How To Market To The Whole Family At Once

Forbes

02-04-2025

At 15 and younger, members of Generation Alpha are too young to drive, likely have little purchasing power on their own, and most should have a relatively simple personal beauty routine. But a new study from Razorfish found that as they grow into teenagers, this youngest generation is increasingly interested in luxury items, influences family purchases and is very interested in personal care.
Top-shelf brands are big for this generation so far. Nearly seven in 10 own a luxury product by the time they are 10, and 35% aspire to own a luxury car when they are older. Three-quarters say they deserve to get more of the things they want, and 47% say they would like to receive a cash gift.
But their looks are also becoming increasingly important. One in three own more than three beauty products for a daily regimen, and three-quarters are interested in beauty content on social media. Just over half say they only know a little about beauty ingredients, but 72% want to teach their friends their skincare routines, and 73% want to teach their skincare routines to their parents. (This isn't just girls: 45% of Gen Alpha boys are also interested in skincare, and 25% of them have a skincare routine of at least three products.) About two in five actually make their own beauty content, like 'Get Ready With Me'-style videos, and 63% want to go to a party or event at a beauty store like Sephora.
And Gen Alpha already touts their outsized purchase power. While they might not have much money of their own to spend, the kids Razorfish surveyed say they take an active role in their family's spending. More than three out of four say they are interested in helping to choose the food their family eats, and 61% say they have a big influence on what's in their home kitchen and pantry. The same amount say they had final say on which car their family purchased.
While most older kids and adolescents start paying more attention to brands, cars and makeup, Generation Alpha has its own take on these areas. It's more about brands and labels—and the adults in their lives are willing to give them more autonomy to make these decisions. Marketing to them as decision-makers is key. Brands should also highlight the luxurious aspects of their products to attract this generation of consumers, and could do well with making them fun to use. But as they grow and their perspectives change—and become more active participants in the economy—it will be interesting to see if the more materialistic aspects of their preferences make way for practicality.
Both Generation Alpha and their parents are key demographics for messaging. Jed Baker, founder and CEO of Starglow Media and Forbes 2021 30 Under 30 alumnus, has found an effective way to talk to them: Kid-targeted podcasts. I talked to Baker about podcasts and ways to effectively message the entire family. An excerpt from our interview is later in this newsletter.
Photo Illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The social media platform formerly known as Twitter has been acquired again, but this ownership change—at least on its face—won't result in changes that are too dramatic. Last Friday, X owner Elon Musk announced the platform had been acquired for $33 billion by xAI, the AI company Musk owns. In announcing the deal, Musk said it values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion—or $45 billion if its $12 billion in debt is included.
So what does this mean? The platform is still in Elon Musk's hands, but it is a boon for X investors, especially since the social network has struggled since Musk bought it for $44 billion and took it private in 2022, writes Forbes' John Hyatt. D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria told Hyatt 'Musk is opportunistically using the very high valuation he has for his xAI business in order to make his investors in Twitter whole.' Musk, who was already the world's richest person, also personally benefits from the merger as the value of his stake in the combined company increases, bringing his net worth to $374 billion.
Anchors at Newsmax's booth during the 2024 Republican National Convention.
With its IPO this week, Newsmax is the newest media giant. The right-wing media company debuted on the stock market with shares trading at $10. By the end of the day Monday, they'd surged more than 700%, forcing trading to stop 12 times because of volatility. On Tuesday, the stock saw its shares skyrocket another 180%. It ended the day with a market cap of just below $30 billion, surpassing the $23.4 billion value of Fox Corp.
Given the hard-right bent of Newsmax's coverage, this gangbusters IPO may be fueled by the same sort of conservative vigor that drove stocks for Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company of President Donald Trump's Truth Social network, to soar and then crash soon after it went public through a blank check company last March. As markets opened Wednesday, Newsmax's shares were on their way down, dropping more than 45% by late morning.
An AI-generated Facebook profile picture in the style of Studio Ghibli animation.
OpenAI launched a Studio Ghibli-inspired filter with its new image generator, which has flooded social media with images redone in the classic Japanese animation style—and angered many Studio Ghibli fans, writes Forbes senior contributor Dani DiPlacido. While the stylized images show the drama and detail of Ghibli's 'house style,' popularized by its films Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service, they've also been a lightning rod for controversy. Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki famously said that AI animation 'is an insult to life itself' and requested this technology never be incorporated into his work. Forbes senior contributor Rob Salkowitz writes that AI-generated pictures have already elicited strong criticism from artists and other professionals for their unsettling images and odd inconsistencies. Considering that Miyazaki was so stringently opposed to AI art, Salkowitz writes this filter 'is basically spitting in the face of a global icon whose work has brought joy to millions, but not only that. It's a way for the AI tech lords to show all the aggrieved dissidents who's boss, as we do these days.'
