childrens research and marketing - kids licensed properties

Shaun the Sheep

Shaun the Sheep is now well into its first series on TV with the second in production. This research was conducted summer 06 to explore licensing ideas across a wide product and age range from babies to adult collectibles. Concepts were in various stages of development from sketches to fully finished. Groups comprised mums and children together.

Lego

Lego is a brand that appeals to boys (predominantly) across the world and across ages. They have so many licensing opportunities but wanted to know which were the best fit to the brand. They needed guidance on their Licensing Strategy overall. Focus groups took place in UK, US and DE using a very wide range of licensing concepts mostly expressed on boards plus a number of existing licensed products. Lego were able to move forward with their licensing programme knowing that consumers will find ‘value added’ to their range of licensed product in the way of Lego brand values.

Little Tikes

Sand and Water tables have been a mainstay of the Little Tikes range but it was felt that new designs were needed to keep the range fresh and competitive. We ran focus groups where we had on display all the existing sand and water tables and invited mums who were planning to buy one that summer. They commented on the strengths and weaknesses of existing products and then looked at a number of new designs. “ The research was invaluable to assess the requirements for this product and set on its course –which with the funding is planned for 2008. Thanks for your help” (Gerry Tekerian - Little Tikes)

Spinmaster

Girl Crush have a number of successful products appealing to girls aged 6-8yrs and Spinmaster wanted to check out some potential new pack design concepts and a completely new product prior to launch at Toy Fair 07.

Baco

Baco make sandwich bags amongst other things and they wanted to increase their appeal to kids by introducing characters on the packaging. They could not afford popular licensed characters so they had their own designed for research. We used halls in town centre locations in which to display large boards of zoo animals, pets, dinosaurs, wild animals, children and so on. Children chose their favourite board and then their favourite animal on each board, ranking those on their favourite board. We recommended which characters to use and you can see them here on pack.

AMA

This is a company who design and develop games for mobile phones. We have conducted two projects for them in the last 12 months involving focus groups with teenagers, mostly girls. We pre-placed phones set up with the games on them and asked the girls to play the games before attending the groups. More game concepts were shown as storyboards in the focus groups and others were generated by the girls themselves.

VTECH

This project comprised of two stages, initially a quantitative postal survey amongst our panel of families to identify the target profile for the new VSmile pocket. This was followed by product placement and trial with a self completion questionnaire. Triallists were then invited to focus groups to discuss their experience of the product and recommendations for improvement and extension

DANSKIN

Danskin have high brand awareness in the USA and were looking to license it in the UK through Beanstalk. It was, therefore, important for them to understand the dance and leisurewesr market, which we did using focus groups. We then checked out UK brand awareness and interest in brand attributes using a large scale quantitative survey conducted amongst dancers and keep-fit enthusiasts

HISTORY & HERALDRY - Born to Shop

Born to Shop wanted to evaluate different characters and animals which they intended to use for their girls Born to Shop brand. Hall tests were used to also evaluate specific product categories for licensing the brand, stationery, apparel, bedroom, food, gifts and toiletries. Girls aged 5 to 15 were asked to say which they would buy and where they would buy it

GIVAUDAN

A three stage project with a first stage of exploratory focus groups to understand the soft drinks market in the UK. In the second stage hall test mini-vas machines were used to enable children to evaluate 24 fruit combinations. The final stage was a consumer hall test where children evaluated 6 different coded and unbranded flavoured waters

ENTARA - Jakers

Placement of 100 DVDs (3 episodes of Jakers) with boys and girls aged 2-6 yrs. The questionnaire covered attribute ratings quantitatively and open ended questions on strengths and weaknesses, licensed product ideas and mum's endorsement

BEANSTALK - Little Tikes

Two 2 hour focus groups with mums of children ahed 0-6yrs to explore Little Tikes brand imagery and potential licensing opportunities. Ideas that emerged were then checked quantitatively on the LVQ Children's Omnibus (sample size 300)

WITHIT

Focus groups with tweens and teenage girls on a number of potential new icons and new product ideas

WOOLWORTHS - Ladybird

Research involving 5 x 2hr focus groups with mums and babies/toddlers to explore the brand stretch for Ladybird.

