HANDS ON - Marketing Matters
Attention Boys and Girls
by Erinn Morgan

Research shows that differences between boys and girls are evident less than three weeks into a mother's pregnancy. Kids of different genders continue to vary in their tastes throughout childhood. So why position your products the same way to both boys and girls?

"There used to be a saying: Boys will be boys and girls will be boys, meaning that an in-store display can be skewed to boys, because girls will accept it. But boys will not accept it if it is girl-oriented," says says Greg Livingston, executive vice president with WonderGroup, a children's marketing agency in Cincinnati.

Today, girls are different, too. "They are saying 'We want to see girls' stuff,' partly because we have been seeing a lot of 'Girl Power' references," he adds.

Cool styles can make all the difference with little boys, who often don't want glasses. "For boys, I believe it's psychological because glasses intimate weakness and they end up getting bullied more," says Monica. "It's really critical with the boys, sometimes more than the girls, to make sure they get a cool pair of glasses," she adds.

Boys don't want brightly colored frames like girls. And boys often play rougher, which impacts what is right for them, Silva says. "A lot of it boils down to durability, as boys are more aggressive in how they play."

GIRL TALK

All little girls want glasses, says Monica L. Monica, MD, with Lakeview Optical in New Orleans. "Little girls come in and from five on up they want glasses, whether they need them or not. When they head into tweens and teens, girls want contacts," she says.

"The girls are going toward colors—the younger girls like light pinks, and at six and seven they are into purples and blues," says Robert Silva, manager, buyer, and pediatric optician at A Child's View in Mission Viejo, Calif.

From ages four to eight, Monica agrees girls want more colorful frames in red, pink, and purple, while the eight-to-10 set will choose black plastic frames, "because they want you to see their eyewear," says Monica.

FOUR-LEGGED CONSUMERS

Proper targeting of these customers has become critical. "Young kids aren't abstract thinkers," Livingston says. "They often go for something they recognize or something presented to them. They are not going to brand compare."

The problem is that if kids don't recognize you exist, you don't exist. "If kids don't know about your collection of Nickelodeon eyewear, they won't ask for it," Livingston notes. "You have to have a good display structure so that the SpongeBob glasses aren't up on the top shelf. You have to help kids impact the decision."

Which is something they are doing more and more these days. "We call it the four-eyed, four-legged consumer," says Livingston. "It is a meld of mom and kid. Kids impact decisions on everything from vacations to minivans. Parents request kids' input."

Eyecare professionals can capitalize on this information with appropriate products, styles, presentations, and brands. "You want to make sure the child has a good experience," says Livingston. "Then the next time they need glasses, the kid will say where they want to go. If they didn't have any fond memories of your branded experience, they may not go back."