Southeast Asia: Cartoon Network poll shows kids' potential

The New Generations survey estimated that children in Singapore have S$167 million (USdollars) to spend in pocket money alone, excluding the influence they exercise on household purchases of ice-cream, candy, breakfast cereal and clothing.

The survey covered 400 children each in Singapore and Malaysia and 1,000 in the Philippines.

"The survey shows that kids are well-informed and opinionated, even in less traditional categories. If you take their brand knowledge, pester power or their own money, they are a significant consumer group and one that is severely underestimated," said Duncan Morris, vice-president of research at Turner International Asia Pacific.

The survey showed that kids also influence brands of clothes and breakfast cereals bought. In Singapore, 59 per cent said they had an influence on the brands of clothes; in Malaysia, 62 per cent said they influenced the choice of breakfast cereal.

Interestingly, Malaysian kids led in almost all categories surveyed.

For example, 97 per cent of Malaysian children said they influenced the brand of candy purchased, compared to 69 per cent in the Philippines.

For ice cream, the corresponding numbers are 91 per cent for Malaysia and 47 per cent for the Philippines.

In Singapore, brands with top share-of-mind with kids are Walls for ice cream, Jack 'n Jill for potato crisps, Coca-Cola for soft drinks, Johnson & Johnson for shampoo and bath soap, and BMW and Mercedes-Benz for cars.

Agencies should note that making kids laugh is the number one reason they like a TVC. In the Philippines, using movie stars and models were the number two and three reasons for liking an ad.

ZenithMedia Singapore's executive group director Harpreet Kaintel said he had noticed that advertising was increasingly aimed at children in Singapore. "Even if it is not apparently a product marketed to kids, you can see more advertising trying to capitalise on kids as influencers," he said.

Advertisers taking this tack include Star Cruises and Great Eastern Insurance.

But an absence of syndicated research on the kids' segment could pose a challenge. In Malaysia, MEC managing director Margaret Au-Yong noted that there was only research on mothers with children.

WHAT MEDIA DO KIDS CONSUME?

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daily daily

Singapore 81% 12%

Malaysia 88% over 1%

Philippines 94% 1%