Marketing in the Online

It’s an early-morning tradition: reading the back of the cereal box while eating a bowl of cereal.

CPG packaging often prompts kids to visit the brand’s Web site

Ten-year-old Kelly is no exception. While eating Kellogg’s Rice Krispies one morning, she was reading over the package when she noticed an enticement to check out the brand’s Web site. She went to the site and found some fun games that she played and a recipe for Rice Krispies treats. She wanted to make them for her grandfather, so she asked her mom to buy more Rice Krispies…and more and more and more.

“I’ve made them a hundred times,” she said of the treats.

Kids are spending billions of dollars and influencing the spending of hundreds of billions more so it’s no wonder that brands are putting more effort, and dollars, into capturing the attention of this lucrative market, especially online.

A tide of Web sites targeting children has washed over the Internet, wallpapering cyberspace with spectacular and engaging animation and content often supported by fun games, contests and sweeps, keeping young eyes on the prize.

Since 1999, for example, Nickelodeon has increased the number of sweepstakes it offers twofold to two per month, said Laura Nowatka, VP-promotion marketing for Nickelodeon.

“Gaming is huge for kids,” Nowatka said. “Kids are certainly, in this modern day, much more respected than they were in the past. We are trying to give prizes or have events in ways that are relevant to them.”

And some big numbers aid that respect. In 2002, U.S. children ages four to 12 spent $30 billion, compared to $6.9 billion in 1989. Kids in this same age group with “pester power” influenced about $310 billion in spending in 2002. Kids ages 12-plus spent $170 billion in 2002. And, 45% of purchases in U.S. households with one or more kids under age 15 are determined by the kids.

“Kids do control a lot of purchasing decisions, that’s why they are an interesting target to marketers,” Felix Hofer, a founding partner of the Italy-based firm Hofer Losch Torricelli, said at the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance annual meeting, held last week in New York.

Be a winner

Kids love to win and the prizes can range from the mundane—print outs of cartoon characters that can be colored—to eye poppers like $3,000 entertainment centers or a four-day trip to London, dangled in a Harry Potter-themed contest.

A new essay contest sends wizard-loving kids to London

The national essay contest, which began Monday and is sponsored by Scholastic, asks kids ages 18 and under to explain “Why I Love Reading
Harry Potter.” Ten winners will fly out of New York City to London on July 15 for the four-night stay. Each passenger onboard will get an advance copy of the new book,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to read during the flight. The book, the sixth in the series, is to be released July 16. The contest ends June 16.

Nickelodeon taps its sweepstakes power by offering “fantasy fulfilling” prizes—prizes that kids dream about winning, Nowatka said.

“We do constant research to see what kinds of things would consist of a fantasy for kids that’s really cool,” she said. “Everybody loves a great prize. It’s not just the adults in this world that get this stuff,” Nowatka said.

However, despite the fact that a game, contest or sweeps is targeted to children, an adult can walk away with the prize, which disappoints marketers.

“We all should do a better job at keeping sweepstakes targeted towards kids open only to kids,” said Steve Gold, chief creative officer of Armonk, NY-based Gold N Fish Marketing. “There should be a cap on how old you can be to enter a kids’ contest or sweeps. It’s not illegal right now for a grandparent to enter a contest targeted at kids, but it’s very inappropriate.”

Kids can win a chance to tour DC Comics’ New York office by entering the Heroscape essay contest

Milton Bradley and DC Comics has put a twist on its ongoing write-in contest, which allows kids to write the ending to the third comic book based on the board game Heroscape for a chance to win a trip to New York City to tour the DC Comics office and a $250 toy store gift certificate.

Consumers between eight to 12 are asked to describe a mysterious character found in the comic book called The New Recruit in 250 words or less. Heroscape designers and DC Comics editors will adapt the winning entry into a comic book and a short movie. Entries are being accepted online at Heroscape.com through June 15. Internet materials and print ads support.

Twenty-five second-place winners will get a Heroscape poster signed by the DC Comics art team.

The contest’s goal is to expose kids to the Heroscape game and let existing fans build a deeper connection with the brand, said John Santanella, director of marketing for Hasbro Games. While the contest alone creates a wow factor for kids, the overall prize is the sure motivator for kids to enter, he said.

“Everybody likes to be a winner,” Santanella said. “Kids like to try and win things. This is a kids game and we are a kids game company. We wanted to do this for the kids. We wanted them to be front and center.”

The Milton Bradley DC Comics contest offers more than the standard promotion. It gets kids’ minds thinking and active, Santanella said.

“It’s not simply a matter of logging onto a Web site and entering,” Santanella said. “It’s a matter of actually having to do something …to express yourself somehow and submit it for approval. Kids love to tell stories. This is an opportunity to win a chance to have their character published in a DC comic book and go to New York City and visit the office.”

Protecting children’s privacy

Kids who enter The Milton Bradley DC Comics contest must submit their e-mail address and age, which are used to verify eligibility. Online entries require parents’ permission through a separate e-mail, Santanella said.

