The Influence of Tweens

New research from Millward Brown reveals that two in three global tweens (children ages 9-14) influence big ticket family purchases like cars, the fashion brands their parents wear, and mobile phones. And a further one in seven has an opinion about what brands their parents should buy, but doesn't express it.

These findings emerge from a research study undertaken in 2002 by MB to power BRANDchild, the latest Martin Lindstrom book which is published this week. The research explored tween attitudes to life in general and to grown ups' brands in particular. Alongside qualitative and desk research, interviews were conducted with 1,920 urban tweens in the USA, Brazil, Germany, Spain, India, China and Japan, with some key questions also asked of Danish tweens.

Commenting on the findings, Nigel Hollis, Strategic Planning and Development Director for the Millward Brown Group, said 'We were really surprised by the findings. We had expected there to be an influence but did not think it would be as great as it is. Nor did we expect to see such a consistent response from tweens across countries.'

Hollis continued 'The marketing implications of these findings are enormous. We're now talking to all our clients about whether they should consider a tween strategy, and discussing with them just what this might mean in terms of ethics. We are also busy sharing with clients other key findings from the research. To say they make fascinating reading is an understatement.'

BRANDchild, written by Martin Lindstrom, looks at kids' life priorities, their hopes and dreams and reveals the true drivers of kids' trends by analyzing teen-minority groups, communities and clubs. It reveals that tweens are indeed a new type of audience. In the USA alone, their direct buying power was around US$200 billion in 2002, while those under 12 also influenced family purchases to the tune of US$500 billion.

Based on unique research conducted by Millward Brown, the book develops insights from speaking to several thousand kids across Europe, Asia, Latin America and the USA. It also makes use of extensive qualitative research conducted for the BRANDchild project, an in-depth analysis of BMRB's UK TGI Youth data, and Millward Brown's database of children's research projects.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

• Kantar Millward Brown
• All news
• MrWeb info