It's not just about buying backpacks or books or even bicycles. While a few years ago, children decided which brand of chocochip cookies to buy or the exact shade of burgundy that should go on the drawing room walls, today's kids are potential decision-makers about adult decisions such as where their parents can park their money or where families can live. School contact programmes in India are getting more ‘adult' in the products/services that they are helping sell.

For instance, in a school contact programme, real estate company Shriram Properties in Bangalore reached out to parents through children studying in a local school that was located close to one of their upcoming residential projects. Brochures talking about the facilities the complex would offer, like a park for children, a swimming pool and a club house, were distributed in the school. This, the builder hoped would reach the parents and result in some firm deals.

Mr M. Murali, MD of Shriram Properties, explains that this is one way to reach out to clients. “The company has supported concerts and other events at schools. Although many schools do not permit us to commercialise the sponsorship, some of them let us reach out to children.”

A few months ago, ICICI Bank reached out to 3-5 year-olds in a Montessori school through a fun-filled exercise and urged parents to open savings account at its nearest branch. Berger Paints launched a range of paints (Berger Kidz and Galaxy) in schools expecting them to influence parents to make the purchase.

Pester power

Traditionally, marketers have used the pester power of children to reach out to parents. FMCG giant Britannia has used school contact programmes extensively for its Treat brand. The programme, called Treat Quest, was kicked off three years ago with a target of reaching 500 schools in six metro cities. “Today we run this programme directly over 1,100 schools across 14 cities, and we touch 18 lakh kids,” says Ms Shalini Degan, Category Director, Delight & Lifestyle, Britannia. Nestle launched its flavoured milk, Funshake, in a school contact programme and Dabur to popularise Chyawanprash among school children in Bihar. Therefore, reaching out to a large audience such as school children in a concentrated manner has become a science with instances of repetitive low-engagement activities fast diminishing.

Handling Parents' concern

Marketers say they are aware of the concern of a growing sense of consumerism among children. According to Ms Degan, “We are cognisant and appreciative of the concern of both teachers and parents towards brand conversations being linked to commercial gain. Treat sincerely believes in making lives of children happy and fun. This cannot happen if teachers and parents are unhappy with the brand.” A child's mind is questioning and open to experiences. Brands, when introduced at this stage, make a big impact, says Mr Harish Bijoor, CEO of brand consulting firm Harish Bijoor Consults. He cites the example of brands such as Bournvita that have used this to good advantage through their quiz contest. But, he clarifies, brands which have a very slender connection to kids have also misused this space in the past, which he thinks is an unhealthy trend.

“It is important to maintain a very clear and delicate ethical balance when choosing schools for brand promotion. It is important to be sensitive to the child audience of this country.”

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