News

Survey explores how the "pester power" of children drives retail sales

Advertising can work to build demand for devices, but despite the large advertising budgets involved, success isn’t guaranteed.

December 19, 2014

Advertising consultancy Communicus says it has found that "child pestering" is one of the top predictors of a parent’s purchase intentions to buy a wireless device for their children. Its study, "The Mobile Device Path to Purchase: Parents & Children" found that for Apple, “child pestering” is the top predictor, being twice as important as social media, while for Samsung, it was the second predictor (first was positive word-of-mouth, by about 15 percent) in driving parental purchase intent.

“’Tis the season for children to ask for the latest technology and wireless devices,” said Ms. Jeri Smith, President & CEO, Communicus, Inc. “We found that ’pester power’ can even outweigh a parent’s beliefs that a device is easy to use or has the best features and functionality.”

For the younger generation, Apple’s brand success is based on positive word-of-mouth and fitting in, according to the report. For Samsung, positive word-of-mouth and non-traditional tactics like the "Samsung Nation" social rewards program have contributed positively to children requesting the brand.

The study also found that for children, the top predictors of requests to parents are people saying good things about Apple and being a brand that a lot of friends have. Similarly, for Samsung, the top predictors of parental requests are Samsung social media efforts and the belief that Samsung is a brand for "someone like me."

Advertising can work to build demand for devices, but despite the large advertising budgets involved, success isn’t guaranteed. In the case of Apple, children are far more impacted by social influences ("my friends have them") than by advertising. Adults are impacted by Apple brand advertising when it comes to the device they are considering for themselves, but child pestering takes over as the key driver when considering a new device for their child.

Conversely, Samsung’s advertising has had a more impactful push on children in boosting awareness, requests and perceptions that the brand is for "someone like me." Samsung’s advertising is effective across kid age groups, but has shown the strongest persuasive power among younger (6-12) kids.