The power of tweens Essay Example for Free

The power of tweens Essay Like no other time in history, the purchasing power of children ages nine to fourteen has increased to become a force to be reckoned with.   With celebrity tweens like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen paving the way into the massive tween audience, today it is the likes of Miley Cyrus who is well on her way to becoming a billionaire off the incredible spending power of the tween population.   While music and movie stars benefit largely from the new purchasing power of tweens, many other industries benefit as well, including the electronics industry, the clothing industry, and the food industry. As tweens spend their allowance money, as well as their parents’ money on items often marketed directly to them, there also remains differences in the purchases of male and female tweens that influences not only how companies market their products, but how tweens spend their money.   And, while tweens’ spending power continues to increase at a rate previously unseen in society, they still lack the spending freedom afforded to their older teenage counterparts as well as adults. To truly take advantage of the tween market, it is necessary to create a credit card designed especially for tweens that will allow them to purchase as they like, while simultaneously being overseen by their parents.   Through this creation, tweens could learn how to become more experienced in spending money, and parents could be more involved in the consumer life of their children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The power of tweens in the marketplace can no longer be ignored by industries, who are now making a greater effort than ever to reach the profitable demographic.   In just a decade, the influence of tweens on marketing has become significant, as not only do they possess purchasing power of their own, but they also influence the purchasing decisions of their parents.   Between the years of 1990 and 2000, industry spending on advertising to tweens exploded during the decade, increasing from a mere $100 million to more than $2 billion (â€Å"How Marketers Target Kids†).   This huge increase in spending on advertising to tweens speaks better than anything else in showing how powerful a market they have become.    In the essay, â€Å"The Selling of Rebellion† it is demonstrated how the marketing world has attempted to sell the ideas of breaking loose of boundaries through consumerism to young tweens.   â€Å"Breaking the rules† has become desirable, after decades of advertisers suggesting those that break the rules transcend the boundaries of the common world.   This tactic is especially useful on young consumers like tweens.   In his essay, John Leo points out how Madison Avenue targets the youthful desire for freedom and individuality, and coopts its rhetoric for purposes that are uniquely conformist (Leo).   This marketing strategy manages to sell the illusion of freedom, while encouraging â€Å"transgression† on the part of tween consumers.    To Leo, transgression allows tweens to break the boundaries while staying within the greater circle of conformity, to rebel and while conforming.   To a tween, both of these concepts are extremely important and have led to significant spending in recent years on products that appeal to both needs.   The total income that tweens had to spend in 2003 was reported to be upwards of $42.3 billion dollars, with marketing analysts predicting increases of around 2 percent a year in both the United States and Europe (â€Å"Tween Teen Trends†).    While the total income tweens spend on items reflects some of their purchasing power, the true extent of their purchases is far greater and tween spending worldwide is higher than ever at an estimated $170 billion (â€Å"Tweens Empowered and with Money to Burn†).   With such obvious purchasing power, the massive tween market has become a priority of advertisers that spend increasing amounts of money to reach them, often with very profitable results. The unique age of tweens has many of them considering themselves no longer children, and advertisers capitalize on this fact.   Industry analysts have found that children eleven and older no longer consider themselves children, and the Toy Manufacturers of America have changed their target market from birth to fourteen years old to birth to ten years old (â€Å"The ‘Tween Market’†).   This shows that tweens’ tastes have grown more sophisticated in just a few decades, due in no small part to the efforts of advertisers and market research groups.    A 2000 report from the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. revealed how Hollywood routinely recruits tweens to evaluate its story concepts, commercials, theatrical trailers and rough cuts for R-rated movies, which has gone a long way in instilling a sense of adulthood in the young children, and helping to instill a greater sense of independence and separation from their parents, especially in the way they spend their money (â€Å"The ‘Tween’ Market†). While many adults and parents question the motives of industries that target their children, as well as the methods used, it has become an irremovable fact of society that tweens are being treated more as adults than children, especially when it comes to taking full advantage of their purchasing power.   