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Audience Profile
The intended audience for this campaign is parents who are less involved with
their 9- to 12-year-old children—that is, those who are less likely to eat
dinner with those children, know where those children are during the day, help
those children with homework, or otherwise be involved in those children’s
lives. These are parents who need to become more involved if they are to help
their children reject the lure of tobacco.
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Segmenting or identifying a group of people who have enough in common that you
can reach them or motivate them in the same way is an essential component of a
successful social marketing campaign. The more precisely we can describe a
group, the stronger our campaign can become. After all, the goal is to influence
behavior among the largest number possible with the available resourcesWe identified less-involved parents as our target audience after looking at
extensive research: in 1998, CDC hosted 60 parenting experts at a meeting to
determine how parents should be characterized. After that we looked at consumer
data from sources like HealthStyles and Prizm and conducted focus groups with
parents. Our analysis showed us a distinction between three main clusters of
parenting attitudes and behaviors:
- On-target parents—those doing all the right things according to the
research.
- Nonenforcers—those who were involved with their children and set clear
rules but then failed to enforce those rules.
- Less-involved parents—the group targeted with the Got a Minute?
campaign.
(For details on the cluster analysis and the overall methodology, see
Appendix
A.)
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Snapshot of Less-Involved Parents
- 69% indicated consistently feeling a great deal of pressure.
- 43% see their home as chaotic.
- 90% feel they work very hard.
- 39% do not have their children do chores on a regular basis.
- 43% reported household incomes over $50,000.
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It is not hard to empathize with less-involved parents. Parenting preteens is
not easy. As they age through this period, children who were once running to
their parents for help are suddenly running away, seeking independence. Parents
can feel they have lost control. For our target audience, this is especially
true. Less-involved parents want to be involved with their children, but they
don’t know how, when, or what to do. And as their children enter adolescence,
the distance between parent and child often grows, placing these preteens at
greater risk for tobacco, drug, and alcohol use.
Compared with the other groups, less-involved parents are overwhelmed. Time that
may have been set aside for their children is quickly absorbed in household
chores, work, or just trying to find a moment to relax. Although they work
similar hours to other parents, our target audience can’t find enough time to
get organized and plan activities with their preteens or even with other adults.
In short, for less-involved parents, efficiently managing their time is one of
the largest barriers to participating in activities with their children.
The lack of time and general organization for less-involved parents is not due
to involvement in activities without their children. This group seldom visits
friends. They are typically not members of social clubs, churches, or volunteer
organizations. In fact, nearly half would call themselves “couch potatoes”
and most (62%) consider television their primary form of entertainment.
A powerless feeling is a defining characteristic of less-involved parents. They
reported the lowest self-efficacy on a wide range of behaviors. They are often
aware of a need to change unhealthy habits and daily patterns, but they don’t
believe they can.
Regarding parenting, our intended audience knows they should spend time with
their children but believe they are unable to
change current behavior patterns. They are less confident about protecting their
children from behavioral risks than other groups of parents and are less likely to
create, develop and enforce rules with their children.
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Our intended audience can be found anywhere. They cross lines of ethnicity,
education level, socioeconomic status, and marital status. Less-involved parents
can be blue- or white-collar workers. They are more likely than the other groups
to be part of a parenting dyad (nearly one-quarter of less-involved parents are
likely to be separated, divorced, or never married). Most also fall within the
low-middle to upper-middle household income levels. Not unlike the other groups,
they want to be perceived as ambitious (75%), hardworking (98%), and courageous
(88%), and they want their children to exceed their current socioeconomic
status.
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Although our intended audience wants to spend time with their children, they are
not able to identify possible activities or actions they can take to increase or
improve their time together. For example, a majority (54%) of less-involved
parents do not usually eat dinner together as a family. They think food
preparation should take as little time as possible and are less likely to feel
guilty about serving convenience food.
Concerning rule enforcement and monitoring of children’s activities, many
parents in our intended audience are not requiring that their children do chores
on a regular basis, and their children are usually not checking in with them
regarding their after-school or weekend activities.
Overall, less-involved parents are not satisfied with how their lives are
currently going (52%)—including their relationships with their children. They
feel overwhelmed with obligations, have low self-confidence, and feel like they
are never going to get a grasp on their parenting obligations.
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Our intended audience is open to ideas on how to improve their parenting
behaviors. They are willing to listen to various communications channels and are
not that selective about the messenger. If it seems like a good idea, they will
try it. However, they are likely to resent messages that do not provide a choice
or that criticize their current behaviors. One subtle distinction goes to the
heart of this: they want ideas, not advice.
Thus, the Got a Minute? campaign is designed to offer help, not issue orders or
encourage guilt. At its core, the campaign simply provides ideas about how to
connect with their children—just what less-involved parents are seeking.
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