December 21, 2018 | less than a minute read

Generation Alpha - our future CEOs

Passle

As the father of a Generation Alpha little darling, it's true that kids (8 and below) increasingly influence many of our household purchases and particularly so on the technology we buy.

Educating children to influence the budget holders is not a new tactic but the degree of sophistication and numbers of channels continues to increase. Marketers are moving beyond brand recognition to hooks and angles they feel will resonate with children, to drive conversations with their parents. The Instax Mini camera on my son's Christmas list is testament to this point.

Likewise, B2B business development teams must influence a range of decision-makers (around 7 is typical) who don't necessarily hold the budget or sign a contract. Educating them, often by challenging preconceptions is key to positioning yourselves as experts and making your thought leadership and approach what they discuss internally.

As my colleague, James, repeatedly advises our clients "show them what you know before telling anyone what you do."

Michael Berberich, director of content innovation at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), said it’s smart for brands to treat children like CEOs. “It's almost like they're a B2B decision-maker. You're never really trying to sell them. You're trying to educate them and get them talking about your brand, your product, your channel, whatever it is. They're a major decision maker, but they're not necessarily the buyer,” said Berberich.