30506A : Week 9

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305-06A Week 9

• Global Tribes and Kiwi Kids

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Global tribes

• The notion, that across the global and
  concurrent with intensified global flows,
  children and young people connect with other
  similarly minded groups or individuals, whereby
  identity is defined more by taste formations and
  media consumption and less by location
  (nationality), gender, ethnicity--nor even age
• eg Hamilton homies, Danish hip-hip, Norwegian
  death metal
• OHT

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A sociological concept

• Youth culture is open to international routes
  of influence, rather than roots of local
  culture (Wark, Virtual Geography, 1994)
• Media time and space have collapsed for children
  in New Zealand, just as it has for children in
  India and Spain, who all share enthusiasm for
  commodified popular culture (Zanker 2002)

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and a marketing concept

• From Marketing to Kids Teenagers (Adnews 8
  April 2005)
• They know more about products than their parents
  meet the new influencers.
• Pokemon was a worldwide phenomenon, Bey Blades
  was the next big thing and Yu-Gi-oh is still hot
  currency with kids around the world, including
  Australia. What will be the next huge trend among
  Aussie kids?
• Boys are into action and girls are into
  interaction
• The latest generation are super savvy when it
  comes to technology and marketers have the tough
  task of keeping up to get a look in
• If McDonalds and Procter Gamble are getting
  involved, you know its a sure way of targeting
  tech-savvy kids and tweens.

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The value of children

• Marketers estimate that kids under the age of 12
  directly influence the spending of over US200
  billion each year in the US recent estimates
  place the figure at closer to 300 billion for
  2000
• ..by the mid-1980s, children were perceived as
  three markets influentialsa current market with
  significant spending power, and a future market
  in which to build early brand loyalty.( McDonald
  and Lavelle, 2001)
• Harris reports in its YouthPulse Study that 8-21
  year olds in the US had total income of 211
  billion in 2003 and spent more than 80 of it.
  Teens alone spent more than 90 billion. So the
  question for advertisers and media is clear
  where o where can we reach these kids.
• http//info.neopets.com/adage_032904/adage_032904
  .html

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• According to United Nations Industrial
  Development data it is estimated that the global
  market of toys will touch US150 billion by 2005.
• McDonalds is perhaps the largest toy company in
  the world. It sells or gives away more than 1.5
  billion toys every year. Almost one in every
  three new toys given to American kids each year
  comes from McDonalds or another fast food
  chain. McDonalds Happy Meal toys are
  manufactured in countries where the prices are
  low.
• Eric Schlosser (2006), Chew on This

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The question is .

• What is a child these days?
• OHTs The incredible shrinking childhood
• Generation g_at_p
• Child Soldier
• What a Treat
• VIDEO

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Three examples of global tribes

• 1. Billy, The Brand Name Kid
• From Publishing Entrepreneur Dec 1996/Jan 1997
• Questions
• How do children around the world get to look like
  this?
• What do they want to look like this?
• Who pays ?
• Who profits ?

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• Neopets.com
• http//ww.neopets.com/index.html
• 2 May 2006
• Total Owners Total Pets
• 118,187,343 174,019,695
• Nepoets per owner 1.472
• Neopets.com Pageviews 352,454,020.000

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• www.myspace.com (1)
• Myspace.com is the hot spot on the web for the
  worlds teens. It had 65 million registered users
  in early April 2006, according to the UKs
  Guardian Unlimited, rising by about 250,000 a
  day.
• Myspace is a social networking site--A place
  for friends is its slogan

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• Myspace.com (2)
• Even Rupert Murdochs eye has been caught by
  Myspace. Last year the billionaire publishers
  company, News Corp, paid US580 million (NZ944.6
  million) for it, with a view to its potential as
  an advertising money-spinner.
• New Zealand Herald April 11 2006, C5

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but also

• Universality, which is both linked to, and
  important to distinguish from, globalization,
  does seem to be a necessary component of
  internationally marketable stories, and this is
  particularly so for those directed at children.
  Maire Messenger Davies (Readings p. 168)
• Parents attempting to take some measure of
  control over their childrens television viewing
  is by no means a unique Chinese phenomenon ..
  Zhao Bin (Readings, p. 180)

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The media-rich lives of NZ children

• OHTs

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Negotiating between the local and the global

• This research, done over 6 years (Lealand, 1999
  Lealand Zanker 2002 Lealand Zanker 2006),
  shows how New Zealand children move continuously
  between two worlds, as Kiwi kids and as global
  consumers and members of global tribes of
  shared interests.

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This is not a new phenomenon..

• The commodification and globalisation of
  childrens culture has a long history eg Mickey
  Mouse merchandising in the 1930s but new
  technology has introduced a new factor ie a shift
  in knowledge and power?
• Some quotes (Lealand, 2005)
• When my mum comes in to check me--she usually
  doesnt but when she does--she goes, Youre not
  looking at rude stuff, are you? and Im like,
  Mum, youve got a sick mind! (12 year old
  Hamilton girl)
• Theres a NZ TV show called Squirt and when I
  was little I wanted to find their site and you
  can imagine the sort of things that came up when
  I go to Google and type in squirt. All this
  stuff came up and I was sensible to know not to
  go into but the names people use are dodgy
  sometimes! (12 year old Hamilton girl)