December 4, 2007
Tweens Are Going Mobile
A large number of tweens, kids between the ages of eight and 12, own mobile phones and make extensive use of them for social interactions, according to a new report released by The Nielsen Company.
The study, Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens, reports that 35 percent of tweens now own a mobile phone and use them for a variety of activities such as text messaging, surfing the internet and downloading music and video in addition to making voice calls.
Nielsen found that tweens are using mobile phones at home to download ring tones, music, movies and games.
Fifty-eight percent of tweens who used their phones to download a movie did so at home. Sixty-four percent who downloaded music also did so while at home.
“Tweens use their mobile phones, and media in general, in very unique and important ways,” said Jeff Herrmann, vp of mobile media for Nielsen Mobile, in a press release. “Marketers and media executives need to understand these ‘digital natives’ as they mature and reshape the way we all think about new and traditional media.”
Discussion Question: Do you see tweens using mobile devices in unique ways when compared to other age segments of the population? How will these “digital natives” reshape retail marketing as they mature? How long do you think it will be before the impact is seen in terms of marketing media mix, types of messaging, etc.?
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The tween mobile movement is going to have the expected impact, which is that consumers in three to five years are going to be FAR more comfortable with mobile communications than the vast majority of the execs who will be calling the shots at retail chains.
There needs to be a willingness to embrace communication strategies that are going to feel very awkward to senior IT and even senior marketing brass.
I’ll be the naysayer here: only 35% of Tweens have a mobile phone. Of those, most I expect are like my son, who is 11, or my daughter, who is 8. My son has a phone that he is allowed to use to call home and so we can call him when he’s on his own. And that’s pretty much what he uses it for. He doesn’t text, or IM, or download ringtones, and he hasn’t expressed any real desire to do so. He’s in middle school, so he’s exposed to teens who are more likely to do these things. He and his friends aren’t very interested yet.
So even if 20% of Tweens are into these things, that’s hardly enough to spend a whole lot of time wringing our hands over how out of touch we are with the “tween” market.
Teens are different, of course, and yes they have had a very different experience than their older counterparts, just as I had a very different experience than my parents and so on.
And btw, all 3 of my kids 6-11 love most commercials. They know most of the major jingles by heart, despite only watching about 3 hours of TV on the two days a week they get to watch. So commercials aren’t dead yet I guess.
OMG! My son is almost a tween! What a terrifying thought (he’s 6).
He reminds me every day exactly how differently he views the world. He has a basic expectation that everything–EVERYTHING–is “on demand.” Music, TV, movies, games, all of it. Just yesterday I had to explain to him that I couldn’t make his new favorite song play on the radio just because he wanted to hear it, and then I had to explain about ads on the radio. He responded, “Oh, OK. Can I bring my iPod in the car?” As soon as he and his friends figure out messaging (whether text or IM)or better/worse yet, video chat or Skype or some alternative (since he can barely read let alone type), his expectations for “on demand” will expand to include talking to anyone he wants to at any time.
The lesson for brands? Remember, he is only 6, yet already he completely rejects advertising. He is unwilling to have his content interrupted by ads, but he will tolerate “in line” advertising (like banner ads when he’s playing a Diego game online). He expects instant gratification–and when they said generations X and Y had expectations for instant gratification, they had no idea what they were talking about. If you can’t deliver what he expects right away, he’ll drop you in a heartbeat.
For phones in particular, that means mobile advertising will have to tread very carefully–more in the realm of branded services (like P&G’s Vicks brand SMS with health-related weather alerts) than in traditional advertising messages, which will be perceived as an interruption. Success in reaching this next gen consumer will come from helping them connect, and providing them useful services and entertainment.
I have the rare privilege to see this oh so digital generation grow up right before my eyes, and I can’t stress enough, they won’t be your mom’s consumer in any way, shape, or form. This isn’t about the next generation rebelling against the norms of the generation before. This is about new capabilities that are native to them in ways that will never be native to us, thanks to technology.