CARLTON INTERNATIONAL - Pokoyo

Research involving 5 x 2hr focus groups with mums and babies/toddlers to explore response to Pokoyo pilot and potential licensing opportunities.

PEPPER'S GHOST - Tiny Planets

Two focus groups to explore the balance between entertainment and education in book, DVD and game products plus sub-brand concepts. Groups were with mums of 3-6yr olds.

ARS AG© - Hummel®

394 street interviews were carried out in the north and south of England to gauge: awareness (spontaneous and prompted), likes and dislikes, the target market, preferred images and licensed product appeal.

CLARKS - Children's Shoes

20 x 3hr accompanied shopping trips with mums of 5- 8yr olds exploring the shoe shopping experience.

ZAPF CREATION - My Model Styling Head

Focus groups in Germany and UK with mums and girls 4-11yrs to explore reactions to new product concepts.

ZAPF CREATION - Baby Born Miniworld

In-store qualitative intercept interviews in Germany and UK with mums and girls 3-10yrs on product positioning, competitive strengths and weaknesses and new concepts.

ENTERTAINMENT RIGHTS - Basil Brush

Four focus groups with kids 4-12yrs on creative development and licensing opportunities.

TOMY - Baby Monitor

In-store qualitative intercept interviews to check out new pack design concept.

PEAK ENTERTAINMENT - Monsters in My Pocket-The Quest

Three focus groups of boys to evaluate a trial TV series coupled with merchandising concepts for these perennial favourites...

PEPPER'S GHOST - Tiny Planets

Postal Survey to ascertain awareness of Tiny Planets, appeal of the characters , communication of the concept and appeal by age group 2-9yrs boys and girls.

SOUL ADVERTISING - McDonalds

Focus group with kids to guide the agency in their pitch for the McDonalds account by creating a fuller understanding of the Happy Meal concept.

CARLTON CARDS - Bubblegum

Research in three stages on the Bubblegum brand. Stage 1 was an internal audit involving in depth interviews with Carlton personnel, licensees and retailers to develop some hypotheses about the brand and its potential. Stage 2 was done using Hall tests with quantitative interviews, depth interviews and groups with teenagers all over the UK achieving 500+ interviews. This generated some 'winning concepts' which went into a stage 3 phase of focus groups.

KRAFT - Strip Cheese

Focus groups with mums and their children to explore the impact, appeal and brand communication of 15 Dairylea sponsored credits for Blues Clues.

ADVANSTAR - Brand Licensing Show

100 telephone depth interviews with licensees across a wide range of sectors including toys, sports, fashion and computer/video games and 25 face to face depth interviews with retailers. The objective was to ascertain how the Brand Licensing Show in London could better meet the needs of its customers.

FEVA - My Dream Day

Postal survey to check impact of a commercial for My Dream Day (within a reel of 5 on a video posted to them)and communication of key product attributes. Followed by focus groups to compare perceptions of the product from the ad with perceptions of the product in reality.

ZAPF CREATIONS

Focus groups with mums and little girls to create a deeper understanding of the role of a baby doll within a repertoire of girls toys, how dolls are branded and selected and how advertising works for this sector.

GOLIN HARRIS - LEGO

One focus group of 6-9yr old boys, who were Lego users, to capture their views on Lego for a pitch by Golin Harris for the Lego account.

WOOLWORTHS - WIN A WISH

Piggyback focus groups with mums and kids separately for an hour then together for half an hour, to compare notes. Children were split ages 5-8yrs and 9-12yrs. We were trying to discover what their wishes would be! It was fascinating!

