Advertising To Children

WAYS OF INFLUENCING CHILDREN

A great variety of media can be used by advertisers in order to effectively target children. There are several media options to reach children, and other continuously evolving and acquiring stronger presence among them. This includes broadcast media, being television the most effective medium to reach children (Moore, 2004). Besides, print advertising, product placements, sales promotions and public relations cannot be underestimated as an effective media to reach children. However, there has been other media progressively emerging as a potential medium to reach children, Elizabeth Moore (2004) affirms that in-school marketing and packaging design are also potential tools for marketing children.

TV ADVERTISING

Television remains as the most effective media to reach children. In the United States there is evidence that children watch television commercial for approximately five hours per week having access to as many as 25,000 commercials in a year. (Moore, 2004) Recent studies revealed that tweens watch TV as the single most important source of product information (Lindstrom and Seybold, 2003) Television commercials help children to create brand awareness in several product categories and also to create potentially opinion on them.

EMERGING MEDIA

Nowadays new media represents prospective ways to reach children and enhance brand communication. Studies of media use suggest that other tools as the internet and print advertising used to reach children are supplementing Television rather than dispatching it (Montgomery, 2001) Moreover, advertising for individual brands now frequently appear in more than one media, capitalizing on the specific advantages of the different communication channels. (Moore, 2004)

THE INTERNET

The internet lately has been considered as the emerging media to reach children and it represents a clear opportunity for advertisers. According to the US Department Education (2003) approximately 88% of children between 5 and 14 years old use computers, and 53% have access to the internet. Estimates suggest that 98% of children's sites now permit advertising, and that more than two thirds of internet sites designed for children rely on advertising as their primary revenue stream (Neuborne, 2001).

Children are ready consumers of these marketing communications (Moore, 2004). Approximately 64% of children between 5 and 14 years old; who access the internet, do so to play games (U.S. Department of Education, 2003) A derivate of this communication strategy are the "advergames" that are now common on websites designed and visited by children. Those tools encourage children to play the games while reinforcing their brand awareness and their visits to the websites full of brand messages. Moreover, the information obtained from the website are not conceived as an advertising but as an own direct experience with the product (Klein, 2003). So, it is more worth for companies to engage children's attention for several minutes with this cheaper and interactive medium rather than TV commercials (Moore, 2004)