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Ascher Keeps Eye on Kids’ Habits

Mar 19, 2008  •  Post A Comment

Just from watching his own children, Neil Ascher knows while kids today still watch TV, there are more things than ever keeping them occupied—and more ways for marketers to reach them.
As executive VP at Zenith Media, Mr. Ascher is responsible for the General Mills account, one of the first companies to advertise to children on TV.
But for most sophisticated marketers, TV isn’t the only toy in the sandbox as the upfront ad sales market approaches.
“I think you have to acknowledge that, despite the continued strength of the key providers—Disney, Nickelodeon and Turner—kids are interested in a whole lot more than just sitting in front of the TV, and I think the strength of their own Web sites shows that,” Mr. Ascher said.
Some marketers are taking bigger steps down the digital road than others.
“I think that for companies that are somewhat conservative, TV is still effective,” Mr. Ascher said. “A lot of clients, though, are beginning to recognize that, even if it’s experimentation at this point, it’s important to begin learning how kids interact with the other opportunities that exist out there, whether they’re electronic or not.”
The growth of new options is one reason Mr. Ascher expects the kids TV market to remain fairly flat.
“I think there are a lot of alternatives available,” he said.
At the same time, the government’s drive to curtail advertising of unhealthy or fattening foods to kids also has some marketers reeling in their spending.
“I don’t think there’s enough toy money to make that up outside of the pre-holiday period,” he said. “Obviously entertainment, films, have become a more important component, but there are an awful lot of food products that I think are very concerned about being appropriate and responsible with their advertising.”
Not surprisingly, Jim Perry, executive VP of 360 brand sales for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, was more bullish.
Last week, after the network’s upfront, Mr. Perry said the previous year’s upfront had been strong and that the scatter market has been active. He forecast there would be growth in the traditional kids categories, and said he expects close to 50% growth in nontraditional advertisers using Nick to reach kids and their parents.
Mr. Ascher thought the pursuit of new categories was a smart strategy for the network. He acknowledged that there certainly are some parents watching with their kids, “but it’s also some innovative salespeople who are finding ways to generate revenues where they probably wouldn’t even have wanted to waste their time in the past.”
As online becomes a more important medium for kids, advertisers are finding different ways to look at it.
“People are very interested in how much time kids are spending with the particular site that they’re going to,” Mr. Ascher said. “The amount of time that kids are spending on your site is becoming more and more important as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the site, not just how many people click through or where did they go from there.”
It’s not clear whether that will become a way that online advertising is sold, but the subject comes up when clients compare kids TV costs per thousand viewers (CPM) with online prices.
“The online CPM is frequently significantly higher, but if you look at the amount of time and you sort of break it down into 30-second equivalents, if you will, and you evaluate things that way, I think you get a very different picture about what that spend is getting you,” Mr. Ascher said.
Mr. Ascher has two kids, ages 14 and 11. They may not understand exactly what he does for a living, but they’re willing to offer advice to his clients.
Over the course of his career in advertising, which he chose because he didn’t want to be a lawyer, Mr. Ascher has had several accounts that were interested in kids—and some in which his kids have been interested. He once handled buying for Burger King, which his kids liked because he would bring home complete sets of whatever premium the fast-food giant was giving out that month. When he switched jobs, the kids were upset, he said.
Originally from Brooklyn, he’s now a suburban dad with a minivan who commutes from Westchester County, N.Y., to Manhattan via the Metro North train. He says he goes to the gym every morning and he enjoys music.
Because his wife works at a public radio station, they often get to attend cool events. Around Christmas, they went to the station’s holiday concert, which featured Joan Osborne, Odetta, Dan Wilson and Loudon Wainwright.
Mr. Asher said his kids are starting to get interested in music as well. “Fortunately it tends to be music I like, and not hip-hop and stuff like that,” he said, adding that his eldest wants to go to Liverpool to see Paul McCartney.
Who Knew: Mr. Ascher said he spent seven summers as a lifeguard in Brooklyn. He said it was a great job because he got to be outdoors, and never had to ride the subway to Manhattan in July wearing a suit. “I never worked in an office till I got my first job at an agency,” he said.

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