Top 7 learnings from the Engaging Kids & Marketing to Parents Conference 2018

A hot London day was the backdrop for this year's Engaging Kids & Marketing to Parents Conference, produced by Global Insight Conferences.

It was my first visit to the event, but I was impressed by the range of speakers, from FMCG, leisure and media. I was even more impressed with the panel of local kids who came and gave us their unedited opinions!

The day focussed heavily on online media and tried to answer the question, how do brands responsibly and creatively engage with both kids and parents?

Here are my top 7 learnings

1. Be authentic. No really - be authentic. This came up again and again from Cbeebies to Guinness World Records. Kids and parents are smart and switched on, they can spot a fibber a mile off.
2. Know your audience. This one is a no-brainer, but there are so many segments within the mass of people labelled 'family'. The parent panel told us in definite terms they want to be treated as individuals and recognised for their distinct family types. Chester Zoo uses a beautiful segmentation model based on behaviours and attitudes as well as demographics.
3. Kids are online, get over it. We might bemoan the days of bike riding and den building, but modern kids are online much more than we care to admit. Online activity is at the heart of the secondary school age group and a key part of daily media consumption for the primaries.
4. You have a choice. Either market to parents exclusively like Britvic's Fruit Shoot team, or to both like Bloomsbury Publishing. Whatever your choice make it definite and ensure it's followed by your whole marketing team.
5. Find the right tone. Sounds simple right? So why are marketers posting to parents using kid-oriented messaging and tone? Cbeebies are a great example of a brand that communicates in a different tone to parents - check out their #cbeebiesdarkthoughts.
6. Acknowledge parents are under pressure. Don't be another pressure, be a help. The campaign #solidaritea run by the Birds' Eye team was a great example of this. Sadly after pride (87%) and joy (78%) the top emotions of parents are frustration (73%) and guilt (63%)...
7. Gender is still a thing. Although some brands and activities are gender neutral some are open to more traditional gender types. This isn't being done to 'force' kids into acting like either sex, but is a natural choice by the kids themselves. Yes, generally speaking, boys like sport and gaming, and yes, no matter what we think about it, girls still like dancing and boys... Publishers Immediate Media had all the analysis to back this up.

Whilst this market is a complex one, brands can succeed by being real, getting to know the aspirations, behaviours and challenges of their audiences and then helping them.

See you at next year's conference!