Like most dads, I give into badgering. When my daughter is “bugging out” over “Minnie Mouse”, Ariel or the latest game, I often give in and want to calm the delirium. Last week I visited Disney with my daughter, and realized the similarities to Vegas are uncanny: you can’t get out of a ride without passing merchandise; temptation is everywhere and it’s hard to say no. It’s the same as Vegas, only the temptations are different.

With Toy Fair approaching in NYC next week, I’ve been thinking about the “sucker-cessful” children’s brands that can motivate any child to “bug out” and “sucker” a parent into purchasing. As a marketer by trade, I think the strategy is simple – yet brilliant and timeless.

Kids brands must touch different cords to sell products – Kids and parents. The kids, while not buying the product directly, are the sweet innocent puppy-dog faced ones badgering mom, dad and grandma to buy. Of course for parents, send messages we are ok with (For example for me, an over-protective, traditional father, sexuality for me instantly turns me off.)

Kids have strong purchasing power and don’t forget, they’re the adult consumers of the future. If you want to have staying power as a kids brand, you have to appeal to the child and the future adult. For example, now as an adult consumer my perception of “Mickey” is a pestering varmint that gets me to spend money often. Yet as a father, I consider Mickey a loveable character that triggers the imagination because of Mickey’s influence in my own childhood. So as Mickey and Minnie became items in my household, I concur and agree because I have pleasant memories.

Here are just a few strategies marketers can employ to get kids to “bug out” over their brand:

*Create a disruptive movement:* Silly bandz is a perfect example. A very simple product that created a movement by being everywhere at once. Their marketing scheme was a collaboration of word-of-mouth buzz, community-level promotion and aggressive media coverage right out of the gate. You couldn’t move without hearing about it.

*Building allegiance a.k.a. the “Mickey factor”:* Marketers plant the seeds of brand recognition in very young children, in the hopes that the seeds will grow into lifetime relationships. I like to call it the “Mickey” factor. According to the Center for a New American Dream, babies as young as six months of age can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots. Brand loyalties can be established as early as age two, and by the time children head off to school most can recognize hundreds of images including logos and the products themselves.

*Engaging through Social Media:* The challenge for marketers is to cut through the intense clutter. Companies are engaging consumers directly through social media, a platform that targets a very activated and interested consumer. Social media allows marketers to monitor conversations, trends and behavior at real-time speed and react to it. Social media is “the” direction of the year for marketers and the best way to insert the brand and activate consumers en masse at rapid speed. If your business would like help generating digital content for social media, then you might want to reach out to an online marketing expert such as Ram Digital Marketing.

*Grassroots & Buzz Marketing:* The tried-and-true “word of mouth” method. The idea is to find influencers in a community and have them use or wear your product in order to create a buzz around it. Buzz, or “street marketing,” can help a company to successfully connect with the savvy and elusive teen market by using trendsetters to give their products “cool” status. Alternatively, you could distribute custom silicone wristbands with your business on it to children. These can get kids talking, increasing the awareness around your business and improving the brand popularity.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

 

Read more from Ronn Torossian:

Ronn Torossian on Facebook
Ronn Torossian on Medium
Ronn Torossian on LinkedIn
5WPR, Public Relations Insights & PR Firm
Ronn Torossian on Business Insider

SHARE
Previous articleNew World Order and New Media Order: How Social Media Changed Our World, Again.
Next articleMedia and Revolution: Is Charlie Seen More Important?
Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently owned PR firms in the United States. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth and vision, with the agency earning accolades including being named a Top 50 Global PR Agency by PRovoke Media, a top three NYC PR agency by O'Dwyers, one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and being awarded multiple American Business Awards, including a Stevie Award for PR Agency of the Year. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected public relations executives. Throughout his career he has advised leading and high-growth businesses, organizations, leaders and boards across corporate, technology and consumer industries. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications. He has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly in the media and has authored two editions of his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations," which is an industry best-seller. Torossian's strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, a Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a recipient of Crain's New York Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Outside of 5W, Torossian serves as a business advisor to and investor in multiple early stage businesses across the media, B2B and B2C landscape. Torossian is the proud father of two daughters. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member of multiple not for profit organizations.