THIS ISSUE OF Beverage Spectrum features a lot of discussion of the merits of various kids’ beverages. As the owner of a pair of them (kids, that is; the drinks are free), there’s one point that I need to make with regard to this part of the busi-ness that is rarely addressed, and that is that kids are random, unpredictable, often ornery little individuals.
Case in point: recently, when my four-year-old, Charlie, had a bout with one of the gastrointestinal issues that bedevil the preschool set, I took advantage of my position as beverage magazine editor to bring home a bunch of kid-oriented products that purport to offer rehydration to children: some sports drinks, a couple of brands of coconut water, even some juice.
Charlie was sorely in need of electrolytic fluids, and, due to repeated retching, was in compliant mood. But he wouldn’t take a sip. Instead, he took one look at the packages – all of which are designed to appeal to his age group – said “I don’t like it,” and scrunched his face up into something resembling an acorn. Meanwhile, his sister Madeline, who is two, started screaming “Try IT! Try IT!” and downed a can and a half before we could blink twice.
This didn’t surprise us; the boy rarely drinks anything but water. The girl has to be forcibly restrained from drinking out of our coffee pot.
So we went out and bought Charlie one of those modernist, electrolyte-enhanced waters, hoping that the extra salt would help him out. Again, after one look at the bottle, he decided that he didn’t want to try that, either. Eventually, we were forced into sneaking him flavorless, clear, electrolyte-enhanced water in a sippy cup by pretending it came out of the tap. Later, we did manage to get some other salts into him, as he decided to wolf down one of his favorite snacks: olives.
Not to make my family into a microcosm of the world of kids’ marketing, but this is the kind of in-home taste survey that can drive a parent to start concocting – and then trying to sell – children’s martinis. From a legal standpoint, this would be a bad strategy. But so is the idea that parents are willing to pay martini prices for a product that their kid could turn down at first glance.
To put an end to this rejection risk, how about a kids’ drink that is healthier – and cheaper – than a Coke? Because that, to a large extent, is what kids’ beverages are competing with, and one of the problems we constantly see with kids’ beverages is that they are often sold at more than twice the price of a less healthy alternative. And kids, with the exception of the best-advertised or best licensed products (and those products rarely have a significant health focus), would rather have that cheaper option. They see their folks drinking them, they’re readily available everywhere (Except in schools. Ironically the one place the parents aren’t the gatekeepers is the one place where kids are able to get reasonably-priced healthy drinks from vending sources) and they’re often the most affordable option.
Of course, this has changed somewhat with the advent of bottled water as a major beverage category. Say what you want about the problems bottled water is having right now, but one thing that those cheap pallets of water have demonstrated is that it’s possible for an alternative, healthy beverage to come into vogue – and quickly -- for every age group. Parents think they’re doing better by their kids when they pick up a case of bottles instead of a two-liter CSD, and hey, it’s just as cheap an option.
But kids’ affinity for the drinks of their parents doesn’t mean that there’s no way to provide them with healthy, age-specific options. As we know, they are a mercurial, tough-to-please bunch. But their willingness to model their choices based on the decisions of the adults in their lives – and there are plenty of kids who drink vitaminwater because their folks do, as well – means that the problem might not lie with the healthiness of the products, but with their tendency to pander and put their child-centeredness on a pedestal, and a pricey pedestal, at that.
No one here is against companies turning a profit. But considering how mercurial the target audience is, wouldn’t it make sense to set up a reasonable price point for those products that lies somewhere between a sugary CSD, a sugary kids’ drink, and a plain old water, so that a healthier kids’ beverage can be somehow considered a rational alternative, not a luxury item? It worked with vitaminwater, and it worked with Gatorade, after all. Bring down the risk to the consumer’s wallet, and you might find them more willing to gamble on something healthier, even if they know that their kids are as likely to turn it down as they are to scream “Try IT! Try IT!” If it’s good, you’ll make up in volume what you lose in premium pricing.
Although, if that’s the strategy you choose, my own family’s example notwithstanding, I’d advise against making it olive-flavored.