SUBIC BAY FREEPORT?If companies want to reach children, they will have to get inside their young minds and preferably with the use of technology, a marketing and network executive told delegates of the 21st Philippine Advertising Congress here Friday.

Jeremy Carr, vice president of Turner Entertainment Network, that owns the Cartoon Network, said although television is still the dominant medium to reach children in the Philippines and Asia, online platforms have begun to flex their muscles for a share of the young market.

The Cartoon Network?which introduced Filipino children to the ?Powerpuff Girls,? ?Dexter?s Laboratory,? ?Tom and Jerry,? and ?Ben 10??is the leader in kid?s entertainment.

?We have made connecting to kids our highest goal. We invest in proprietary research and technology to achieve that goal,? Carr said.

On the third day of the 21st PAC, delegates to the largest gathering of creative minds in the local advertising industry were treated to discussions on the growing number of children online and how marketers can use traditional and digital media to reach them.

Carr said there are over 40 million Philippine households with television and ?it will continue to grow ... Audiences are spending a lot of time on other media, but a lot of their time is spent watching TV,? he said.

He said, however, that there has been a surge in Internet-based consumption of content by Filipino children, a situation that is reflected across Asia.

Carr said the purchasing power of Filipino kids, which his firm?s research pegged at P42 billion, has made this segment attractive to a lot of companies.

?They drive a lot of purchase decisions. Their influence is strong and undeniable in their parents? spending decisions,? he said.

Carr said there are now 21 million Internet users in the Philippines, with the average user between 10 and 19 years old.

?Our core audience is 10. This means the success of marketers in the near future will be based on how kids are consuming online media content,? he said.

He cited a project, undertaken by the Cartoon Network and computer company Hewlett-Packard, designed to reach Filipino children.

?HP wanted to connect to schools and schoolchildren. What we did was come up with the HP Toon Creator Awards in which ?Ben 10,? a Cartoon Network character, was used,? Carr said.

The campaign tapped 785 schools and asked children to create their own ending to a story based on the ?Ben 10? character, he said.

?Online space was used as the core driver for the idea and TV as the promotional vehicle. Kids were able to develop their own ending to the story of ?Ben 10,? which they had to do online,? Carr said.

As a result of that campaign, he said at least 151,000 animations were created online by 26,000 participants. About 2.5 million page views were generated by Internet users from around the world.

Carr said the Cartoon Network?s leadership came from investing in all platforms and technology.

?TV is great but marketers are going one step further. They are looking to make connections online by developing games, video content and a way for children to interact. We?re really growing in that space ourselves,? he said.

Andrew Kingham, managing director of the Marketing Store, a marketing solutions agency, said marketers should view the world ?through the eyes of a child.?

He cited a European study that said children in industrialized countries are still ?fundamentally at the top of the family priority.?

?Their parents believe that kids should not be burdened by what parents have to do. The emphasis is still about happiness, enjoyment and experiencing the world,? Kingham said.

He, however, said brands should do more to help families?mothers in particular?to make informed decisions on products.

?Mothers are incredibly ?time-poor? because they still do majority of the work at home. They play various roles, and are now increasingly working outside the home which leads to a life of trade-offs,? Kingham said.

?The principal trade-off being made is the well-being of the family, children in particular. There is not enough time to do everything in a day,? he said.

Kingham said this was where brands were ?failing in a large degree,? citing the nutritional labeling of food products as an example.

?There is confusing nutritional information out there. Food brands are not doing a good job of nutritional labeling. This puts more pressure on mothers about health issues that affect their children, especially now that child obesity [in the West] is an issue of concern,? he said.

Kingham said children are also starting to become aware of what is going on around them and have become concerned with global events and issues like endangered animals and global warming.

He noted the rise of ?minipreneurs? or children who engage in entrepreneurial activities ?because they are starting to want certain things.?

?Parents are saying to them, ?We will contribute but we want you to see the value of what you are asking ?? And so? kids are selling, trading, [becoming more] aware of the value of money,? Kingham said.