There’s been much talk in newspapers recently about the new Firefly mobile phone that’s being aimed at 4-year-olds!
Naturally the middle market is outraged that such young children are being targeted with such propaganda, but the Firefly phone has been on sale in the US for a number of years.
I spoke at a Marketing Conference 4 years ago alongside the US marketing manager for Firefly phones. He explained how they had promoted the phones and the efforts they’d gone to to ensure healthy sales and a good brand image.
Now this all sounds very dull, until you discover that the age range that Firefly targeted in the US was around 4 years older.
You see, the mobile phone market in the US has always lagged behind that of the UK and consequently, Firefly’s market in America was somewhere around 8-11-year-olds, rather than the 4-7-year-olds it seems to be targeting in the UK.
Yup, American kids aren’t anywhere near as cell-savvy as UK children, apparently, so they don’t need one until they’re much older.
If the marketing tactics they employed in the US are anywhere near as effective in the UK, I expect to see a whole raft of Firefly phones sold – can’t say I’ll be getting one for my girls, though!
