The document explores the characteristics, behaviors, and motivations of tweens, defined as children aged 8 to 12, emphasizing their transition between childhood and adolescence. It highlights their social dynamics, stressors, spending influences, and a growing awareness of social issues, along with the changing parental dynamics and the shift in parenting styles. Additionally, it discusses how these trends impact their interactions with brands and marketing strategies aimed at engaging this demographic.

1. Tweens Deep Dive
February 1, 2013

2. Today we’ll explore:
Development of Motivators and
Tweens Examples
Generational Implications
Differences

3. Who are tweens?
Tween: A child between middle childhood and
adolescence, usually between 8 and 12 years old.
Blend of teen and between.
Emerging Tweens: 8-10 year olds - 3rd - 5th Grade
Transitioning Tweens: 11-12 year old - 6th - 7th Grade

4. Tweens: A life stage “in-between”
A split personality that toggles between kid behaviors/
attitudes and teen behaviors/attitudes

5. Tweens Spending and Influence
Gift cards $16
Pocket Money $21
Other Places $34
Bank/Savings account $477
Annual spending $43,000,000,000
Influence on HH spending $150,000,000,000
Source: EPM Communications. Tween Sensibility, Spending and Influence, 2012

6. Development of Tweens
Cognitive Social Emotional Identity Moral

7. Humans go through tremendous neurological
Cognitive growth two times in their life - just after infancy
and between the ages of 10-12.
Start to develop logical thinking skills.
Beginning stages of complex thinking
occurs on adult like level.
Consider multiple hypotheses and
points of view.

8. Tweens strive for balance between wanting to
Social
be unique - but also feel like ‘part of the group’
Family is prioritized alongside
friendships, personal interests and
school.
Boys time is spent in sport activities.
Girls prefer talking more frequently on
phone/texting.
Increasing peer influence (cliques,
popular group, rumors).

9. Social Friends start to define the social hierarchy
Will you be my friend?
Age 6-8
Age 9-10 Are you cool enough to be my friend?
We would never be his/her friend?
Age 11-12

10. Tweens have aspirations to be older - but are
Emotional
still children.
Start to develop and express
their own independence.
Begin to belittle or defy adult
authority.
Begin to see parents and
authority figures as imperfect
human beings.

11. Tweens indicate having a lot more worry in
Emotional their lives - becoming more self-conscious how
they fit into the world
TWEEN Total 7-9 10-13
Getting good grades 52% 49% 55%
Pleasing my parents 38 38 39
Having Friends
Fitting in
34
31
32
28
36
35
89%
feel stress in
Being Popular 25 24 27
My Looks 23 15 31
an average
My Weight 23 16 30 day
Earning a lot of money 20 20 21
Rumors about me/my reputation 19 17 22
Q: Which, if Any, of the Following Do you Feel Stress or Pressure About?
Source: The Cassandra Report, Winter 2011.

12. Tweens are at a life stage where their
Identity establish a stepping-stone identity heavily
influenced by their peers
Looks to outside the home (friends,
teachers, media) to understand their
place in the world.
Aspire to fit in with a group and revel
in the ways they are alike.
Friends + Sports + Looks = Popularity

13. Tweens have a very altruistic sense of self and
Moral make conscious efforts in making a difference
in the world.
Majority (86%) believe taking care of
the environment is important to them.
Concerned about a variety of social
issues - helping the poor/sick,
protecting animal rights and stopping
violence.
6 in 10 tweens have reported
supporting a cause in the past month -
donating money to a cause (24%) or
asked parents to donate money to a
cause (22%)
Source: The Cassandra Report, Winter 2011. Youthbeat, 2012 Wave 1

14. Things to think about:
Don’t try to treat all tweens the same. There is a significant
difference between emerging (7-9) and transitioning (10-12)
tweens. Market to each age group accordingly.
Remember all kids aspire up. Treat them more like teens and
less like kids, but don’t forget to include their parents as they
still make the majority of the purchasing decisions.
Think of ways to empower tweens by helping them
contribute to making the world/community a better place.

15. Tweens today - A cultural shift in growing up
Generation Y Generation Z
Text

17. From Respecting Diversity to Embodying Diversity
A generation growing up to
embrace people’s differences.
Starting to see themselves in
culture on a mass level.
More accepting of ethnic cultures
and ethnicities - particularly in
food.
By 2022, 45% of kids 6-14 will be
non-white & 2042, 50% of US pop
will be non-Caucasians.

18. From Largest Expansion to the Great Recession
Tweens today are personally affected by
tightened parental budgets, parental job losses
and fear based media coverage.
29% report that they are personally affected
by the recession.
55% report that their parents don’t buy them
as many things.
Potential large affect on their psyche and are
expected to grow up to be more fiscally
responsible and value-minded consumers.
Companies have used the economic crisis to
teach tweens about money management.
Source: The Cassandra Report, Winter 2011.

