Playing to the Positive Impact of Insights

In her session at TMRE; “Broadening Boyhood,” Kirkwood and Angela DeVoe, Director, Global Consumer Insights at Mattel, will look at how gender disparity has historically impacted society, whether it be through marketing, products, education and/or parenting. The session will look at a multimarket global study focused on gender portrayal, conducted in an effort to better understand the role brands can play in encouraging self-expression in all children. The study is based on discussions with boys aged three to 10, their parents and educational experts to more deeply understand what it means to be a boy today. In the study, Mattel identified five major challenges that led the team to generate actionable brand idea sparks.

The study mixes qualitative and quantitative research in developing a picture of boyhood in the context of gender’s critical role in childhood and how that plays out in parenting, education, marketing and toys. By exploring boyhood, the research suggests how to avoid the pitfalls that might have been problematic in the past even when it comes to play, providing insights that can help the recipients become positive disruptors.

“We thought it was really crucial to explore what boyhood is,” Kirkwood said. “This is really a multi-market global study. We’ve come up with five really interesting pillars from some extensive research that we’ve done where we’ve identified five challenges and opportunities where we can become this kind of positive disruptor in the toy space for young boys.”

See the video for more on Seth Adler’s conversation with Tasja Kirkwood introducing the research and reexamination of boyhood as a means of applying fresh ideas to the view of childhood.