A rich market, ripe for the picking: the tweens are on their way

For this post I am in a privileged position seeing that my children have just celebrated their 8^th birthday, meaning that they now are full-fledged “tweens”.

Yes, tweens, the word coined for kids aged between 8 and 12, readily identified as a new market segment, but not to be confused with a teen, who is 13, 14, etc.

America has 23 million tweens and the brands want to know their tastes, they want to launch a tween trend, one that helps them sell more and better.

That has led Disney, Sephora, Fundex Games and other groups to sponsor the National Tween Summit, organized by consulting firm Ak Tweens.

And tweens like Kiley Krzyzek – at just 12 – have become powerful corporate consultants influencing the tastes of millions of tweens.

Like when she says “Selena Gomez is my icon”. Who? But of course, she’s the new girlfriend of Kevin, the leader of Jonas Brothers, who has ditched left Miley Cyrus, alias Hannah Montana, for Selena.

Am I speaking a foreign language? Well, that just goes to show you’ve no tweens in your house.

Some info to enlighten:

- Miley’s latest CD, released July 10, has been in the top five of the US hit list for the past five weeks.

- the first High School Musical, 290 million spectators, stayed at the top of the most-watched films list for months.

- High School 3 brought in a cool $150 million.

- Forbes magazine has voted Miley Cyrus the most influential young girl in the world.

...And now, fresh and new, two First Tweens, Malia and Sasha Obama have arrived on the scene, far too exposed to the media to be ignored...the tween segment is set for growth, of that you can be sure.