Tricky customers

Wrinkled noses ripple through the kids' panel at Leatherhead Food International's (LFI's) recent conference on children's new product development. A class of Year Eight students from Chalfonts Community College in Buckinghamshire has been invited to share its thoughts on different foods, and celery definitely isn't a hit. "I think it tastes a bit like chopped up onion!" says Kiera.

Fish gets an equally cool reception. "People don't like the smell and look of fish - they've still got their eyes in, so it puts people off," explains Dominic.

And even a seemingly inoffensive slice of bread is given a battering by these hard-nosed critics. Aaron claims that bread is just plain dull: "I find it boring - if I have to have it, I like hard [crusty] bread". And Toria also has issues with texture: "When I have soft bread it gets stuck in my braces," she explains.

But before you despair that there's no pleasing them, Bryan Urbick, chief executive of research agency the Consumer Knowledge Centre is on hand to give us the inside track on what kids want. "You can't understand kids without understanding child development," he claims. But beware - it's easy to slip up. He explains that even very young children's thoughts can be misinterpreted if you approach a situation with too many preconceptions. "In two-year-olds the most recognised brand is McDonald's," he says. "The child points to the golden arches and the child is saying (though not in words): 'I recognise that', but parents read this as: 'I want to go there'."

Kids aren't much easier to understand once they start talking, but Urbick does his best to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding children. He claims that they always want a product that is aimed at their seniors. "Pitch products between one and three years ahead of the target age group - kids aspire to be treated as older," he advises.

And don't assume that all kids fall into the same category, regardless of sex. It may sound pernickety, but even something like the colour of a product's packaging can act as a turn-off. "You're likely to be more successful if you skew visual imagery to boys and verbal to girls. Boys like strawberry flavour, but so many packs are pink and the boys won't have it," he claims.

Another issue that developers must overcome is children's neophobic tendencies (fear of the unknown). "Familiar foods that are made to look unfamiliar can become disliked," he warns. "It can take between eight and 13 exposures for kids to start liking a new food product."

The importance of ownership

One firm that seems to have got over many of the hurdles surrounding kids' products is Ella's Kitchen, which makes smoothies, baby food and pasta sauce. The firm gives its target audience ownership of the development process in order to gain its approval. "We involve kids from start to finish - with regard to ingredients, packaging and branding," says company owner Paul Lindley. "The recipes have been conceived and fine-tuned by kids. If we can make them feel in control, then the battle is half won."

While he uses a direct approach to deal with children's taste expectations, he also takes parental concerns into account. He explains that he chose for his products to be organic because: "I came at the business from a parent's point of view." He says: "A lot of baby food is organic and it seems to tail off at childhood. I'm concerned about pesticides - I know it's not scientific, but that's how I feel and I think that's how a lot of parents feel."

Chris Langley, md at food innovation specialist Invig, agrees that understanding parents is the key to creating successful kids' products because they are the people actually buying the food. "With young kids, mum has control by preparing food; with older kids, it comes down to pantry stocking," he says. In order to give manufacturers a better idea of what drives parents' shopping habits, Invig has carried out research on their buying motives. Langley claims that parents can be split into six groups, each defined by one of the following drivers: price, weight concern, health, novelty, traditional brands, and convenience.

However, Urbick warns of the dangers of trying to put consumers into boxes. "Medium to large companies are obsessed with segmentation," he says. But he points out that people's buying motives can easily change from one day to the next. "From a marketing perspective, what triggers someone to move from one segment to another?" he asks. "A mum who is an educator in some situations, may be controlling in other areas." He claims that manufacturers need to look at segmentation in more detail in order to avoid over-simplifying the matter. "I think we need to send segmentation to the next level."

Misguided notions

Of course, the perfect parent-pleaser is likely to be a healthy product, and manufacturers can develop as many of these as they like, but if the healthy eating message isn't getting through to kids, then their products will not sell.

Urbick is concerned that children are not being properly taught how to eat sensibly. "We teach the [Food Standards Agency's] food plate [to children] at ages four to seven, but we don't teach pie charts and portions till [age] 11," he says. In another example of how kids are being misled, he claims: "Children are always taught to climb the highest mountain, but salt and fat are at the top of the food pyramid."

In addition to misunderstandings surrounding healthy diets, there is also the problem that children don't like being told what to eat and so manufacturers must take heed when promoting their products. "Health information can decrease liking. For example, saying: 'Eat it, it's good for you' will be translated into: 'It tastes bad'," says Urbick.

Showing children the long-term consequences of eating healthy products will also do little to help processors sell kids' products. "It's difficult to tell a 12-year-old that they'll have clogged up arteries when they're 55 [if they don't eat healthily]. Kids have no sense of immediacy - they'll deal with it later," he says.

With so much to think about, manufacturers might be wondering if it is worth their effort entering the kids' food market. LFI market analyst Viviana Albani admits that it can be hard. "Children routinely divide their attention between many things at the same time, so it's harder to catch their attention compared to adults and poses a challenge for marketers," she says.

But despite it being a tough market, there is no doubt that its size is impressive. There are approximately 46M children aged 0 to 14 in Western Europe's five main markets - the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, she says. "Although the child population has been dwindling over time in these countries, the market will still be sizeable, topping 49M by 2012", she predicts.

And with the child-oriented food and drink market value in the UK at a massive euro 6.2bn, it seems to be the case that children should be both seen and heard. So listen up, because this is one target audience that is more than willing to share its opinions. As Langley says: "It used to be one-way communication from parent to child, now it's often the reverse." FM