual fantasy pets and characters. Of course, a little girl’s first baby doll has always filled this need.

Popularity: Kids want to be accepted by friends. The desire to fit in is strong, especially among tweens. The notion of prestige is also related to this motive. Certain brands can be said to have “badge value” which is simply saying that the user will gain some social currency or prestige just by using or owning such a brand.

Identity: Closely related to popularity, kids, tweens and teens seek to establish their identity. This can be in the form of affinity with an activity, such as sports, or other established and recognized entities. Sometimes it is with a peer group. We’ve seen many tweens who claim their fashion as expressing their identity, which happens to be almost precisely the same as their friends.

  • Freedom. The desire for freedom shows itself in different ways as kids grow from young children into tweens and, finally into independent teens. The constellation of insights related to the freedom motive are as follows:

Exploration: Young children learn through exploration of their environment, touching, tasting and manipulating anything that happens to capture their attention. You can probably describe what licking the floor would taste like. Why do you think that is? Exploration never really ceases, but rather it expands to more adventurous and even dangerous places as kids grow into teens. Successful brands leveraging this motive find ways to offer safe exploration that is appropriate to the age of the child.

Empowerment: Young kids want to get bigger. Tweens want to do what teens do. Teens want to live on their own away from their parents. Brands and products can be based on delivering the empowerment to independence. A case in point is Kraft’s Easy Mac, which is designed to allow tweens the ability to make their own afternoon snack.

The Lunchables story

Now that we have delved into the various dimensions of motivation for both moms and kids, we illustrate how brands can put it all together to get to win-win propositions. Our case is Lunchables from Oscar Mayer. If you are not familiar with this brand, it is a lunch kit that offers kids some of their favorite foods in a handy tray, and includes a main entrée, drink and dessert. For kids, the brand delivers on multiple motivators: the fun/sensory enjoyment of food they like, the fun/interactivity of building your own food, and the belonging/popularity of a brand that has “badge value” in the lunch room.

The brand has always been intensely popular with kids under the age of 10, but the same cannot be said for moms. Many moms would describe the brand as too expensive, not very healthy and not very appetizing. Despite this, the brand has sales approaching $1 billion annually. Why is this? Well, the brand has worked hard to achieve win-win by providing moms with a positioning that says roughly, “Your kid works hard at school, doesn’t he deserve a treat like Lunchables, that you know will make him happy?” They go on to say, “Your kid will love you for it.”

The first is an example of the satisfaction/child enjoyment motive, with the second well representing ego/family affirmation. By re-framing the issue from one of price-value and nutrition to one of a well-deserved treat, moms are able to rationalize the product and take advantage of its convenience without guilt (simplification). So, as is clear from this case, even brands that appear to be driven by kid appeal can have equally strong mom motives at work.