19. From Helicopter Parents to Free-Range Parenting
Parenting style are starting to
shift towards less over-parenting
and emphasizing self-reliance
and independence.
Gen X parents are loosening the
reigns of over-scheduling and
allowing for more unstructured
time to land to more self-
discovery.
Trend is largely being driven by
the decrease in crimes against
children and their overall
exposure to crime.
Source: NY Times, 2012. Time Magazine, 2009

20. Role of Parenting: A shifting composition to the
notion of family
Gen Z definition of family may be
much different than previous
generations
“Nuclear family” is fading fast
and being replaced by single
parents, stay at home dads, same
sex parents and grandparents.
40% of babies born in the US are
born to single mothers.
Estimated 65,500 adopted children
are raised by gay parents
4.3M+ of the 76M family HH in the US
are multigenerational.

21. From Financial Suggestion To Financial Influence
As a result of changing parenting norms, tweens have started to
have a huge influence on what is bought for the HH.

22. From Wannabe Famous to Attainable Fame
Fame has become even more aspirational, as many believe their
dreams are just one YouTube video away.
77% of tween desire
fame and believe they will
actually achieve it.
Concept of fame has
become an overnight
sensation.
Prevalence of tween
content is centered
around and normalizing
fame.

23. From Tech Savvy to Virtual ID
Belong to the most connected generation
yet and will expect to be “always on”
Born into an era of high speed intranet,
mobile communications and constant
connectivity.
Grew up with virtual worlds - but
transitioning into worlds that build life
skills (Woozworld, everloop)

24. Things to think about:
Tweens have a broader knowledge of international foods
and may have a preference for different foods from different
cultures.
Even though tween may have more financial influence as
they get older, keep parents in mind in your communications as
the purchasing decisions are often a mutual decision.
Be where they are at all times. Use a multi-platform approach
that can be supported or enhanced by mobile, social networking
sites, websites, and virtual worlds.

25. Tween Motivators

26. To understand what motivates tweens today, you first
need to understand what generational behaviors,
attitudes and value influence them.
Power!
Kid!
Tween
Belong! motivators!
Motivators Play!
Success!

27. Belonging allows
tweens to feel like their
apart of something
Purpose
Exchange
bigger
More socially aware than
any generation before
them.
Social consciousness is
instilled in them by their
Exchange
Purpose Belong
Xer parents, who are
placing more emphasis on
making the world a better
place.
Driven by altruistic values
and committing to green Affinity
Affinity
practices

28. Belong Examples:
Selena Gomez launched a tween/teen clothing
line, Dream Out Loud, which uses a percentage
of eco-friendly fabrics, factories with
established sustainability practices, and
donates profits to charitable organizations.
Disney’s Friends for Change is a pro-social
“green” initiative, encouraging fans to make a
difference in their communities by pledging to
volunteer efforts.

29. Things to think about:
Creating opportunities where tweens can give
back to their communities or helping others that are
less fortunate can give them another reason to love
your brand.

30. Power allows their voice to
be heard and recognized
Voice
Possess more independence than
previous generations and have
more confidence in their opinion.
Freedom Power
Desire the ability to personalize,
customize or self-create - want
to put their own mark on it.
Look to express their own
opinions and being influential in
decision making.
Ownership

31. Power Examples:
Kotex designs hit on tweenʼs desire
for freedom and self-expression.
Hyatt Hotels new organic kids menu has been
designed with the help of Gen Z taste testers

32. Things to think about:
Provide opportunities and experience that allow tweens the
ability to voice their opinions and leave their mark on your brand.
Consider ways to offer them personalization and choice that
appeals to their growing desire for individuality.
Bring kids into the menu process by creating a contest or
engagement that allows them to create their own menu items or
designated tween menu designed to their preference.

33. Play becomes more based
Creativity in reality and largely driven
by technology
Technology and Digital Tools have
provided tweens unprecedented
access to distribution channels to
express their interests and passions.
Play Fantasy
Look to share their creative
abilities and talents with the world.
Have more realistic expectations in
Surprise what they can become .

34. Play Examples:
Doodle 4 Google is an annual competition for
K-12 students to use their creative
imaginations to think big and redesign the
Google Homepage
Tween Youtube stars, Drusila and Nessy,
created Monster High Dolls Collectors
channel where they review newly released
dolls, host custom-doll drawing contests and
solicit feedback from other kids.

35. Things to think about:
Tweens are looking for more opportunities to exercise their
own abilities and creativity. Give them outlets to interact, create,
and feel like they can influence your brand.

36. Success is being
Knowledge recognized for your talents
Desire for fame and recognition
from others drives their
motivation for success .
Success Mastery
Want to be recognized for their
individual talents and abilities.
Raised on the concept of
gamification and increasingly
see the world around them
as having a digital layer.
Recognition

37. Success Examples:
BSA hosted Scout AwesomenessTV, a Youtube Channel,
Quest, the first digital provides a wide range of tween/teen
scavenger hunt using programing.
smart phones, QR
codes, Facebook
and Twitter in
Washington, DC
My Girls Scout is an
App, girls age 5-17
can attend a series
of programming
“boot camps” in
which they will learn
to create and design
Android mobile apps

38. Things to think about:
Help tweens get one step closer to their ideal shot at fame.
Create a platform where they can develop and showcase their
talents through cooking competitions, workshops, or
performances.

39. A matrix of motivators designed to help us understand
the how and why of tweens.
Freedom!
Voice! Ownership!
Power!
Exchange! Fantasy!
Kid!
Purpose! Belong! Tweens
motivators! Play! Surprise!
A"nity! Creativity!
Success!
Knowledge! Recognition!
Mastery!