Companies like Milton Bradley and DC Comics are mindful of the privacy rules and regulations surrounding sweepstakes and contests targeting kids 13 and under, Santanella said. With the cost of deploying each sweepstakes, Milton Bradley takes children’s privacy laws seriously, he said.

“The cost of administering these things and the scrutiny these things come under are probably greater today than they were before,” Santanella said. “All the sweepstakes Milton Bradley does are compliant with all the regulations as they exist today and go through a legal review to make sure they are compliant.”

Kids often have to register to play games, contests or sweeps, allowing marketers to collect some personal information. Opt-in mechanisms offer the opportunity for the visitor to agree to receive more information. Marketers collecting personal data from children under 13 must comply with the rules governing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which, among a number of requirements, seeks verifiable parental consent to collect the child’s personal information (see FTC story below).

Hofer, the attorney from Italy, said there’s no doubt that regulators and consumer watchdog groups are keeping a close eye on marketing directed toward children, especially those under age 13, because they can be vulnerable and inexperienced.

“Parents don’t like their kids being manipulated by smart marketers,” Hofer said.

High-profile food brands, under scrutiny for kids marketing in light of obesity concerns, have been especially proactive to limit direct communications to kids and to protect kids’ data.

“Product categories under a critical eye go out of their way to be more proactive than less-scrutinized products,” said Bob Terry, creative director of Colangelo Synergy Marketing, Darien, CT.

Campbell’s is cautious when marketing online to kids

But marketers with healthier portfolios are careful with data collection, too. Campbell Soup Co. began marketing directly to kids two years ago, and has run three SouperStar Sweepstakes online.

“We really collect very little information about the kids we market to,” primarily via
Mysoup.com,” said Campbell spokesperson John Faulkner. “We tell them—and their parents—right up front that we don’t share data, and do not come back with promotional offers.”

The only follow-up is to tell past SouperStar Sweepstakes participants that a new sweeps is underway: Kids who entered SouperStar Mansion in 2004 got a notice when SuperStar Island broke in January. (It wrapped up last week.)

Parents get an e-mail notice when their kids sign up at Campbell’s site, and can cancel their child’s participation if they wish.

“We try to make it as clear as possible that we do need an accurate e-mail address, as this is the only way we can contact them at the conclusion of a promotion, if they are the winner,” Faulkner added. “We do not collect regular address or phone info at the time of sign-up.”

The kinds of data marketers collect from kids “depends entirely on the age of the participant,” said Steve Rotterdam, creative director for EastWest Creative, whose clients include Kraft Foods, Discovery Communications’ Discovery Kids brand, Jack in the Box and Applebee’s. Marketers typically collect personally identifiable information from kids 13 and older—e-mail, name and address—and make sure they use that information within the guidelines of an established privacy policy. For kids under 13, marketers generally collect only their date of birth in order to verify age.

“A lot of marketers want to use that to send kids a birthday note, but the Warner Bros. and Krafts of the world have committed to not use that, because parents don’t like it, and there’s no need for it,” Rotterdam said.

When kids under 13 enter an online sweeps, they’re asked for an e-mail address that’s used only to notify winners—all addresses are discarded once the sweeps is finished.

“For offline promotions, participants of all ages may be asked to provide a bit more data, depending on the marketers’ needs,” Rotterdam said.

Marketers are freer to follow up with kids 13 and older—usually via e-mail newsletters, and always with verifiable parental consent.

“We make very sure that any follow-up adheres to the sponsor’s privacy policy and also provides clear instruction on how to be removed from future mailings,” Rotterdam added.

Marketers often use e-mail to contact parents, but paper to collect consent. One option is to provide a parental consent form that must be printed out and completed by a parent or guardian. Parents must sign the form, then fax or mail it in before their child can participate in any Web site that collects personally identifiable information.

“In the case of sweepstakes and contests, we frequently rely on COPPA’s ‘one time use’ exemption and collect only an e-mail address to notify participants in the event they are selected as a winner; otherwise the data is discarded,” Rotterdam said.

Discovery Kids notifies parents via e-mail every single time their kids under 13 interact with the company—to enter sweeps, or download goodies.

Beyond COPPA? Many marketers set—and post—their own internal policies on data use.

“If it doesn’t exist, we strongly recommend the addition of a privacy policy that explains the sponsor’s online information practices and the choices consumers can make about the collection and use of the personal information,” Rotterdam said.

Kraft Foods’
Postopia.com site posts its privacy policy for parents, then offers two sections of additional tips on safeguarding

kids’ privacy online, one in kid-friendly language, another for parents.

Companies and agencies also follow guidelines set by the Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) when developing promotion concepts for kids.

Given the restrictions, why market to kids at all?

“Kids are where the money is,” Rotterdam said. “They have direct spending and they influence spending. Marketers want to be able to talk to kids, especially in categories like toys, where’s there’s a whole different patois and sensibility among kids than adults. And brands that want to build loyalty among teens want to start talking to them as young as they possibly—and legally—can.”

Still, categories like food and clothes rely on kids influencing parents’ purchases, and “there’s a dark side to the nag factor,” Rotterdam added. “It backfires when parents get fed up hearing about the same brand over and over.”