The assumption that because Tweens use their mobile phones a lot they will be accepting of advertising is false. Read Nikki’s comment. Before deciding what the Tweens will accept, we better get to know them, how they use their phones, and what they expect from them. They do not view the world as we do and have no reason to expect as normal anything that we do. Act on your assumptions at your own risk.
LG recently sponsored the National Text Messaging Championships (not kidding, read it in Wired Magazine).
The winner was 13 years old. It will only be a matter of time before the young people open the doors for mobile communications, the convenience factor will be the impetus as they get older and life gets come complicated. Tech native folks will participate as long as they have control. Marketers who give consumers control with clear transparency of message will win.
As the cell phone morphs into a multimedia device that offers full computing, GPS, camera, mobile audio and mobile video in many forms, it creates increased value to many segments. The entertainment aspects of the cellphone will rapidly replace the iPod as better cellphones offer more features in a “cool” package.
The difficulty here is designing these products to appeal to different market segments while differentiating these devices to avoid market cannibalization. Of course the ability to forecast what is “cool” and appeals to the correct market segment, at the right time, is an art form. Doing this while aligning a products position and time to market, is a difficult feat for any company to do.
Verizon’s recent announcement that it’s moving to an “open software” business model looks like a response to Google’s move into the business, and it has important implications for teens’ and tweens’ cell phone usage. The cell phone is evolving rapidly into a hand-held computer and you can expect to see ideas like the iPhone becoming more widespread and affordable.
As these changes in technology and business model occur, teens and tweens are the audiences with the greatest comfort level with new uses for their phones. They will also be responsive to new advertising media on their cell phones that will help keep the overall costs of usage (airtime and media minutes) affordable on their limited budgets (or their parents’ willingness to pay). In five years, teens and tweens (and grownups) will look back at today’s phone technology as something comparatively primitive.
As Tweens age, their heavy mobile phone use will continue, and they’ll remain open to a greater variety of uses. The key for marketers: reaching these folks without just adding to the spam, clutter, and useless low quality of most advertising. The great opportunity: give them free cell phones and free unlimited usage in return for owning the ad rights. Tweens have more time than money and if it’s packaged right (with a prestige brand, such as Disney or another movie company or a sports team or a hip retailer such as Virgin or Aeropostale) they’ll eagerly dump their Verizon, Sprint, AT+T, and T-Mobile subscriptions. The brand owner could sell the unused ad time profitably to noncompeting brands. There’s no reason a Virgin phone subscription couldn’t be free, with ads from Old Navy, McDonald’s and Dell.
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The tween mobile movement is going to have the expected impact, which is that consumers in three to five years are going to be FAR more comfortable with mobile communications than the vast majority of the execs who will be calling the shots at retail chains.
There needs to be a willingness to embrace communication strategies that are going to feel very awkward to senior IT and even senior marketing brass.
I’ll be the naysayer here: only 35% of Tweens have a mobile phone. Of those, most I expect are like my son, who is 11, or my daughter, who is 8. My son has a phone that he is allowed to use to call home and so we can call him when he’s on his own. And that’s pretty much what he uses it for. He doesn’t text, or IM, or download ringtones, and he hasn’t expressed any real desire to do so. He’s in middle school, so he’s exposed to teens who are more likely to do these things. He and his friends aren’t very interested yet.
So even if 20% of Tweens are into these things, that’s hardly enough to spend a whole lot of time wringing our hands over how out of touch we are with the “tween” market.
Teens are different, of course, and yes they have had a very different experience than their older counterparts, just as I had a very different experience than my parents and so on.
And btw, all 3 of my kids 6-11 love most commercials. They know most of the major jingles by heart, despite only watching about 3 hours of TV on the two days a week they get to watch. So commercials aren’t dead yet I guess.
OMG! My son is almost a tween! What a terrifying thought (he’s 6).
