Be-tween you and me, kids know best

'Tweens' such as Oliver Nacey are a vital emerging market with the world at their fingertips. Picture / Richard Robinson.

Oliver Nacey lives a life filled with texting, TV and gaming, unaware he's increasingly becoming the target of marketers' attention.

The 12-year-old - who likes cool clothes and readily admits to using face wash and moisturiser every night - is part of the influential "tween" market, credited internationally with controlling billions of dollars of parents' spending.

Tween, a mix of the words "teen" and "between", describes the 9- to 14-year-old age group that European branding expert Martin Lindstrom says determine 80 per cent of their parents' brand buying.

Tweens' pocket money goes on discretionary - or primary - spending but more importantly, they also influence their parents' spending, known as secondary purchasing power. Lindstrom's global BRANDchild study found 67 per cent of car purchases are influenced by children.

Intermediate school student Oliver, who is fuelled with ambition to roam the world making TV programmes, has input on "everything", says mother Beth Nacey, particularly when the family are buying computers, consumer goods and DVDs.

"I definitely consider his opinion more than my mother ever would have [considered mine]."

Nielsen Media Research says 312,000 New Zealanders are in the tween demographic.

They quickly pick up and use emerging technology. Almost half of the tweens who have a mobile phone said they would be "lost without it", compared with 29 per cent of people aged 15 plus.

Almost 60 per cent of tweens play games on their mobiles, compared with 15 per cent of the wider population.

The research shows most female tweens enjoy shopping for clothes and personal items and they rate lipgloss, body lotion and moisturiser their top three personal care items.

Results showing male tweens like gaming and rate hairspray or gel, aftershave and cleanser their top three personal care items come as no surprise to image-conscious Oliver.

Branding experts say this country has been slow at picking up the tween trend recognised overseas.

Auckland University of Technology senior advertising lecturer Dave Bibby says brand loyalty is key among younger people. If the direct spending power of tweens is not huge now, it will be as they grow up and stay loyal to brands they connect with.

"They're the future and you've got to look at the lifetime value of customers," says Bibby.

Richard Griffiths, the research and insights manager for a research company specialising in people aged 14-30 called 18 Ltd, says tweens are an uptapped market. He says tweens are listening to podcasts and writing blogs, opening up new advertising avenues.

Marketing to younger Kiwis is treated carefully, however, because the group is so easily influenced.

Vodafone bans advertising to under-16s, following the stance of its sister company in the UK.

Below-the-line marketing specialist Jeremy Hunt, director of Brand Spanking, says his promotions team treads carefully when handing out samples to tweens, particularly when food and drink are involved, due to problems with child obesity.

"When you get to those younger kids, there are issues around parental permission," says Hunt.

In the United States, Disney Channel has been reaping the rewards of creating tailor-made programming for tweens for eight years, says worldwide president Rich Ross.

"There wasn't a word 'tween' when we started," says Ross, speaking ahead of the Australasian launch of the channel's most successful made-for-TV movie, High School Musical.

"[We] pretty much coined the expression and now it's become a global, identified demography with billions of dollars of business around the world."

Ross says Disney Channel has clear standards of practice governing what shows targeted at tweens can include.

The programmes are family friendly and contain issues relevant to tweens struggling with growing pains.

The shows give tweens role models they can identify with and it seems to be a model that works.

High School Musical, which debuted here on Saturday at the start of the international rollout to more than 100 countries in four months, was watched by 7.7 million when it premiered in the US.

The TV movie's soundtrack was the first from a TV movie to go to 1 on the Billboard Top 200.

"Now the business of it is just massive," says Ross. "Toys are an element of it, but certainly in the kid and tween market it is not as big as apparel, stationery and certainly the content."

The Walt Disney product range for the TV movie includes music CDs, a DVD, a novel and a licensed adaptation for stage production.

Ross believes tweens are better educated than in previous generations. They are opinionated and influence their parents' buying. "Maybe there was a day when a kid used whatever toothpaste mum bought. These days have definitely changed."

Media savvy

* New Zealand has 312,000 tweens, who are emerging as a key advertising market.

* 63 per cent have gaming machines, such as PlayStation or Xbox.

* 86 per cent of tweens with a mobile believe they would be "lost without it".

* In 2005, 79 per cent of tweens had two or more TVs at home and 42 per cent had Sky TV. In 1995, 64 per cent had two or more TVs at home and 19 per cent had Sky TV.

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research