Project Study Report On “PESTER POWER” (Children influencing parent’s buying decision)

Submitted by Nand Kumar Sharma

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The paper plans to study the impact of TV Advertisements on School Going Children. It proposes the following:

To study what pester power is? To study the drivers of “Pester

Power”. To study the tools used by the

companies to target kids. To study the various ways to

control Pester Power.

WHAT IS PESTER POWER?

Pester Power is the name given to Marketing Techniques which encourage children to nag their parents to purchase a particular product.

It is repeated nagging of influencing their parents to buy advertised or fashionable items.

Over 95% of kids have pestered their parents for a product promoted on TV, according to a new survey by www.raisingkids.co.uk.

KIDS –THE CHIEF DESIGN ELEMENT OF COMMERCIALS

Videocon with Sharukh Khan Kids with celebrities like the Big B in the

Hajmola ad make a still more lethal combination.

Surf excel advertisement.

INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN IN FAMILY DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Children constitute three different markets: the primary, the influencer, the future market. Children have not been observed to have a

large impact on instrumental decisions such as how much to spend but rather play a role while making expressive decisions such as color, model, brand, shape, and time of purchase.

Kids have a lot of information because of exposure to television, other media, and friends.

MEDIA STRATEGIES FOR CHILDREN

Marketers use television as a medium of communication

Young children are able to differentiate between a TV program and a commercial but are unable to understand the intent of an advertisement until they are 8-10 years of age

Advertising to children avoids any appeal to the rational, emphasizing instead that ads are for entertainment and "enjoyable for their own sake“

Celebrities and cartoon characters are commonly used by marketers

EXPENDITURE FOR PESTER POWER

Industry spending on advertising to children has exploded in the past decade, increasing from a mere $100 million in 1990 to more than $2 billion in 2000.

Teens influence more than $50 billion adult spending every year and pester an adult 25 times on an average before the desired product or experience is finally bequeathed.

PESTER POWER IN INDIA

Arrival of niche channels like the Cartoon Network, Hungama and Toonami .

In 2005- 120 million tween (children between 8-12 years of age) were present.

Out of which 45 million live in urban areas – contribute whopping Rs. 20,000 crore.

Ad spend per year on products Horlicks and Complan is 12 to 15 per cent of the total i.e. close to Rs 5000 to 6000 crore.

Eg.Nestle India - Rs 1507.1 million in December 2002, Britannia Industries spent Rs 906.3 in March 2002 Cadbury India which spent Rs 876.7 million in December 2002.

TOOLS USED TO TARGET KIDS:

The marriage of psychology and marketing

Buzz or street marketing Brand loyalty Commercialization in education The Internet

DRIVERS OF PESTER POWER

More working women Grand parent’s increasing role in

bringing up children Rise in the number of single parent

households Delayed parenthood Greater exposure to kids Hurried Child Syndrome and Hyper

parenting The ‘Askable’ Parent Growth of retail sector Kids channels-a newer phenomenon

STAGES OF THE CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS:

Problem Recognition (awareness of need)

Information searchEvaluation of AlternativesPurchase decisionPurchasePost-Purchase

SOME POPULAR EXAMPLES OF AD CAMPAIGNS

Bajaj hopes its animation campaign building on the Hoodibabaa promise for Caliber will help it add volumes.

Taking the Hoodibabaa campaign for Bajaj's Caliber.

Bajaj hopes its animation campaign building on the Hoodibabaa promise for Caliber will help it add volumes.

MEASURES TO CONTROL PESTER POWER

Advertising Industry regulations in India

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the ad industry’s self-regulatory voluntary organization, encourages viewers to pick up their pens and write in, if they find any ad offensive, vulgar or false in any way.

Chapter III, Rule 2 of the Advertising Standards Council of India clearly says that "Advertisements addressed to minors shall not contain anything, whether in illustration or otherwise, which might result in their physical, mental or moral harm or which exploits their vulnerability.

ANNEXURE “CHILDREN INFLUENCING THE PARENTS BUYING DECISION OF CONSUMER DURABLES”1. Name of the Parent

:_________________________ 2. Number of children

:_________________________

3. Age group of children Below 5year 5-10 10-154. Kind of family Nuclear Joint5. Kind of family (according to earning) Single income Double

income

6. Monthly family income 15-25 25-35 above 357. Where do you go for shopping? Malls local retailers any other8. Do you take them with you while going for

purchasing\shopping? Yes No9. Do your child/children influence you while

buying the following goods? FMCG ELECTRONICS VEHICLES FURNITURE APARTMENTS/FLATS

10. Which of the following do you own? Which type &brand?

Product Tick Which you own

Company Type When did you buy it?

Television

Refrigerator

Music system/DVD/ VCDWashing machineMicrowave OwenAir conditionerComputer/laptopMobile phone

11. How do you arrive at a decision to buy the above items?

Single Jointly with spouse With entire family

12. Has your child/children initiated you to purchase any of the above items?

Yes No13. When arriving at a decision to buy any of the above,

how much was the influence of your child/children?Low Average HighExtremely high

14. Please rate the awareness of your child/children regarding branding in the above product categories. (1. Bad 2.Average 3.Good 4.Very Good)

________________________________

15. Has your child influenced you to buy a specific brand?

Yes No16. How did your child/children come to know about

the brand?FriendsPosters bannersT.VRadio

Internet17. How many hours of T.V does your child/children

watch in a day? Below 2hrs 2-4 above

4hrs18. Have you ever made any unplanned purchase

of above goods at a shopping mall, supermarket etc. due to the insistence of your child/children?

Yes No Sometimes

SOME RESEARCH FINDINGS

Findings of the Kids’ Lifestyle Study- New Generations 2005-conducted by Cartoon Network

Times Magazine and Consumer report 2005 list of top-10kid-bribes.

AC Nielson Research

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF SURVEY  

AGE GROUP

FMCG ELECTRONICS

VEH1ICLES

FURNITURE

TOTAL

BELOW 5

4 2 1 0 7

5-10 7 6 3 1 17

10-15 9 9 11 5 34

TOTAL 20 17 15 6 58

AGE GROUP OF CHILDREN

 AGE GROUP NO OF RESPONDANCE PERCENTAGE

BELOW 5 7 12.06

5-10 17 29.31

10-15 34 58.62

TOTAL 58 100

12.06% OF CHILDREN BELONG TO THE AGE GROUP BELOW 5, 29.31% BELONG TO GROUP OF 5-10 AND 58.62% BELONG TO GROUP 10-15.AGE OF CHILDREN INFLUENCE THE PARENTS DECISION MAKING.

Age Group of Children

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

BELOW 5 5 to 10 10 to 15

Age Group

No

of

resp

on

dan

ce

KIND OF FAMILY 

TYPENO OF RESPONDANCE PERCENTAGE

NUCLEAR 24 80

JOINT 6 20

TOTAL 30 100

PIE CHART

LIMITATIONS:

The survey was restricted to 30 samples

The survey was restricted to areas of Mansarovar, Jaipur

The time limit was too short for the project

Conclusion

Pester Power is the name given to Marketing Techniques which encourage children to nag their parents to purchase a particular product.

Due to the increasing number of nuclear families and monthly income, the working condition of parents gives more priority to their children.

The various strategies used by the companies to target kids are commercialization of education, street marketing, advertisement and Internet.

To control Pester power various guidelines have been given by the advertisement Industry in India and across the world which have to be followed by the companies.

Its equally important for the parents to try to make a difference in the way advertising is being perceived by children.