Bagging the Backpack
It started right after the Fourth of July this year. No sooner had retailers moved out the bulk of their patriotic T-shirts, swimwear and camping gear, the back-to-school signage went up.
The BTS season is in full swing, as parents and kids make decisions about shirts that match shoes, which notebook, backpack, lunch box, cell phone or laptop is cool for school, and which gizmos are must-haves.
Families with school-aged children will spend more on back-to-school shopping this year than last, with the average family spending $527.08, up from $443.77 in 2005. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2006 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. Total spending is estimated to reach $17.6 billion, up from $13.4 billion last year.
While spending will jump in all categories, electronic and apparel purchases will fuel this year’s back-to-school growth, the NRF survey says. Total spending on electronics or computer-related equipment, such as home computers, laptops, PDAs or calculators, is estimated to increase by more than $1.5 billion this year ($3.82 billion vs. $2.06 billion), rebounding after a decline in 2005.
Forecasts by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) are even more bullish: It expects consumers to spend $24.5 billion this year during the BTS period, a 4% jump over last year.
Retailers and marketers are banking on the consumerism of the “Millennials,” the “Google generation” of parents with kids aged five through 18.
Promotions now geared to this audience tend to mix celebrities, cool prizes, online creativity, and hot properties to showcase brands.
Staples, for instance, is headlining Ashley Tisdale, teen star of Disney Channel’s High School Musical and The Suite Life of Zach & Cody, for its summer sweeps grand prize. Shoppers aged 13 to 18 can enter the retailer’s Geared4School sweeps to win a trip to Los Angeles for a $10,000 Staples shopping spree with the celeb. Consumers enter the sweeps, which ends Sept. 17, via Geared4school.com or text messaging to STPLS.
“We expect a strong back-to-school season,” says Deborah Hohler, spokesperson for Staples. “This is the first time we’ll do a back-to-school contest like this; we think it’s going to be a great way to raise awareness of Staples’ offerings to teens.”
As part of the sweeps, Framingham, MA-based Staples is giving away nine weekly Locker Makeover Packs that include a backpack filled with a laptop, MP3 player and loads of school stationery. Daily prizes of back-to-school essentials will also be awarded. Online, in-store tear cards and p.r. support. Weber Shandwick, Chicago, handles.
While teens usually have more say in their BTS purchases, their middle school siblings are exerting tremendous influence on parents. In 76% of households with children of middle school age, students influence shopping behavior, according to the School, Home & Office Products Association of Dayton, OH.
Some kids may steer their parents to American Eagle Outfitters stores over the BTS season. For two weeks last month, the clothes retailer dangled a free AMC movie ticket to the first 1 million consumers who tried on a pair of the retailer’s new line of jeans. Through Aug. 10, the Warrendale, PA-based company lets consumers (minimum age 13) enter a sweeps that dangles free jeans and movie tickets for life (actually eight jeans a year for 50 years, and 35 tickets to AMC theaters a year for 50 years) as a grand prize. The promotion is housed on AE.com. In-store and online support.
It’s not just looking good: Self-conscious adolescents want to smell good, too. A new entrant to the male body spray market, Gillette’s Tag brand, will be in 600 Wal-Mart stores Aug. 19-20 with Body Shots. These compact body scents fit in a gym bag or locker. Female in-store reps will ask male shoppers aged 15 to 21 if they “have their Shots.”
“We scaled down the sex-appeal aspect of the product given Wal-Mart’s family environment, and made the promotion more ‘peachy,’” explains Kelly Georgetti. Georgetti is director of retail services for USM&P, the Marina del Rey, CA-based agency that developed and executes the Tag events. The female reps have been rehearsed, she says, in script variations that engage moms or girlfriends who may be shopping with the guy considering the “After Hours,” “Lucky Day” or “Midnight” scents.
It’s just one case where marketers have to walk a fine line to appeal to both kids and parents paying the bill.
“Authenticity is key,” says Kate Parkhouse, spokesperson for JCPenney. “The goal is to deliver creative content that teens and tweens can relate to and speaks their language, but without alienating Mom.”