Starglow Media Founder and CEO Jed Baker.
Today's media ecosystem calls for different playbooks, and 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus Jed Baker has found one in podcasts for kids. Baker is CEO and founder of Starglow Media, the world's top podcast network for kids and families. Starglow gets around 10 million monthly listens, but also attracts a coveted demographic: Families who listen together. I talked to Baker about Starglow's success and ways to effectively message both parents and kids. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.
Tell me about the kinds of ads and advertisers that work the best on Starglow.
Baker: Almost all of our market is brands that have never advertised on audio before because there was never anyone with enough scale to do this. Over the last year, we had a 90% brand renewal rate. The average podcast brand renewal rate is like 33%. The conversion really has been working.
To the point of TV versus audio, we talk about the nag factor, and that was initially something that really got going on Saturday morning cartoons in the early '80s, when cable was on the rise. Part of that was because parents and kids were watching television together, and that doesn't really exist anymore. TV viewership, whether it's OTT, fast, YouTube, actual linear streaming, it's so fragmented. The one common thing is that kids and parents aren't necessarily watching together. The TV isn't the common hearthstone of the family anymore. A lot of these brands spend an enormous amount of money trying to directly reach children, but they're not getting the parent as well.
That's where audio has now become the shared experience. It's replaced what television used to be. Kids and parents listen to these podcasts together, during drives to the grocery store and from school, at breakfast, at bedtime, after school. It's always a shared experience.
But to go beyond that, the ability to do host-read ads is incredibly impactful. Right now, if we have a podcast that families love and it's a part of their daily routine, this podcast host becomes a trusted member of their lives. And so when they go on their show and talk to the families about a product or service that they are loving, it's more of a familiar recommendation. In television, you don't have Dora the Explorer telling kids and parents about this new [cleaning] product that she's loving. It's a very different form of messaging, frankly.
If you can get your message into a family's daily routine, that is incredibly impactful as well.
The other thing is this is a really specific audience. In TV, no matter what, you're going to find general entertainment. You might reach 50% of your target demo, but there's a lot of wasted impressions. Our families are all in a very specific demographic. We have shows that cater to different age groups, so a brand knows which age they're going to be talking to, and there are no wasted impressions.
Lastly, [television is] a lot less active of a viewership experience. Parents and kids will listen to these podcasts really intently, and especially when they're in the car together, there are no distractions. It's not like you're doing a million things. They are really paying attention to the episode. They talk about the episodes afterwards. And because you're removing these distractions, you truly get a one-on-one moment with this audience, as opposed to just white noise from the television.
How is it different to do a podcast ad for this audience than a more general audience that's mostly adults?
Families respond well to certain products. Our families have two times the purchasing power of most adults, so when there's a product that really aligns well with our audience, they have no problem buying.
Going beyond that, the biggest thing here is that if you're advertising to adults, you're advertising to one person. When you're advertising to kids and parents, yes, you're advertising to the parent, but you're also advertising to that kid who's going to continually pester that parent. [About] 87% of parents say that their children have a major impact on the brand they decides to purchase—especially in categories like toys, household products and travel, kids have an outsized say.
Parents don't think about ads as much because they're so inundated with ads in their daily lives. They see ads everywhere. Kids don't get ads as much. 76% of kids ask for things that they see advertised, and 46% of those sales are attributed to the influence of the kids on the parents. Our audience buys more.
You're speaking to such a coveted demographic. What advice would you give to other marketers who are trying to speak to that demographic in any medium?
The most important thing is establishing trust, feeling like the messaging is authentic, and doing anything they can to remove distractions. When you advertise over Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, you are catching people in a moment where they are frantically scrolling on their phone, not really paying attention to your message. Being able to create an environment where you have a true one-on-one non distracted and trusted moment is the most impactful thing a marketer can do with our demographic, or any demographic.
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Starting in 2027, the Sundance Film Festival will have a new home. Where is it moving?
A. Marfa, Texas
B. Missoula, Montana
C. Boulder, Colorado
D. Salt Lake City, Utah
See if you got the answer right here.