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Within the past year, kids have been invited to join a number of new clubs. We joined the Nickelodeon, Fox, Sassy, MTV, Burger King, and Disney clubs to see what they offered.
A kids' club establishes an ongoing relationship with its members, giving them symbols of belonging (like membership cards) and participatory activities. But the only way to participate in the clubs we joined is to buy things. If clubs reinforce certain interests and loyalties in kids, these clubs are reinforcing interest in purchasing and loyalties to brand-name products. The new kids' clubs represent a novel twist in youth marketing: Kids voluntarily join (and usually pay for) a vehicle that will do little more than advertise to them regularly.
In a real club, kids are likely to find friends, shared interests and activities, and opportunities for fun and growth. In the promotional clubs common years ago, kids were likely to get membership cards, decoder rings, or other symbols that reinforced loyalty to the sponsoring radio or TV program, comic, or other product. In one of the new kids' clubs, kids are likely to get hard sell from many advertisers, a monthly magazine cum sales catalog, discount coupons, and other powerful incentives to buy.
- Sassy Club: Membership costs $5. (It does not include a $14.98 subscription to Sassy, which devotes pages to "club" merchandise.) We received a free make-up brush set for joining (a new-member gift, which changes each month), a membership card, and a sheet of 12 "Sassy dollars" -- money-off coupons for club merchandise.
- Nickelodeon Club: A one-year membership (which includes a subscription to Nickelodeon Magazine) costs $9.95 (but a special $7.95 introductory offer is advertised in the premiere issue). The magazine, with an insert promoting club membership, was launched in May 1990 through Pizza Hut. That insert promised special "kids-only" prices on club merchandise and "special offers or discounts" at Pizza Hut, Universal Studios in Florida, and TCBY yogurt. In addition to eight pages of ads, Nickelodeon magazine devoted nine pages to the "Nick Store," where club merchandise is offered at two prices, a kid's price and a higher adult's price. One-third (17 of 52) of its pages sells things to kids. Other popular kid's magazines with no club affiliation tend to devote a smaller percent of their pages to advertising: One fourth (22 of 80) pages of Sports Illustrated for Kids is ads, as is about one-sixth to one-tenth of 3-2-1 Contact. Club members will also be sent product samples and coupons from Nick Club advertisers.
- Fox Kids Club: Membership is free. Members receive a club membership card, "Fox Kids Club" decal and stickers, a Simpson's puzzle "Fun Page," an "Official Membership Certificate," a welcome letter signed by D.J. Kat, and a subscription to "Totally Kids," the Fox Kids Club magazine, with ads for stamp collecting, a new movie, kids' club library, the Burger King Kids Club, and a toy store spread over its eight tabloid-size pages. The welcome letter tells new members to "watch your favorite TV shows everyday on your Fox Kids Club station and find out about all the great discounts and ways you can use your new Fox Kids Club Membership Card!"
- Burger King Kids Club: Membership is free. Applications are available at Burger King franchises that also sell Kids Club Meals, which come with a free toy to further attract kids. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle clip-on badges were the first premium offered.) Members receive a membership card, a page of stickers, a mini-poster of comic characters (the "raddest new kids in town"), a free club newspaper, The Kids Club Adventures, and a certificate for a round-trip child's coach ticket on TWA anywhere in the USA -- "when purchased in conjunction with another TWA ticket...." This club seems to be designed to keep kids coming back to Burger King -- the clubhouse -- for Kids Club Happy Meals.
- The Mickey Mouse Club: The Mickey Mouse Club of 30 and 40 years ago was free. You pay $12.95 to join this club. The Official Mickey Mouse Club Membership Kit contains: "The Club" watch; a "Do Not Disturb" sign decorated with M&M candy characters; a "Savings and Smiles" booklet with coupons for M&M candies, shirts, watches, and sunglasses; and a book of "Club Coupons" offering money off on Ocean Pacific clothes, Mattel's He-Man figure and an accessory, admission to Disneyland, Quaker Oh's, Smuckers toppings, Premier cruise lines, a Barbie Doll and accessories, Denny's, Capcom video games, Thom McAn shoes, Hi-C, and more.
