NMA Live Kids Online: digital advertising in a child’s world

On Friday Brass attended the NMA Live Kids Online Event at the Mayfair hotel. The event aimed to help advertisers and media companies understand the lives of children online, and the potential roles of advertisers and media in children’s’ worlds.

Exclusive Research
Renuka Gupta  from Discovery research (@LightspeedRsrch) kicked off the morning session by presenting, for the first time, research into 12-15 year olds’ lives online, including voxpops of focus groups. Some interesting facts emerged:

•    For 12-15s, the average number of Facebook friends is 203
•    Kids follow brands on Facebook as a social identity device – following brands they want their friends to associate with them
•    Kids use email primarily to store documents, rather than as a communication tool
•    They will call their parents, but text or socially message their friends
•    YouTube is the first port of call to listen to music, then iTunes to purchase it
•    Accessing music online is mainly about the ‘celebrity factor’ for 12-15s, rather than the music itself, which is why music videos on YouTube are so popular
•    Use of Twitter is for celebrity  gossip for this age range. (According to Digital Surgeons’ stats, only 4% of Twitter users are aged 13-17. )

The move into celebrity culture makes what the brand represents (e.g. a rapper might represent money/popularity/confidence) more important than any ‘intrinsic’ property (e.g. the music itself).

When looking at branded goods, the ‘cool factor’ is more important than functional benefits of the products. Brands become imbued with values given by society and the media – a layer of socially-generated meaning. What is happening now is a digital version of branded clothing; the badges are online as well as offline.

MTV’s Philip O Ferrall shares the evolution of children’s media consumption: turning audiences into fans
•    Hailing the iPad as an effective child pacifier, Philip begins by outlining apps as safe, parentally-controlled walled environments for kids to learn and develop. As children get older, they slowly leave these safe environments to graze for content to share with their friends online.

•    There are gender differences in media consumption in the ‘tween’ audiences – boys are looking for action and social gaming, whereas girls are seeking to create their identity, building their social profile online.

•    Philip highlighted Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) as a key area for MTV owner Viacom’s investment. The immersive Spongebob Squarepants game is out later this year.

•    Using the example of TV programmes, O Ferrall argues that all brands need to be multiplatform/transmedia – children will interact with a brand’s narrative on a variety of platforms, and recognisable brands enable this.

@Raffers shares the reasons behind Spot the Dog’s success
Anna Rafferty, MD of Penguin Digital, shared in detail their development of the #1 iPad app, Spot the Dog. Crucially, they were designing the app before the iPad had even come out! The app was so successful it is now preloaded onto demo iPads in every Apple store.

It was amazing to see the effort and research that goes into the apps. Penguin were researching Peekaboo with children as young as 3 months old and working out the best visuals and noises to aid sensory development in young children. They observed children’s reactions to the app, and used the same principles as the children’s books; if an icon/picture looks like it should do something, make sure it does!

Interestingly, Spot the Dog managed to knock Toy Story off the top app spot without using any paid media – Penguin just used their own channels to promote the app.

BBC IPTV’s Marc Goodchild gives a balanced view on children and technology
In response to some media stories that technology damages children, Marc provided a voice of reason, outlining that in all the research conducted to prove this theory, little empirical evidence exists to suggest children are suffering as a result of technology.

In fact, Goodchild went on to argue, technology is essentially neutral – it’s how we use it as a society that makes a difference. Kids have always embraced new experiences, created fantasy worlds, and mimicked their parents – technology is just a medium for expressing these facets of human nature.
Virtual worlds can actually help kids navigate social worlds in relatively safety and provide learning environments which can help them in the real world.

For more on Marc Goodchild’s view, take a look at Joe Fry’s blog post: Marc Goodchild ‘Better by Design’.

So, what to take away for your marketing campaigns?

Technology provides new modes and means of communication, but it is us as human beings that create meaning around this – networks, friendships, identities and recommendations are all constructed by us online. As with the offline world, it’s about how we choose to act in our environment rather than the environment itself. As long as we act responsibly, children are able to navigate their way to adulthood safely both online and offline.

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45688888@N08/4191381737/