Branding from a five year old's perspective

If you don't know the value of a powerful brand, then you don't have kids. My daughter is just now learning to read, but way before knowing what words an arrangement of letters spells out, she recognized brands and their trademarks. My wife sells occasionally for Discovery Toys. My daughter knows what their logo looks like. She also knows that the brown truck that delivers the toys is the UPS truck. She also knows the UPS logo. We'll be driving past a UPS Store and immediately she'll yell out "UPS!"

My daughter also knows the Pizza Hut logo and Taco Bell logo by name. Of course she knows the McDonald's golden arches.

And marketers recognize the power of the brand and the influence kids have on a family's purchases. The Economist recently wrote about the trillion-dollar kids. The second headline says that "children exert a surprising influence over the purchase of grown-up goods." From a parents perspective, I agree.

Parting quote:

Companies have discovered that it is often more effective to recruit a child as an in-home marketer than to try to convince a parent to buy their products. That may explain why Nickelodeon is Viacom's most profitable division—advertisers are lining up to pay a premium for access to their most valuable targets. Furthermore, every child represents a new chance to build cradle-to-grave brand loyalty.

Tags: brands, branding, marketing to kids, the economist