Pester power factor in mobile purchases

In its study, The Mobile Device Path to Purchase: Parents & Children it found that for Apple, “child pestering” is the top predictor, being twice as important as social media, while for Samsung, it was the second predictor (first was positive word-of-mouth, by about 15%) in driving parental purchase intent.

Jeri Smith, president and CEO, Communicus, said. “We found that ‘pester power’ can even outweigh a parent’s beliefs that a device is easy to use or has the best features and functionality.”

The report from the research-based advertising consultancy found that for the younger generation, Apple’s brand success is based on positive word-of-mouth and fitting in. For Samsung, positive word-of-mouth and non-traditional tactics like the ‘Samsung Nation’ social rewards programme have contributed positively to children requesting the brand.

In the case of Apple, children are far more influenced by social influences (‘my friends have them’) than by advertising. And while adults are influenced by Apple brand advertising when it comes to the device they are considering for themselves, child pestering takes over as the key driver when considering a new device for their child.

Conversely, Samsung’s advertising has had more impact on children in boosting awareness, requests and perceptions that the brand is for “someone like me”. Samsung’s advertising is effective across age groups, but has shown the strongest persuasive power among younger ( 6- to 12-year old) kids.

More than 2,000 adults and 1,376 children ages 6- to 17-years old were interviewed online and asked about use and preferences of mobile devices (phones and tablets) in July 2014.  In October 2014, a subset of 628 adult respondents and 388 of their children from the July sample answered the same brand questions, and were questioned on their awareness of device advertising.