“Context is all”: what those marketing to children need to know

Argues that marketers need a more considered understanding of the context in which children are constantly consuming, interacting, learning and relaxing; children are an audience that is becoming increasingly complex and changeable; their concerns are wider than their immediate environment, so that marketers must appreciate that their products and services form only a tiny portion of children’s lives. Explores the filters that affect the child’s concerns with self‐image, performance and identity, and suggests that marketers should draw up an attention plan for their particular audiences, developing this into the technique of context mapping. Discusses the term “proto‐teen”, which reflects the existence of a group of 11 to 14 year olds, as part of the commonality between older tweens and young teens.