- The MTV "Record Club": This is a negative-option record club that also sells a variety of other merchandise. One-year membership costs $14.95 ($9.95 after a $5 "MTV discount"). Members get a membership card; MTV to Go, a monthly "magalog" ("a unique hybrid of magazine and catalog"); and three sets of coupons: one for albums (a free album with each one you buy); one for $5 off videos; and one for $5 off merchandise. Of MTV to Go's 52 pages, 10 are ads for video games, Nintendo game systems, the Nintendo Power Glove, etc., and 15 describe club merchandise (CD's, rock videos, clothes, etc.). MTV is directed to 12 to 34-year-olds.
In promoting themselves to kids, these new clubs portray themselves as lots of fun. But in advertising themselves to companies that are potential advertisers, kids clubs portray themselves as an effective way to promote to kids and build customer relationships "that will last a lifetime." For example:
- Nickelodeon: "You (the advertiser) can capture all the excitement of the Nickelodeon name, the on-air attitude, and the off-air environment, by delivering your product message or coupon to the young consumers of today and the brand-loyal customers of tomorrow. With the Nick Nack Pack (product samples and coupons mailed to kids) and the Nickelodeon Magazine, Nick offers you home delivery of an entire generation -- the Nickelodeon generation."
The preceding quote is from the packet Nickelodeon sends to prospective advertisers. It also quotes the Nickelodeon/ Yankelovich Youth Monitor: "All kids tend to influence their parents across a number of categories -- clothing, food, entertainment, non-traditional and larger ticket items," it says. Among the data given: "60% of kids buy products because they have coupons for them." No wonder coupons are being offered by several kids clubs, and even in the classroom.
While the kids are joining a fun club, Nickelodeon is building a large database of names. Along with the Sassy and MTV clubs, Nickelodeon offers to sell its kids' club memberhip list to direct-mail advertisers.
- Fox: According to Bert Gould, Vice President of Fox Kids Club: "The Kids Club is a way for Fox to build on the success we have as the strongest kids' station in the market.... This is a boon for advertisers. There are no holds barred for them as long as it is valuable for the kid. They can reach a national audience in one swoop."
- MTV: According to the Senior Vice-President of Marketing for MTV: "We are taking advantage of the MTV Trademark and everything it conjures up. The magalog is another way for MTV and its advertisers to reach our audience of young viewers. This is an elusive age group to target, but MTV reaches this audience very effectively."
- The Marketing to Kids Report: "Many companies today, in the business of marketing to children, are reviving the kids' club theme in order to start building those happy childhood memories and warm feelings for their products. The marketing industry is realizing the importance of instilling brand loyalty at an early age, hoping it will carry through into adulthood.
".... With competition in the kids market constantly growing, the industry is seeing a trend in 'value-added marketing.' Companies now have to work harder than ever for a share of consumer dollars. They are finding that kids clubs, if done well, are a great way to reach a tough market."
- Toys 'R' Us (Geoffrey's Fun Club): It "could expand upon the toy chain's high holiday volume and boost its presence in homes throughout the other three-quarters of the year. As advertising costs continue to rise, Carlson (senior partner in the club's marketing agency) presents the club idea as offering 'double efficiency -- you're developing a relationship with a customer over time, which is very valuable, and the customer is paying for it.' The trick is to make sure they feel they're getting what they paid for."
"It appears that kids like the idea of 'belonging to,' they like to get mail -- it shows they belong in their household -- and it can bring much entertainment," says James McNeal, professor of marketing at Texas A&M. "For the marketer, well, it can be the beginning of a lifelong relationship. What a deal! ... It's potentially very powerful and very valuable to marketers."
Because clubs can be so powerful, they are cause for concern.
Clubs disguise commercial messages. Kids are invited to join something that promises to be "theirs," but turns out to be a way of manipulating them to buy things. The ad messages come disguised as "advice from your club," making them more difficult to resist. The more a child's guard is down, the more effective an ad can be.
Clubs also try to build premature brand loyalty. Rational consumption requires brand disloyalty -- basing choices on judgment, rather than on impulse or emotional connections to a brand name. Children have the right to see their options before being steered into loyalty to one brand. It doesn't seem fair to start wooing their loyalty before the age of 6.
If kids can withstand the "sell," are kids' clubs worth it? Do kids get something from them? Perhaps. A few of the magazines may be enjoyable, and stickers and decals can be fun. But the overall theme of these clubs and their materials is buying. If a kid manages to resist the sales messages, he or she may feel "out of it."
Club marketing to kids is new and growing. There is little analysis and evaluation of its impact on kids and families. "Studies are needed, assessments by regulators are needed, and parents' views need to be aired," recommends McNeal.
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