Lord of the Rings / TLC

In store intercept interviews with a wide range of customers to explore perceived target market , brand imagery, stretch and potential merchandise ideas.

Power Rangers / Fox Kids

In store intercept interviews with boys and their mum to check out appeal of new merchandise concepts pre development.

Looney Tunes/ Warner Brothers

Six focus groups with mums and dads, single men and women, children and teachers in school to explore awareness, affinity and appeal of characters together with 'fit' with specific business sectors for licensing purposes. Interesting tissue box methodology…contact me for more details!

Girls in Love / Granada

Focus groups with girls aged 9-13yrs to explore the appeal of the new TV programme.

Pokemon / 4Kids Entertainment

Focus groups with boys to check out a number of merchandising concepts - our fastest turn around yet! We were briefed on Wednesday, Groups on Friday, debrief Monday!!

Big Brother/Channel 4	3 focus groups to define the marketing strategy for Big Brother and identify potential merchandising opportunities.
4 Focus groups to explore the design, script, content, fights and concept of a new property. Also to assess the perceived target market and possible merchandise opportunities.	Chop Sockey Chooks/Aardman Animations
Vampire Kittens/Aardman Animations	5 focus groups to explore the target age group, the concept, story and merchandise opportunities.
In-store intercepts interviews to test promotional concepts of Imaginext, followed by 3 focus groups with boys and girls aged 5-7 years old to check out imagery and a last stage involving more in-store intercept interviews to finalise the concept.	Imaginext/Fisher-Price (Mattel)
Noddy/Chorion Focus groups to develop a promotional plan to support Noddy CGI relaunch in September 2002.
	Yoko Jakamoko Toto!/Gullane Focus groups to explore the appeal assess perceived target market and identify merchandising opportunities.
The Wheels on the Bus/Winchester Television	Focus group to explore the potential for merchandise opportunities.
Focus group to explore front cover and contents of a proposed comic concept.	Dream Street/Dream Street Productions
Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds /Carlton TV
	In-store intercept interviews to explore the purchasing decision making at point of sale and how TV viewing drives kids' desire for show. merchandise.
In-store intercept interviews to assess the effectiveness of new Barbie point of purchase banner.	Barbie / Mattel
Woody Woodpecker / Universal Studios 377 street interviews with adults on awareness and perceptions of retro brands and interest in purchase of merchandise.
	Rainbow and Dangermouse / Fremantle Media 377 street interviews with adults on awareness and perceptions of retro brands and interest in purchase of merchandise.
Bagpuss / Licensing by Design 128 postal questionnaires completed by girls under 16 years to compare two ranges of Bagpuss merchandise.
	Clangers and Itsy and Bitsy/ Licensing by Design 377 street interviews with adults on awareness and perceptions of retro brands and interest in purchase of merchandise.

Tweenies / BBC Observation based questionnaire administered in home with 20 pre school mums and their children.
	Sooty / Gullane 6 pre-school focus groups with pre-placed video plus observation exercise in home to explore perceptions of Sooty and potential merchandising opportunities.
Merlin the Magical Puppy / Entertainment Rights 6 pre-school focus groups with pre-placed video to explore perceptions of Merlin and response to specific merchandising concepts.
	Thomas the Tank Engine and Fireman Sam / Gullane 6 pre-school focus groups with pre-placed video to explore perceptions of Thomas the Tank Engine and Fireman Sam, and response to specific merchandising concepts. Further focus groups checked the fit between brand values, Thomas the Tank Engine and product values of its merchandise.
Basil Brush / Entertainment Rights 1) Three focus groups with kids to explore perceptions of Basil Brush and his positioning for today's kids. 2) 377 street interviews with adults on awareness and perceptions of retro brands and interest in purchase of merchandise.
	Lovehearts Hall Tests with depth interviews to segment the market and recommend marketing strategy for the brand within each segment and overall.

Home Page - Research - Promotions - Clients - Case Studies - Questionnaire -Ask a Question - Contact Us