Madison Ave.'s New Golden Children

Tweens are in demand. Just ask Madison Avenue.

"There is definitely more of an interest in this group," says Donna Speciale, supervising director of national broadcasting at MediaCom.

She says the attention being paid to this group has spilled over from TV to the movies as in the past 18 months or so films such as Digimon, Pokemon, Rugrats and its upcoming sequel, have been released.

Shelly Hirsch, chairman of Summit Media, also sees marketers chasing this segment.

"Tweens are great audience for beverages. You should be seeing more activity from Coke, Pepsi, Snapple. Also, for snack foods and supermarket stuff. This is, after all, the microwave culture," he says. "Personal care items. They'll listen to mom but will try something they see on TV. Pimple creams. Don't wait until you have them. At the first sign, zap it."

Cyma Zarghami, EVP/GM of Nickelodeon, also sees the advertising sands starting to shift.

"More buyers want this audience. We'd love for Nickelodeon to get some pimple cream advertisers," she says. "We've seen Pepsi come into this demographic."

She maintains tweens' power of persuasion is extending to other categories.

"They have influence, especially at supermarkets. With dual-income households, the definition of quality time has changed considerably," she says. "In the past, going grocery shopping wasn't perceived as quality time. Now for many families it is, so kids are clearly influencing what their parents are buying for dinner that night or for the week."

Their whispers, or in most cases, shouts, can also be felt beyond the realm of consumables.

"Retailers/advertisers start the branding process with this group for when they get a little older. In the meantime, they are influencers on family purchases, including some big ticket items," says Mike Goodman, an analyst at The Yankee Group. "They can put a bug in their parents' ear, saying, `That's a cool car,' or `I wouldn't be caught dead in that.'"

Fox Family Channel has gotten some mileage, so to speak, out of tweens' affinity for its music programming. The channel's quarterly concert series is now dubbed Kia Presents Front Row Center.

"Kids are a major influence on parents when it comes to major purchases, including big-ticket appliances and even cars," says Joel Andryc, EVP-kids programming and development at Fox Family. "At the older end of the tweens, the kids are not that far away from being able to drive. It makes sense to me that Kia would want to begin building brand awareness among that group. Kia is also priced so it might be one of the first cars these kids will have."

Even the commercial-free Disney Channel is getting in on the action.

"We don't air spots, but we are still getting some marketing benefits as a leader in reaching this group," says Disney Channel GM Rich Ross, citing sponsorships from Reebok, along with AT&T Broadband for its "PremEARS in the Park" concert series last summer, as well as a marketing campaign from Gatorade tied to The Jersey series.

Cartoon Network EVP Tim Hall says more advertisers are recognizing that tweens are multi-taskers.

"They have to be ready to cross-platform," he says. "Advertisers like Cartoon Network because of the shows' authenticity, the audience's loyalty to the shows and the brand association. A number of clients have also stepped up to reach tweens online. Our biggest success was with Intruder, which was sponsored by Nintendo to promote Mario Tennis."