Customer Reviews

What Kids Buy: The Psychology of Marketing to Kids

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Acuff and Reiher are two of the best practitioners in the kids market today. They combine tremendous experience across a number of kid categories with a discipline and method that are unique. Their book What Kids Buy and Why offers many of their important insights and trends about kids. Their approach is developmental and psychological. Their perspective is grounded in brain development with a sound underpinning of why kids behave as they do at specific ages and across gender. This is stuff that is critical to marketers in understanding how kids behave. Their work offers the long view of child development brought up to date with important marketplace developments that are showing how kids are changing even as the biology that shapes behavior has a constancy. There are too few books -- let along quality ones -- in the kids market today. Acuff and Reiher's offering is a must read for anyone interested in kids marketing. Paul Kurnit, President, Griffin Bacal Advertising, Kid Think Inc. and LiveWire: Today's Families Online.

I've been on a quest to figure out of the optimal youth age breaks based on cognitive abilities, and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for. I was fascinated by the content on both a professional and personal level...I would love to see the authors update the book with some more current product examples (it was published in 1997) and to see what further impact the growth of Internet usage since 1997 has had on the market.

Not worth it. With a title like that, you'd think the author would provide a strong bibliography, some hard-to-find figures, real-life cases... Not at all. His book reads more like a self-promo written in point form around obvious concepts. Not the kind of material we're used to coming from Free Press.

Although this book approaches the child marketing area from a unique view (developmentally), what I found refreshing was the attention to responsible marketing according to children's ages (chpt. 2!

I am a school counselor and have found this book a useful aid in explaining the importance of thinking though decisions before impulsively reacting. I recently loaned it to a high school junior for a current events class. She found it very informative and highly recommends the book. Considering the impulsivity of the student, that is great praise.

----Preschoolers are fascinated with animals and are receptive to animal models. In fact, research shows that the majority of preschoolers' dreams are about animals.
----Preschoolers prefer round, fuzzy animals with no visible teeth, whereas older children are receptive to more threatening animals, such as the Tazmanian Devil.
----Bugs Bunny has something for children of all ages: slapstick for younger kids and verbal humor for older kids. This is called "layering."
----Boys are less receptive to girl models than girls are to boy models.
----Computer games have had little success with girls. Some girls play computer games, but 80% of them use games purchased for a male friend or relative.
----In order to be accepted by peers, children find it necessary to disparage anything designed to appeal to younger children. However, an older child considers it safe to eat breakfast cereal promoted by cartoon animals in the privacy of his or her own home. This is called the "billboard effect."

All of the above facts, including even the statistics, are stated over and over. I agree with Rejean Roy. I'd like to see a little more content in those 194 pages. This is the most repetitious book I've read since Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

More interesting as a primer for what different age children are "into" (or could be into) than for the step-by-step how-to sections.

I agree with the reviewer who notes that it reads a bit too much like a sales pitch; I don't think it detracts too much from the observations.

This book is a milestone in guiding those interested in developing products and programs for kids. Not only does in cover the nuts and bolts of marketing/promoting/advertising products for kids, but provides the reader with solid psychological reasons why and how products can be created that are matched to the child's developmental level. This in an of itself is fascinating reading and fundamentally important to understand if you are serious about maximizing your product's effectiveness. This book is loaded with age range breakdowns and vital target information, gender specific similarities and differences and other important information. Additionally, there are many actual product examples to help the reader understand the points the author is making. I strongly recommend this book if you want to understand your target audience, create and develop, powerful products and finally, watch your product succeed in the marketplace!

I finished this book last night without regrets. It lit up many ideas that could be realized into revenue generating opportunities. Although the book doesn't encourage the sales of 'disempowering' products, services and programs for 0-19 year kids, it does give you insights as to why kids love 'bad' stuff too. I would have wanted more info on the 16-19 year olds though. But the author did state that these 'kids' consider themselves as adults and recommended marketing to adult books. Perhaps, the books The $100 Billion Allowance and Wise Up to Teens would help expand on what this book already taught me.

The kid-buying power is increasing. This includes, direct purchasing activity for themselves and their families as well.
Restaurants and fast-food for kids, which groceries and brands of clothing they like to use, even which type of automobile to buy for the family.

We should learn everything about Marketing to Kids!