He reminds me every day exactly how differently he views the world. He has a basic expectation that everything–EVERYTHING–is “on demand.” Music, TV, movies, games, all of it. Just yesterday I had to explain to him that I couldn’t make his new favorite song play on the radio just because he wanted to hear it, and then I had to explain about ads on the radio. He responded, “Oh, OK. Can I bring my iPod in the car?” As soon as he and his friends figure out messaging (whether text or IM)or better/worse yet, video chat or Skype or some alternative (since he can barely read let alone type), his expectations for “on demand” will expand to include talking to anyone he wants to at any time.
The lesson for brands? Remember, he is only 6, yet already he completely rejects advertising. He is unwilling to have his content interrupted by ads, but he will tolerate “in line” advertising (like banner ads when he’s playing a Diego game online). He expects instant gratification–and when they said generations X and Y had expectations for instant gratification, they had no idea what they were talking about. If you can’t deliver what he expects right away, he’ll drop you in a heartbeat.
For phones in particular, that means mobile advertising will have to tread very carefully–more in the realm of branded services (like P&G’s Vicks brand SMS with health-related weather alerts) than in traditional advertising messages, which will be perceived as an interruption. Success in reaching this next gen consumer will come from helping them connect, and providing them useful services and entertainment.
I have the rare privilege to see this oh so digital generation grow up right before my eyes, and I can’t stress enough, they won’t be your mom’s consumer in any way, shape, or form. This isn’t about the next generation rebelling against the norms of the generation before. This is about new capabilities that are native to them in ways that will never be native to us, thanks to technology.
The assumption that because Tweens use their mobile phones a lot they will be accepting of advertising is false. Read Nikki’s comment. Before deciding what the Tweens will accept, we better get to know them, how they use their phones, and what they expect from them. They do not view the world as we do and have no reason to expect as normal anything that we do. Act on your assumptions at your own risk.
LG recently sponsored the National Text Messaging Championships (not kidding, read it in Wired Magazine).
The winner was 13 years old. It will only be a matter of time before the young people open the doors for mobile communications, the convenience factor will be the impetus as they get older and life gets come complicated. Tech native folks will participate as long as they have control. Marketers who give consumers control with clear transparency of message will win.
As the cell phone morphs into a multimedia device that offers full computing, GPS, camera, mobile audio and mobile video in many forms, it creates increased value to many segments. The entertainment aspects of the cellphone will rapidly replace the iPod as better cellphones offer more features in a “cool” package.
The difficulty here is designing these products to appeal to different market segments while differentiating these devices to avoid market cannibalization. Of course the ability to forecast what is “cool” and appeals to the correct market segment, at the right time, is an art form. Doing this while aligning a products position and time to market, is a difficult feat for any company to do.
Verizon’s recent announcement that it’s moving to an “open software” business model looks like a response to Google’s move into the business, and it has important implications for teens’ and tweens’ cell phone usage. The cell phone is evolving rapidly into a hand-held computer and you can expect to see ideas like the iPhone becoming more widespread and affordable.
As these changes in technology and business model occur, teens and tweens are the audiences with the greatest comfort level with new uses for their phones. They will also be responsive to new advertising media on their cell phones that will help keep the overall costs of usage (airtime and media minutes) affordable on their limited budgets (or their parents’ willingness to pay). In five years, teens and tweens (and grownups) will look back at today’s phone technology as something comparatively primitive.
As Tweens age, their heavy mobile phone use will continue, and they’ll remain open to a greater variety of uses. The key for marketers: reaching these folks without just adding to the spam, clutter, and useless low quality of most advertising. The great opportunity: give them free cell phones and free unlimited usage in return for owning the ad rights. Tweens have more time than money and if it’s packaged right (with a prestige brand, such as Disney or another movie company or a sports team or a hip retailer such as Virgin or Aeropostale) they’ll eagerly dump their Verizon, Sprint, AT+T, and T-Mobile subscriptions. The brand owner could sell the unused ad time profitably to noncompeting brands. There’s no reason a Virgin phone subscription couldn’t be free, with ads from Old Navy, McDonald’s and Dell.