Why personality insights are key for marketers to target kid consumers
The traditional metrics used by brands to define their target audience are no longer fit for purpose
People are more than just numbers and figures on social media and sales sheets. Character traits, such as motivations, thoughts, emotions, attitudes, intellect, temperament and skill must be taken into consideration to fully build an accurate picture of a person. These features are much more nuanced and personal, meaning that if brands are able to segment their audience, they are more likely to deliver targeted content that resonates directly with the audience.
The power of personality
Marketers use psychometric profiling to better understand what makes their customers tick. This means filling in the ‘human’ gap and seeking out the personality of their audience beyond the more general data points of gender and age.
The ‘Big Five’ psychology model is a well-established framework within the field of psychology that categorises people according to five dominant characteristics: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Each of these personality types respond differently to marketing strategies, demonstrating the shortfalls of a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
There is a proven link between emotional connection and brand loyalty, mirroring the foundation of human relationships. Consumers are more likely to support a product or company if their values are represented by the brand. Prioritising personality promises to improve purchase conversions, ultimately increasing ROI and maximising the success of advertising, content, licensing, marketing and sales strategies.
The potential of the next generation
With kids making up 30% of the global population, there is a significant opportunity for brands to directly appeal to the younger generation and resonate with their wants and needs. As financial independency continues to age down and they become consumers in their own right, the size of the global kids market will only grow in the next few years. Furthermore, 54% of parents in the UK say that their kids influence their decisions when purchasing clothes or technology for themselves.* This illustrates the power they have within the household and also as individuals.
150,000 kids go online for the first time every day. In the digital world, they have access to an infinite amount of information and content, meaning that brands need to do more to reach and engage their key audiences. Kids are even more spread out across social media than adults as they use many different platforms, giving them lots of places to see ads. Taking this into consideration, it is essential to build a deeper understanding of attitudes, behaviours and consumption patterns of the next generation.
Introducing: personality personas
Over the last two and a half years, The Insights Family in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University have used machine learning to group data from over 10,000 kids into five different clusters linked to the ‘Big Five’ psychology model. Kids from ages 3-18 are asked to answer 25 personality statements by placing themselves on a Likert scale which forms a picture of their characteristics.
The five clusters have been named:
- Curious explorer (linked to openness)
- Diligent detective (linked to conscientiousness)
- Chit chatting champion (linked to extraversion)
- Positive persona (linked to agreeableness)
- Sensitive soul (linked to neuroticism)
As kids grow up, their personality traits change and different characteristics become more prominent. They are figuring out their hobbies, dreams and potential, making them both receptive to new trends and products and an impossible audience to pin down. They tend to become more self-aware and their ambition grows, which means that audiences from different age demographics can be targeted through the five personality groupings.
By using real-time data, the model retrains constantly, illustrating changes to audiences over time. This is particularly crucial when looking to understand kids since these formative younger years are where their personalities undergo many changes. By using personality as a key metric when developing marketing strategies, brands can adapt their messages to communicate directly with their target audience. This is the secret to future success in not only the kids industry today, but also the global industry tomorrow.
Case Study: Roblox
In the last ten years, Roblox has dominated the scene of online gaming. Described as the YouTube of gaming, the platform is both a gaming site as well as a game creation system, allowing users to program games, personalize content and interact with one another. It is currently the #1 mobile app video game amongst kids aged 6-12 in the UK, with 10% of this demographic naming it their favourite.
Kids who describe Roblox as their favourite video game are likely to be outgoing and enjoy trying new things. With access to many different games within the Roblox platform, they can take their pick from a variety of genres, group together with other users to create communities and jump on the latest trends as they pop up on the site. This means that Roblox users are likely to enjoy being the first to try new things and also discuss their online gaming habits with friends. If we translate this into personality personas, ‘chit-chatting champions’ is the most common personality trait for Roblox fans in the UK. Typically, Roblox fans are less likely to be diligent detectives (7.5% average) and over a third of Roblox fans are curious explorers (34.5% average).
As Roblox is a relatively new player in the advertising space, there is a deepening need for brands to develop a better understanding of the space to best utilise the commercial potential. By using personalities as a metric, we can deduct that Roblox fans want games and products that are targeted around social activity such as interacting with friends or working with groups. Advertising and commercials should focus on presenting the new technologies and developments in the game that make it different to what they have done before.
By understanding their purchase behaviours, brands can utilise Roblox as a platform for a number of licensing, marketing and sales opportunities. Roblox fans aged 6-12 in the UK are almost twice as likely to purchase collectables and merch related to their favourite games than the average kid, meaning that digital brands and IP owners should explore these products. Roblox fans are also +19% more likely to see their favourite advert on TV than the average kid, directing brands towards this platform when looking to reach this demographic.
Thinking beyond shopping, Roblox fans are +67% more likely to name climate change as their top concern, reflecting with their interest in active hobbies and their awareness of the world around them. By thinking about these characteristics and values, brands are more likely to produce advertising and marketing messages which resonate with this specific audience.
To discover more, explore the Personality Personas in The Insights Family’s real-time data portal.
* All data taken from the last twelve months of Kids Insights Data.