U.S. business ignores largest disposable income market

Feel sorry, very sorry for business in the U.S.A. Feb. 19, 2009, the First Brats, Malia, 10, and Sasha (Natasha), 7, Obama jumped up and down at The Kids’ Inaugural held in Washington, D.C., on the eve of their father’s coronation as president.

Other than Disney, businesses seem to have NO clue how to market to tweens. The concert featured Miley Cyrus opening the show and the Jonas Brothers closing. In between were Demi Lovato, Corbin Bleu and Bow Wow.

Lovato, Jonas, Cyrus, Bleu – all on Hollywood Records, which manages most of Disney’s stars. Bow Wow is on Sony.

It appears labels like Sony, Warner Bros and all the majors have missed the tween market. Hollywood Records exploits it well through its Disney affiliation. Add Aly & Aj, Hilary Duff, Vanessa Hudgens, Hayden Panettiere, Jordan Pruitt, The Cheetah Girls and soundtracks. The key to tween music is Radio Disney. This is tweens’ biggest marketing tool.

Radio giant Clear Channel ignores the tween market. Granted, all the Disney tween stars market their concerts through Clear Channel’s Live Nation, yet Clear Channel’s radio stations leave the tween market to Disney. That’s equivalent to Toyota, Honda, etc. leaving truck sales to Ford; wouldn’t happen. Even the auto industry is ignoring tweens.

Disney utilizes ABC television on Saturday mornings, Disney and Disney Family. They know media and how to reach tweens.

This is the largest marketing segment in the world. I saw a guy about 50 with two tween daughters at the mall; bags of Hollister in their hand (Why always Hollister? Inadvertently marketing to tweens through older sisters?). Tweens own the wallets of the latter-day baby-boomers.

Look at Malia and Sasha. Their dad now makes half-a-million a year. They got a concert with their favorite stars, Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Tweens get what they want from their parents. From a disposable income perspective, tweens represent the largest audience, segment or group.

Here’s the future, too. You can bet the Obama Brats have iPods. When they are 15, they will have iPhones. Apple owns these children. Have never understood Microsoft’s recent campaigns about “I’m a PC.” Yet I do understand the future of laptop computing – and that is computing’s future – belongs to Apple. Microsoft targets geeks. Apple is targeting tweens through iPods and iPhones. Microsoft is confusing. Every three years you need to buy a new computer to get the latest operating system. With Apple, you update, not replace.

The U.S. is going to lose its financial future due to companies ignoring tweens

Corporate mistakes marketing to the tween market

You wonder why Detroit is failing? Ford Motor Company was offered an idea to develop a limited edition Hannah Montana Mustang and place the song “Mustang Miley,” sung to Mustang Sally, in the new Hannah Montana movie. They passed on the idea.

Fender Musical Instruments is sticking with baby-boomer artists like David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton. They were offered an idea for a Century guitar line commemorating founder Leo Fender’s hundredth birthday in 2009. Ads for the Century line included Zack and Cody of the Suite Life and Aly and AJ.

Aly and AJ (greatest music stars of the 21st Century) play Fender guitars and Orange amps. Why aren’t these instrument lines, or other companies, smart enough to promote these very talented sisters? Because corporations don’t want innovative thinking. Their creative thinking is to layoff employees rather than develop new business models.

The kings of tweens music, Hollywood Music, refused to issue a good version of “Rock and Roll All Night,” featuring Hannah and the Dynamic Duo (Aly and AJ). So we have to suffer with crappy sounding YouTube recordings.

The champion of all clueless tween marketers is a mall in northeast Phoenix. Two years ago they started a policy of kicking tweens out of the mall on Friday and Saturday nights. This mall is adjacent to possibly the busiest freeway in Arizona.

The mall could have put up a section where tweens would converge every Friday and Saturday evenings, meet their friends, listen to either DJs or tween bands playing tween music. It would have been a boon for stores in the mall. Stores could have given free samples, coupons for tween discounts in their stores. The crowd next to a freeway would have attracted more shoppers.

What was the economic outcome of this mall’s attitude towards tweens and banishing them? Twenty percent of the stores in this mall have shuttered since the “16 after 6” policy was initiated.

Top level management at the company refused to meet with a tween marketing expert. So, if you’re going to northeast Phoenix and this mall, make sure to NOT spend any money there. Don’t even go to the movie or buy a smoothie. Let them learn the economic power of tweens. Same with Ford Motor Company (only an idiot would buy a Found On the Road Dead or Fix Or Repair Daily) and Fender.