KID PROSUMERS

Marketing to children requires sharing responsibility between the advertiser and the parent, and all over the world Codes are crafted to protect children from some forms of advertising. This is so because children belong to one of the vulnerable groups who should be protected against exposure of hidden persuasion that they cannot resist.

It is noteworthy that Part Four, Section 11 of the Nigeria Code of Advertising Practice (1998) opens with a warning that “advertisements must not induce children to unduly pressure their parents, guardians or other adults to purchase the advertised products.” The American Academy of Pediatricians Policy Statement on children’s television even says “parents must educate children to become responsible and informed consumers.”

The availability of new media is gradually empowering children; the generation born in the U.S. between 1977 and today is referred to as Generation Y. This is so because they were born into technology. Kenneth Roman and Jane Maas wrote almost 15 years ago that children were heavy viewers of television even as a Nielsen study also showed that children watched more adult television than children’s television. The study actually concluded that television was an especially pervasive medium among children under 10.

Numbering about 80 million, Generation Y is supposed to be the largest generation ever in American history; it is not surprising therefore that it has unprecedented purchasing power and influence (M. Stark 2000). Digital media will give Nigerian children a new arena within which to express themselves and empower them to rediscover themselves. Learning through digital media becomes a new realm of adventure, while our children stand to be verbally and visually more sophisticated.

The days of mass marketing should gradually be replaced by mass-customized choice; the best online merchants are those who recognize the importance of customized selling and relationships against the background that the consumer controls the online dialogue (A. Satzman 2000). Building brands with children in this new medium will likely benefit from the following key principles as put forward by Andrew Satzman of Siebel Systems:
1. Website must be promoted enough for children to find it
2. Deliver customized content, interactivity and fluid interaction with your child customers
3. Give them what they want, when they want it, quickly, intuitively and effortlessly
4. Opening your door to interaction means inviting the children to a dialogue that must ultimately satisfy their needs
5. Be open to improvement by soliciting feedback, tracking consumer click traffic patterns, sites visited, time spent, etc.
It is inevitable that marketers acknowledge children as ‘prosumers’ (M. Stark) because they are open to marketing courtship, and interactivity makes it possible for them to be relationships. Building brands today without offering children participation and ownership is futile; they must actively be involved in a brand (‘prosumers’). The word ‘consumer’ is passive!

Myra Stark of Saatchi & Saatchi advises marketers to build “connexity brands!” That is food for thought for my country’s marketing communication industry. Brand communication has gone beyond the monologue of broadcasting to the dialogue of relationship marketing. An irony exists in my society: multinationals who have already perfected the concept of relationship marketing in their countries of origin still sell to us of the ‘Third World,’ product function.

‘Connexity’ bands according to Myra, must take the brand and the prosumer far, through a facilitation of connections, provision of memorable experiences and by acting as community builders. For her, the presence and importance of digital media in the lives of Generation Y have completely transformed them. Our marketers should therefore brace up for change. Most organizations will have to redefine their markets because market dynamics are changing and the market can no longer be penetrated efficiently by relying on the traditional way of segmenting it (A. Leer 2001).

Should resources shift from print, radio and TV advertising to interactive communications or should there be an integration of these newer methods with the overall plan if they are to be efficient and effective? It is high time mangers made top priority the overriding purpose of communicating brand values to customers and consumers. When consumers control when and how they receive information through digital interactive media, will advertising still be an effective element of the marketing mix?

That is a question to ponder.