Kids Look To Friends & Parents For New Product Ideas.

When considering which cool new products to buy, kids and teens are most likely to look to friends for advice, and many children under 12 would try a new product if it was suggested by their mother.

These are among the findings from an exclusive Kid Power Xchange/Harris Interactive Poll, entitled “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Kids, But Were Afraid to Ask.” This poll consisted of questions posed by attendees of the upcoming Kid Power MegaConference, and was conducted in March 2001 with an online sample of 1,708 kids and teens.

“The poll results show that although advertising and the media have an influence, it is really other people that kids look to when they are considering new products,” said John Geraci, vice president of youth research at Harris Interactive. He added, “This poll showed that word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising to kids — that new products tend to be first tried by a small trendsetting segment who are looked to as the ‘arbiters of cool’ by other kids.”

The poll covered a variety of topics, from the market power and influence of kids, to their online behavior, their perceptions of the safety of their school, and the influence of the media on the nation’s young.

“The results really show a renewed respect kids have for their parents,” stated Candi Schwartz, managing director of Kid Power Xchange. “Most kids and teens consider their parents to be their role models and told us that they can talk to their parents about almost anything. Young kids, under 13, would be quite likely to try a new product that Mom suggested.”

Results of the poll will be presented exclusively on May 7, 2001 at the Kid Power conference in Orlando.

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