A study by Bates Canada says new technologies along with changes in family structure and demographics will mean new ground rules for marketing in 2000 – particularly when it comes to targetting children.

Jake McCall, executive vice-president, strategic planning for Bates Canada and head of Second Sight, the Bates division that conducted the recent survey, says children will watch less tv – about 18 hours a week – but increase use of the tv screen for games or educational purposes to about 30 hours.

As a result, McCall says marketers will profit from product placement in video games and computer games and sponsorship of shows and infomercials.

‘Marketers in 2000 may have to form partnerships with companies that have a natural in with children such as Lego, Sega, McDonald’s or Sesame Street or have product placement in a virtual reality game,’ he says.

The study by Second Sight, which was set up last year to handle special projects that include future watch and consumer insight research and business building strategies, also found that economic and demographic changes will affect children in all aspects of their lives.

McCall says, demographically, society resembles the 1920s, with a have and have-not society, the former led by two-income families with no free time and the latter comprising lower-paid workers and the permanently unemployed.

He says the ‘average family’ that appeared to dominate the period from the 1950s to the 1980s was a statistical aberration, does not exist now, and may not have existed then.

According to the study, children will face changes at home and at school.

Families of the future, stretched for time and money, will rely on grandparents as ‘secondary gatekeepers’ to lavish more of both on grandchildren.

Government cutbacks will alter the educational system and more corporate sponsorships will be needed to finance essentials such as books, school trips and bands.