Issue 1, vol. 1 - April 2005

Young Canadians' ascendant influence on household spending over the past generation has made many companies, across an increasing array of categories, start to change the focus of their marketing strategies - from the “gatekeeper“ (mom, dad, primary care-givers) to the “gatecrasher“ (the youth in the household who increasingly tend to call a lot of the shots when it comes to purchase decisions).

In our most recent Ping survey, we examined some of the areas in which young people perceive their influence to be greatest.

“Perceived influence“ is calculated by adding up the percentage of those who ranked that they either “kind of influence“, “directly influence“, or are “the main decision makers“ in the purchasing of various household products or services.

As expected, young people feel they exert significant influence on food purchases such as chips and salty snacks, soft drinks and other non-alcoholic beverages as well as take-out or delivery foods; they've been highly regarded experts in these fields for time immemorial.

However, take a look at the influence teens (and even some tweens) have on larger ticket items; two-thirds of our teen respondents feel they wield power on the home front when it comes to computer purchases while 6 in 10 feel they can sway home electronics purchases. Mom and/or Dad continue to have troubles programming the “whatchamacallit“ and, as we become an increasingly gizmo-focused culture, are turning more and more to their younger, faster and more gizmo-friendly progeny for assistance and guidance.

Family travel is also becoming a very youth-influenced industry as parents strive to find vacations that can suit the whole family in new and different ways. Coming soon to an inbox near you; kid-oriented packages and brochures from travel companies.