However, despite the fact that their purchasing power is treated with the same level of respect as adults, the products that tweens continue to purchase reflect their young age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some of the most popular products that tweens spend their money on continue to be the same things children have always spent money on.   It is estimated that spending on food accounts for roughly 17.0% of tweens’ disposable income in 2008, which includes things like candy, fast food, and soft drinks; in the U.S. alone there will be a reported 1.1 billion extra tween snacking occasions in 2008 relative to 2003, which means tweens will be spending more money than ever on candy and junk food (â€Å"Tween Teen Trends†).    Even though tween spending has grown more sophisticated in recent years, the overwhelming total of tween pocket money goes to confectionery goods and snacks, with an estimated $18.2 billion in tween money spent on confectionery in 2004, with a further $8.9 billion and $5 billion spent on soft drinks and sweet or savory snacks (â€Å"Tweens Empowered and with Money to Burn†).   These numbers reflect the common purchases of both male and female tweens, both of which spend indiscriminately on candies and sodas often marketed straight to them.   However, there have been more efforts made in recent years to target to the specific genders of tweens, and the purchases they make have reflected specific preferences by each group.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Females have long been known to mature faster than males, and the tween age is a representation of this.   Female tweens spend far more money on certain items that are not necessarily toys or candies, but rather things that help reflect their move into adulthood.   Fashion and cosmetics are extremely important to tween girls, and according to recent research of a three-month period in 2003, 90 percent of tweens and parents of tweens reported spending money on clothing items, averaging roughly $100 per purchase in most cases; shoes and sneakers also ranked considerably high on the list, reflecting the importance tweens place on fashion and staying trendy (Clack). Even more so than their male counterparts, female tweens use their purchasing power to develop their unique sense of identity and attempt to cultivate an older self-image.   This is reflected in the advertising by the fashion industry geared towards tweens, which often uses provocative marketing campaigns that feature very young models and sell a very adult concept of sexuality to the young tweens (â€Å"The ‘Tween Market’†).   With role models like Britney Spears and the Miley Cyrus, the adult sexuality portrayed by such stars also goes a long way in influencing tween girls to emulate such behavior. This has led to makeup becoming another major growth area in the tween girl market, though instead of the expensive adult cosmetics, tween girls prefer to purchase products such as shimmer, eye shadow, and lip gloss (Clack).   The emphasis on fashion is not to say that tween girls do not make some similar purchases to boys, as both genders spend a great deal of money on entertainment such as CDs and movies, but when it comes to technology, tween boys far outpace the girls in their spending habits. While cellphones, PDAs, and Ipods have become standard purchases of both tween boys and girls, one of the most significant burgeoning markets in the past decade has been the videogame market.   Due largely to the male tween population, the video game industry became the most profitable entertainment industry in the United States, outpacing both music and movies.   U.S. annual shipments more than doubled from 69 million in 1996 to 159 million in 1998, and during this time, U.S. sales increased from 3.6 billion dollars to 6.2 billion dollars; in 1996 video games represented 2% of toy shipments and 15% of sales dollars, and by 1998 it grew to 4% of toy shipments and 22% of sales dollars. Today, total video game sales grew 43 percent in 2007, up from $12.53 billion in 2006, and in December, historically the industrys strongest month, Americans spent $4.82 billion on video games, up 28 percent from a year earlier and up 83 percent from $2.63 billion in November, helped by the success of handheld units like Nintendo DS and the latest generation of home consoles (Ortutay). The tween demand for sophisticated toys, as well as the constant introduction of new games consoles, has been good news for the video games industry, as research shows that tweens spent $4.3 billion on video games, which accounted for over 13% of total videogames sales, where tweens’ spending on traditional toys and games dwindled to only 6% of total sales (â€Å"Tweens: Empowered with Money to Burn†).   The popularity of video games and the purchasing power of tweens have combined to create a situation in which male tweens spend far more money on technological items than ever before, especially in the form of videogames. Despite the hefty price tags, new video game systems bring tweens and adults alike together in front of the television to partake in the videogame fun, proving that videogames remain an aspect of popular culture that brings all ages together like few others can.   