LOL, OMG, and Yikes!

Inside the Lives of Tweens, Teens, and Their Parents

Sponsored by PKIDs' Communications Made Easy

May 24, 2011 Susan D. Kirby, Dr.P.H.

susan@kirbyms.com

2

Social Marketing Model

The Social Change Program HEALTH

PROBLEM

TARGET

AUDIENCE

BEHAVIOR

Social Marketing Model to Facilitate Social Change

Susan D. Kirby, Revised December 2004

PLACE (Where or How)

What you do to impact Where or

How the audience can easily access

the behavior or product (not

messages)

PRICE (Why)

What you do to impact

Why the audience will

want or not want to do the

behavior?

Continuous Evaluation and Modification as Needed

PRODUCT The combination or

bundle of price, place

that you offer the

target audience in

order to enact the

behavior

PROMOTION (COMMUNICATION)

How the product offering is

communicated to the target audience.

The tone, feel, placement of messages,

spokesperson, etc.

3

Intended Audiences

• Primary – Teens 13+

– Tweens 11-13

– Parents of Teens and Tweens

• Secondary – School Officials

– Public Health advocates

– Policymakers

4

A Tween‟s World

5

“Tweens admire teens and define „cool by the older kids‟ standards, but they are glad to still be kids, and don‟t want to grow up too

fast.” Azoulay, 2000

• 9-13

• 20.3 million + in U.S.

• Spend > $14B on themselves

• Influence > $128B in HH purchases

Tweens

6

Inside a Tween‟s Head

• I am just beginning to form my own identity, but I still need to fit in

• I need to be recognized as individual

– I like getting mail in my own name

• I think more about who I want to be than what I want in life

• I used to be at the top of the social ladder and now I‟m at the bottom

7

• I feel pressured to perform and succeed like never before

• I am concerned about puberty

• The world around me is increasingly tough and unforgiving

• I feel like an inexperienced and self-conscious teen, not a confident kid

• I feel stressed by all that is going on

Inside a Tween‟s Head

8

11-12 Year-Old Daydreams

11-12 Year-Old Fears

10

Inside a Tween‟s Day

• I make more small choices

• I have much more media freedom

• I like joining clubs and going to social events with my peers

• I wish school was more challenging

– Most of my friends (80%) think it‟s cool to be smart

• Stress seems to lead a lot of my friends to overeat, do drugs, and smoke, and drink

– 50% of my friends have tried alcohol

11

Inside a Tween‟s Day

• I grew up online and expect transactions to be fast

• I like socially-oriented Web sites, text messaging, and email

• Boys I know like gaming sites and competitive online activities

• I‟m very interested in my community

• I have a lot of family chores, cooking, younger sister care, etc.

• I don‟t have a lot of free time

12

Who A Tween Looks Up To • I look to my parents first to help me with complex decisions

• In my minority neighborhood, coaches and religious leaders help many of us

• I really like to hear what my older sister and her friends think about things

– They often help me make up my mind about what I should do

• I like urban hip hop culture and edgy designers – they make me feel older

13

What Tweens Watch, Read, or Listen To

• 62% of my girlfriends like going to movies for fun

– But only half as many boys like movies

– Boys like playing video games and sports

• I see/hear about 500 ads per day

• The media I pay attention to keeps me up to date so I fit in better at school

14

Tweens and Health Advocacy • I like to do things with my friends and would stand up for them any day (78%)

• I wish my parents would talk to me more about risky behaviors my friends are doing (50%) – I wonder what they would think of me?

• Programs that give me a chance to have my voice heard are my favorites

• Helping me find my passions in life build my self-esteem and minimize negative behaviors

15

What Works in Marketing • Fun, fun, fun themes

• Tween girls are often motivated by messages related to beauty, glamour and the desire to master a particular task

• Tween boys are motivated by messages that express power, con-quests of “good versus evil and bravery”

16

What Works in Marketing

• Word of mouth or guerilla marketing

• Messages should focus on tweens‟ developing their talents and working together with peers

• How could you use the fact that tweens want to be involved in a good cause?

• What about how tween boys prefer games of mastery and skill?

• How could you use tween girls looking up to their older sisters?

17

What Does This Mean For Your Program?

18

Tween Campaign Examples

• VERB

– http://www.verbnow.com/

• Girl Power

– http://www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/index.htm

19

A Teen‟s World

20

A Teen‟s World

• 15-19 years

• Over 20 million in US – 2005 – Over 2.5 million in California

– 14% not in school

• Will spend over $170 Billion – about $100 week for each teen

• Nearly 60% have multicultural friends, including LGBT friends

21

A Teen‟s Concerns

• Being part of a group of friends; individuality, but within the norms of the group

• Doing fun activities

• Preventing pregnancy

• Young women are concerned about violence, but not necessarily bullying

22

A Teen‟s Concerns

• Future aspirations, such as finishing school, having a career, having a family.

• 76% of teens claim to be bored at least some of the time -- up from 66% just 10 years ago.

