Beyond pester power

Kids graduate to consultants to buying decisions. 

No kidding: The biggest influencers of buying decisions are the 30 million children— aged between 4 and 14—that are running riot in urban India. According to a recent study by The Walt Disney Company and media investment major Group M, kids have a major role to play in the process of buying virtually anything—not just toys and games but Plasma TVs and mobile phones, too. Titled Disney KidSense 2007, the study goes on to anoint kids as consultants and not just mere influencers. The study was conducted across 10 cities among the kids in the age group of 8-14 years and parents of kids in the 4-14 year band, belonging to SEC A and B households. On average 63 per cent of these kids are involved in purchases across the product spectrum, from traditional categories like clothes and bicycles, to nontraditional ones like computers, TV sets, cars and two-wheelers.

The involvement at the high end is significant: For mobile phones, it is 76 per cent, and for big-ticket items like cars some 43 per cent of the sample was involved. A little over a fifth of the parents turned to their children (teens and tweens) for information when buying high-priced items. Kids are known to do the necessary research before making their pitch, and some 46 per cent of the parents surveyed were certain that their children’s opinion was rooted in research.

Says Antoine Villeneuve, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Walt Disney Television International (India): “Kids are emerging as consultants for parents on key purchase decisions in homes across India. Disney’s KidSense 2007 provides comprehensive, category-wide insights into the young minds. The study serves as a credible reference-point for the industry and our business partners.”

But where exactly do these consultants get their information from? Television allows most of these kids (93 per cent of the sample) to be tuned into the latest trends, whilst 40 per cent refer to the print medium and 38 per cent rely on exposure to the outdoors. Across all categories, brand names are important to kids. And teens believe in talking the talk. In a mobile phone, they are most likely to look for a good MP3 player; in a car, they talk mileage; and on a PC, they want the latest software and a lightning speed internet connection.