To Research, or Not to Research…that is the Question

Posted by Rahna on January 26, 2009 under Consumer Research | Be the First to Comment

There’s an article Consumer Czar Slams Youth Research Techniques that came out on January 22^nd.  In it, the author is highlighting a book by Agnes Nairn and Ed Mayo, entitled Consumer Kids: How Big Business is Grooming Our Children for Profit. Ed Mayo, the CEO of United Kingdom’s Government Watchdog Consumer Focus.  The criticism in the book is that companies should not be using market research in developing their products.

 

As you can imagine, as someone who has been doing research with kids for so many years, I don’t agree.  I haven’t read the book, but I’m puzzled by this attack.

 

In my work at LEGO, it was my job to make sure the products were the most fun they could possibly be.  How can you do that without talking to your consumer?  Any company, whether it’s selling to grown-ups or kids has to develop products and services that are highly compelling, and the way to find out if something is compelling is to talk to someone.

 

Now certainly, there should not be an intent to exploit kids.  But most of the youth marketers that I know are truly, honestly trying to make sure that their products are the most fun, that they are developing nutritional products that taste as good as they possibly can and speak to kids in a way that’s really compelling to them–so that they’re interested, so that they’re engaged.  The motive is right.

 

There is discussion in the article about parental permission, which has me quite puzzled.  Of course, if you were going to do research with kids, you would get parental permission before you talk to them.ÂAnyone who didn’t do that should definitely be chastised. 

Perhaps there is more of an incidence of unscrupulous exploitation in the UK, but I have not personally experienced it in the six years I’ve been doing youth marketing.

Consumer research at any age is vital, valuable information to make the most exciting, the most compelling, the most helpful, the most tasty, and the most fun products available.