– 21% of teens say they're bored "most of the time

• Teen attitudes are fickle and must be monitored frequently

23

Benefits a Teen Values

• Feeling in control

• Easing my worries

• Increasing my self-esteem

• Ensuring I can reach future goals

• Having fun

• Feeling older than I am

24

A Day in The Life of a Teen

• Going to school • Family chores • Talking, text messaging, emailing • Working • Hanging out at malls • Going to the movies • Playing music • Playing sports • Getting high or drunk • Flirting and having sex

25

A Teen‟s Sexual Attitudes

• Condoms – serial monogamy means you don’t need a

condom

– too expensive, poor performance

– poor trust if asked to use one

– hard to use when drunk

– smart if you use one

• Pregnancy – mostly girls concerned about it

26

Teen Media Use

• Facebook is by far the most used social media for all teens

• Edgy teens gravitate to My Space

• Video games are important to teen boys and girls

• Mobile apps are highly used and are preferred for private information

• Texting also preferred

• Mom‟s approval is the kiss of death.

• For today‟s teens, healthy messages are key

• If you‟re not Social Networking, you‟re not connecting with today‟s youth.

• Bullying is the new big thing on the minds of today‟s youth.

• The lives of teens are changing all the time.

• Boys will be boys and girls will be both.

27

Six Untruths

• How could you use teens‟ desire to feel more in control of their lives?

• How could you leverage teens‟ desires to reach their future goals?

• How could you use teens attitude that they are bored a lot of the time?

28

What Does This Mean for Your Program?

29

Teen Campaigns

• Prevention Marketing Initiative (PMI)

– Sacramento site - http://www.orau.gov/cdcynergy/soc2web/Content/activeinformation/resources/SOC_SacProfile.pdf

• TRUTH Tobacco

– www.wholetruth.com

30

A Parent‟s World

• Gen X Moms: 21.85 million (Age 28-43)

• Boomer Moms: 32.49 million (Age 44-62)

31

Moms Are Still the Main Caretaker

Moms

Millennial Moms

GenX Moms

Boomer Moms

• More stay-at-home dads, fathers working from home, and cutting back long hours

• Gen X Moms are embracing traditional roles.

• Gen X more college-educated than any previous generation, more are staying home or working part time.

• Many were latchkey kids

32

Gen X – Security Moms, Committed Dads

• Never trusted organizational competence

• Willingly keep up on issues via Web and friends

• Expect high levels of personal service

• Expect clear messaging and expect to be marketed to – do it right!

• Build relationships early and nurture them

• Very tech savvy, use texting almost as much as teens

33

Inside a Gen X Parent‟s Head

“It may not be fair, but it's true. We want you to pay attention to us, to take us seriously -- to give us your time.” A Gen X Mom

• More concerned with their own child than the overall community of kids

• Seldom trust authority figures, trust their peers more

• Prefer rules and standards to be specific

34

Inside a Gen X Parent‟s Head

“Woodstock to woodstoves to WWW.”

• More trusting of authority today

• Caring for children and aging parents

• Came of age during Vietnam, Watergate, and Kennedy assassination

– But had relatively stable home lives

• Are overly involved in their kid‟s life, often known as helicopter parents

35

Inside a Boomer Parent‟s Head

• Baby Boomers are rule breakers. Individuality over conformity is a consistent Boomer pattern.

• They have always done it differently than the way it was done before.

• Baby Boomers like to tell their story and the Internet has facilitated their get it all out tendencies

• Feeling and staying young are critical

• Adventure and world travel are important

36

Inside a Boomer Parent‟s Head

• Violence

• Suicide

• Sex

• Self-esteem

• School performance

• Internet

37

Parent‟s Top Concerns About Adolescents

• Obesity

• Toxins

• Disabilities,

• Consequences of actions

• Alcohol use

• Accidents and crashes

38

Parents of Tweens and Teens

• Belief in adolescent autonomy is a strong predictor of HPV vaccine acceptance

– May be useful as an audience segmentation characteristic

• Perceive their own child at low risk or did not know that vaccine is necessary before onset of sexual activity

– Inform that others put their child at risk

• Were not as concerned with the vaccine promoting sexual activity

39

Parents of Tweens and Teens

• Disease severity and vaccine efficacy are predictors of vaccine approval – Regardless of type of vaccine

• Health care providers are the preferred source of information on immunizations

• Media plays a role in hyping issues, but providers trained in communicating with parents can overcome misinformation

• How could you overcome Gen X parents‟ concerns about their own child instead of community of kids regarding immunization?

• How could you leverage Baby Boomer parents‟ hovering over their children?

• How could you use Baby Boomers‟ desired for world travel to help motivate better tween and teen communication?

40

What Does This Mean for Your Program?

41

Related Parent Campaigns

• Girl Power

– http://www.girlpower.gov/AdultsWhoCare/index.htm

• VERB

– http://www.cdc.gov/youthcampaign/

42

Research Resources

• Teen Research Unlimited http://www.teenresearch.com/home.cfm

• Commercial marketing research reports to purchase – http://www.marketresearch.com/browse.asp?categoryid

=1446&g=1

– http://www.youthbeat.com/

• Use generational research that‟s already been conducted to identify non-health motivators and barriers to action

• Not every research finding will be used, many will not be useful

• Consider “listening in” on audiences via social media monitoring

• Targeting and tailoring are keys to success 43

Some Research Tips

Q&A