Penney’s is running a five-city mall tour with MTV that kicked off last month, making stops in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. At each stop, MTV personalities and representatives from Seventeen and CosmoGIRL! magazines host an “Insider” promotion, a chance for teens to win an appearance on MTV and to be a special guest at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 31.
The retailer is also hanging with teens through its sponsorship of the 2006 Teen Choice Awards, which airs on Fox on Aug. 20. For the show, which gives entertainment awards based on votes from young viewers, Fox and JCPenney are holding casting call events around the county to find a teen guy and girl to serve as the shows official presenters.
“By sponsoring these shows and keeping in touch with teen culture, JCPenney relates to its teen and tween customers,” Parkhouse says.
The retailer also launched a Web site, JCPenneybts.com, to complement its BTS promos. The site lets kids interact with animated characters like that of child star Ali Lohan, and explore the character’s rooms. DDB Worldwide developed the site.
Meanwhile, ESPN is tapping its XGames property to target tween and teen boys with an apparel line available at JCPenney stores. The line features branded T-shirts, baseball hats, backpacks, zip-up hoodies and jackets. This month’s XGames, four days of extreme sports competition in Los Angeles, will feature the clothing on Jumbotrons and billboards. Kids can participate in a racing competition to receive JCPenney gift cards valued at $15 to $500.
“This brings our product to life for the 200,000 fans attending,” says Steve Cipolla, VP and general manager, consumer products, ESPN.
In stores, consumers can visit the XGames lifestyle shops, which features the clothes and displays of “rad” race bikes. The bikes may be prized out in future promotions carried out by individual stores, Cipolla says.
The BTS season “is likely to be okay, probably not stellar, but not a bust,” says Michael Niemira, chief economist and director of research, ICSC. Sales continue to surprise on the stronger side, he says.
But marketers will have to focus on building awareness among tweens and teens for their brands, finding some elusive cool in the remaining heat of summer.
Cause, not Celeb
College Students Warm Up to Socially Responsible Brands
A study of 1,793 current U.S. college students aged 18-30 finds that students prefer brands with an honest and effective social responsibility campaign to brands that tout a celebrity endorsement.
Alloy Media + Marketing’s annual College Explorer Study, conducted by Harris Interactive, finds that many college students are taking their share of a whopping $182 billion in spending power and directing a portion of it toward brands they see as socially responsible.
When asked about factors that influence their purchase decisions, some 33% prefer brands that give back to the community, are environmentally safe or are connected to a cause. For students, these socially responsible characteristics were more important than paying more for a brand with a great image (16%) or for a brand used by celebrities (2%) when using discretionary spending. Almost a quarter of students (24%) forked out money for a product this year specifically because it was socially conscious.
Adding muscle to the weight that students are throwing behind social responsibility is the fact that this year’s college enrollment is the largest on record. Overall spending by this group has jumped by $8 billion, and their discretionary spending power has grown 12% to $46 billion.
So what brands do young adults deem socially responsible? Among the top finishers were Ben & Jerry’s, creator of the Lick Global Warming campaign; Yoplait, which produces Save Lids to Save Lives in support of breast cancer; and Newman’s Own, a company that donates all profits and royalties to charitable causes.
The “Top Socially Responsible Brands” identified by college students are:
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Newman’s Own
- Burt’s Bees
- Yoplait
- American Apparel
- Starbucks
- Seventh Generation
- Nike
- (tied) The Body Shop(tied) Coca-Cola
Cost Counts
Discount Stores Are First Stop for Back-to-School
In its Back-To-School survey of 600 parents with school-aged kids, the School, Home & Office Products Association found that discount stores were the most-shopped location (70% of respondents) for BTS purchases. Office supply superstores followed (15%) with drugstores ranking third (4%).
Price was the number one consideration (53%) when choosing stores for BTS shopping. Convenience (19%), location (12%) and product availability (11%) were the other factors.
BTS spending among households with children in pre-school, elementary, middle/junior high school, high school or college stood at $122.73 on average per household.
