Contrary to hyped-up industry reports, the economic power of most tweens is dependent on parents and other family adults through allowances and gifts, versus the independent purchasing power of teens through after-school jobs. (360Youth.com puts the teens-with-jobs number at 63 percent.) For as much industry talk as there is about tweens being the decision-maker driving purchases, ultimately it is still the parent in control. Of the reported US$ 51 billion spent by tweens themselves, an additional $170 billion was spent by parents and family members directly for them, according to 360Youth.com, which focuses on youth marketing.

Another company that has capitalized on ethnic diversity and navigated the increasingly difficult toy market is the Manhattan Toy Company, with its successful Groovy Girls line of dolls. The unique selling point? Each doll features a girl of different skin tones, hair types and facial features reflecting the real American ethnic landscape of today.

Since its launch in 1998, Groovy Girls dolls and accessories were a category bestseller until 2003 and won "Girl Toy of the Year" and "Specialty Toy of the Year" awards from the Toy Industry Association (TIA) at the 2003 Toy Fair in New York City. With the demise of many specialty toy stores such as Zany Brainy, Noodle Kidoodle, and Store of Knowledge, the dolls were launched in Target stores in early 2005 to introduce the brand to American tweens en masse.

As the girls tween market becomes saturated, attention is moving more to the boys-only area as a niche to fill. Riot Media is a website-turned-media and toy company that capitalizes on the "gross-out" humor factor that boys so love. Launched this year, Robert Thorne (the Svengali behind catapulting the Olsen twins to billion-dollar heaven) is looking to create a similar dent in the boys market.

Within the plethora of products, there are still areas where parents want direct control, especially in something like wireless phones and services. Kid giants Disney and Nickelodeon are already providing cellphone ringtones and content, while service providers and phone manufacturers such as Verizon, Cingular and newcomers Tic Talk and Firefly ("starter" phones designed specifically for keeping kids easily in touch with mom or dad) are investing large dollars to reap even larger rewards. Other new tween phones about to emerge are MyScene Mobile by Mattel and Wherifone, a small start-up company out of the Bay Area, which also features GPS location tracking of the phone and, theoretically, the child. Of the 26 million tweens in 2009, iGillottResearch forecasts that 4 million will be using their own cellphones.

As with any other age group, tweens are saturated with media and Madison Avenue images each day. Given the sheer volume of brands and brand images cast out into the populous, it's hardly surprising that much really grasps the attention of a tween. In-school media boards for advertising, television, viral (a.k.a. buzz) marketing, book covers for textbooks with ads on them, traditional mall intercepts and "Day in the Life" videos and journals are just a sample of tactics used to get a better understanding of the lifestyle of a tween.

Then there are the infamous slumber parties pioneered by market research firm Girls Intelligence Agency as an intimate, if not covert, form of a focus group in tween girls' own environment: their bedrooms. GIA also features a "Best Friends Forever" (BFF) network where girls are given products to discuss among their friends, reporting back resulting comments to a GIA agent. Clients of GIA include Mattel, Disney and Warner Brothers.

Not so surprisingly, some parents are finding these new marketing tactics for tweens more than a little Orwellian and, in some cases, are downright disturbed by the child-as-guinea pig approach. In 2004, a public interest group asked the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) to "use its subpoena power to get access to marketer research studies to help determine if online data collection actually succeeds in helping advertisers to reach kids and tweens." It also asked for a moratorium to be placed by the advertising industry on interactive tactics that "could potentially harm or negatively affect children and youth."

PBS also offers a website called "Don't Buy It," chock full of advice on how to make kids intelligent consumers. Features include "advertising tricks," "buying smart—see through the sales pitch," and "cover model secrets."

The bottom line? Tweens may have a wealth of choices at their fingertips and are more brand finicky than ever, but despite the new marketing and product creation conundrums they present, one thing remains constant. Sociologist Juliet Schor, in her book "Born to Buy," puts it as "Authenticity… staying true to the brand."     

[10-Oct-2005]