Post 1: Frank Trivieri talks about GM Canada
Post 2: Steve Levy on spending money online
Post 3: Mitch Joel on Six Pixels of Separation
Post 4: CMA: David Weinberger on Humans and the Internet
Post 5: Bryan Eisenberg on How Marketers Fail Us
Post 6: C.C. Chapman on Podcasting
Post 7:
A Day in the Life of Todayís Youngest Media Consumer
Laura Baehr, Director of Marketing & Nonlinear, YTV (Corus Entertainment)
Laura’s presentation was full of numbers, in particular those from the YTV Tween Report.
Kid, Teen, Tween, Youth, what’s the difference? Lots.
Here’s how YTV defines the groups:
Pre-schoolers = age 2-5
Kids = age 6-11
Tweens = age 9-14 (sometimes more focussed to age 7-12, but tweens are basically the overlap between kid and teen. YTV is tween focussed)
Teens = age 13-19
Youth = general undefined category, could be kids, kids to teen, or kids to college-aged people
There are 2.5 million Canadian tweens (age 9-14). They are immersed in the cultural scene. They are technologically astute. They demand a say and get one. They are very discriminating in their tastes. They are encouraged by parents and teachers to make decisions. They have kidfluence. They spend more time with media than any other group.
Tween boys like adventure, trouble, risk taking, adrenaline rushes and competition. Tween girls like nurturing, shopping, competition, make believe and fitting in. Clearly these are wide-sweeping generalizations, non?
In a typical day they spend 5 hours in school, 3 hours with tv and videos, 1 hour with music, 1 hour with computers, and 43 minutes reading (I missed some of the other numbers).
Tech gadgets are replacing traditional toys. Barbie, for example, was played with by children aged 5-12, now it is ages 5-8. Tech gadgets are replacing back-to-school clothes. Best Buy is hopping at Back to School, it’s busy, busy, like an early Christmas.
There were a lot of numbers thrown around but my impression is that tv is still important to tweens. They want cellphones but they also want tv, they want the internet but they also want tv. They are multi-taskers, which may seem like a good thing, but I’m worried about this generation’s ability to concentrate. Like all teens and tweens, it’s a lifestyle thing to have gadgets. They are also at the lovely independent stage of life where they want to be different, just like everyone else.