The shared interest and purchases that tweens have with adults, often their own parents, seems to suggest that a greater effort should be made to educate and control their purchasing power. Credit cards are used more than ever, and their popularity is reflected in the massive credit card debt that has been racked up in the United States over the past few decades.   It is estimated that at the end of 2002, Americans carried over $750.9 billion in outstanding credit card debt (Weston).   While some consumers are successfully managing to pay off their debt, many are in trouble and forced to make changes in their spending.   For tweens, having a highly regulated credit card could possibly lead to preventing many of the credit pitfalls experienced by the older consumers.   By introducing a credit card aimed directly at tweens and controlled by their parents, tweens would be able to continue their purchasing habits while under the guidance of their parents. While the common tween may feel this to be restricting their newfound purchasing power, as it is, few tweens have their own source of income to begin with and get the majority of their money from their parents.   It only makes sense that this also reflects in the fact that the vast majority of tween purchases, around 72 percent, are made with decisions made jointly by both the parent and the tween; a smaller margin of purchases, around 19 percent, are made solely by the parent on behalf of the tween, while only 8 percent of tween purchases are made by the tween alone (Clack).   By presenting tweens with a credit card that was controlled by the parents, they could be made more independent and make more purchases on their own. This way, tweens would be given the benefits of having to learn the value of money and parents could better regulate and discover what their children are purchasing from the invoices.   They could even place limits on their child’s spending on the card, which would prevent the tweens from making any costly spending mistakes.   Instead of relying on a profit-motivated bank that makes money on interest rates and penalty fees, tweens could instead rely on their parents to help educate them to such things, proving a considerably more cost effective means of learning the system of credit cards rather than the way that many adults often do, which is to fall into a massive hole of debt. The new purchasing power of the tween market cannot be denied, but it is in the best interests of their parents to make sure it can be controlled.   The fact that the majority of tween purchases are made jointly by tweens and their parents, a tween credit card regulated by their parents could be an ideal way of ensuring that their children avoid spending too much money on things they do not really need, and also avoid falling into the trap of overwhelming credit card debt.   A tween credit card could teach them the value of money at an early age, as well as make them feel more independent and grownup.    Feeling more independent and grownup is very important to tweens, and if parents fail to do the job, hungry marketers are more than happy to do it for them, gearing complex marketing campaigns towards tweens with disposable income.   If anything, a credit card designed for tweens and controlled by their parents will allow them to each take the power back from marketers that target the tweens youthful ignorance and the parents’ ignorance to their children’s purchases.   In the end, the purchasing power of tweens may be a global phenomenon, but they are still children and the responsibility for their actions should continue to remain with their parents, which a tween credit card could most assuredly do. Works Cited: Clack, Erin E. â€Å"What a Tween Wants Now: Market Research Experts Reveal Whats New With This Important Demographic.† Reach Advisors. 1 Apr 2004. 29 Apr 2008. http://www.reachadvisors.com/childrensbusinessarticle2.html. â€Å"How Marketers Target Kids.† Media Awareness Network. 2008. 29 Apr 2008. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/ marketing/issues_teens_marketing.cfm. Leo, John. â€Å"The Selling of Rebellion.† Exploring Language, 10th Ed. Longman: 2003. Ortutay, Barbara. â€Å"Nintendo tops video game sales in 2007.† MSNBC. 17 Jan 2008. 29 Apr http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22718374/. â€Å"Tween Teen Trends.† Datamonitor. 19 Jan 2005. 29 Apr 2008. http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=1094144g=1. â€Å"Tweens: empowered and with money to burn.† Euromonitor International. 10 Mar 2006. 29 Apr 2008. http://www.euromonitor.com/ Tweens_empowered_and_with_money_to_burn.     Ã¢â‚¬Å"The ‘Tween Market’.† Media Awareness Network. 2008. 29 Apr 2008. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/marketers_target_kids.cfm. Weston, Liz Pulliam. â€Å"The Truth About Credit Card Debt.† MSNBC. 2008. 29 Apr 2008. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/creditcardsmarts/P74808.asp.