A Covert Marketing Tool For Parent Buyers - The Kiddie Ride
Choosy mothers choose Jif. But what do choosy kids choose?
"Automobiles and electronics," says Mark Snyder, senior vice
president of brand management for Holiday Inn. "Children very
much get to participate in making those purchasing decisions."
Let's face it. Anyone who has ever stood in a checkout line in
the supermarket knows that kids have always had a say in
purchasing toys, food and other smallish items. What's new is
how far that influence now stretches--and how advertisers are
reacting.
Let's look at one tool the grocery industry uses to influence
kids and ultimately to get parents to buy foodstuff at their
location. This tool is beginning to be used by smart marketers
in other industries as we'll detail. The tool - a kiddie ride.
Every grocer wants to create a carnival type atmosphere to
attract kids and their grocery-buying parents. Kiddie rides
provide a great way to attract kids and their money-spending
parents. Most every parent can tell you which grocery stores
have kiddie rides because their kids alert them to the fact, and
of course, which grocery store is the kid going to want to shop
at when tagging along with Mom or Dad. Of course, the one with
the kiddie ride.
Let's look at some other industries that are taking a page from
the grocers of America and utilizing kiddie rides in their
marketing efforts.
Pulte Homes knows that part of selling houses is selling the
kids. "We always make sure we are marketing to the children,"
says Deborah Blake, the company's vice president of marketing
for Arizona and Nevada. "We want the kids to say, 'I have to
live here,' as the parents are driving by the model homes." A
fun and novel way to make a model home stand out to children is
to have a kiddie ride in the living room. The stone fireplace
may, or may not, stand out in the children's minds. A kiddie
ride sure will, though.
A very different example of the kiddie ride as a marketing tool
is in the lobby of a pediatric doctor. Whether the doctor is
checking a child's teeth or their warts, it is really hard for a
doctor to differentiate himself from another doctor in the mind
of his layman clients. One way to differentiate a practice is to
create a fun carnival environment in the lobby with a kiddie
ride. The kids, and parents for that matter, probably won't
remember the dull office visit, but they most certainly will
remember and want to return to the fun lobby. This is to say
nothing of a doctor offering a "magic" token to operate the ride
as good behavior during an examination. Think of the time a
doctor could save over the course of the year if just one minute
was shaved off each exam because of good behavior.
"What a great motivational tool our kiddie ride has been in our
doctors office," said Linda Day of Pediatric and Teenage
Dentistry in West Virginia. "The kids look forward to their
office visits because they know an exciting ride is waiting for
them at the end."
Another great example of the kiddie ride as a marketing tool is
at a car dealership. When a family with children walks onto the
lot, instead of immediately taking them to the vehicles the
salesperson takes the family to the kiddie ride. Out of his or
her own pocket he pulls out a quarter to treat the young kids to
a "free" ride. This harkens back to psychologist Robert
Cialdini's seminal book "Influence", and his examination of the
"click" and "whirr" of reciprocation. The salesperson has given
the kids a free ride, now the parents will reciprocate giving
the saleperson their time and attention, and quite possibly, the
opportunity to match any offer of a competing dealership. This
is to say nothing of the fact that the dealership with the
kiddie ride will stand out in the children's minds and probably
get talked about at the supper table.
While they were created originally as vending machines, the real
earning power today of a kiddie ride isn't in how many quarters
are in the coin box each week, but in how effectively marketers
can use this classic amusement ride to build goodwill with kids
and their money-spending parents.