My 12 year old daughter came home a few days ago from school with a very important topic she wanted to discuss….
Friends? Boys? Teachers who gave too much homework?
Guess again.
Organ donation.
In turns out a local couple representing an organization called Donate Life had come to speak to her 7th grade class.
And they had made quite an impression on her, and by proxy on me.
Usually it’s hard to get a few sentences out of her at dinner. This night was different.
She wanted to share what she had learned and she wanted to know where I stood on the subject.
It was an interesting discussion. By the way, I was already a believer in organ donation (it’s there in a black and white declaration on my driver’s license).
I wasn’t at the presentation from the folks at Donate Life, but in my daughter’s retelling I could sense that they’d done a few things right to capture the hearts and minds of their tween-age audience.
They made the story personal (one of the two was an organ recipient). They’d given out goodies for the kids to use and wear (pens, stickers, and rubber bracelets- which happened to bright green and made a nice addition to their St. Patrick’s Day outfits).
And they ‘d smartly engaged a key influencer target to talk to parents..
My daughter had a lot of clarity in her role in this scenario. She said to me that she was pretty sure they weren’t asking the kids to be donors, because they were still too young to make this kind of decision and the likelkihood of them being eligible to donate was slim.
She knew she was being used as a messenger, but she embraced the role nonetheless.
It got me to thinking that maybe there were a whole slew of brands that could benefit from the tween influence factor.
Not just the expected brands high status and high involvement brands like electronic equipment, cars and food (many of whom engage tweens as influencers already).
Perhaps some less obvious choices like organ donation, financial services products, airlines etc .
I never imagined we’d be talking about a commitment to saving lives over fish tacos and burritos in our local Mexican restaurant. But there we were.
And I was glad for the chance to engage in something other than boys, friends, and what teachers give too much homework.
That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?
What brand decisions have been influenced by your kids?
