A marketer’s task is to segment the market to find a slice which is homogenous and sizeable. The task becomes challenging when the consumers are children. Unlike adults, where one can find similarity in a segment — for example, in consumers aged 30-45 years belonging to one socio-economic classification — when it comes to children, a child in the fourth standard is very different from one in the fifth.

In fact, authors writing about children say that in our childhood we are so different from each other, and when we grow up we become similar.

Hence, it will not be surprising if children of a similar age are distinctly different from each other. This definitely makes the marketer’s task of segmenting children a very tough one.

While there are some challenges in the world of children, I must also admit that children form the most exciting set of consumers. I would go on to call them the most underestimated consumers. There are so many myths, that children do not respond to advertising as adults and hence we need to target parents, which we proved otherwise when we started using television advertising aimed at children. We even found children responding to the social medium very easily, as they have grown up in the digital world. While social media platforms such as Facebook impose age restrictions, you will be surprised by the number of younger children on Facebook.

Another myth marketers nurture is that children cannot decide about their products. Today’s children can influence the purchase of cars, and they would definitely influence the purchase of their products.

Companies have to start giving utmost importance in children’s products to the actual consumer — children, rather than just the parents and teachers. Today’s children are grown-up consumers and perhaps the most powerful ones.

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