When you think of target marketing to impressionable audiences or children, what companies come to mind?

Up until a few days ago, I would have easily rattled off a number of tobacco, fast and junk food companies and noted that the practice was pretty damn sleazy as well.

If you asked me that same question today, I would say that the practice of marketing to this demographic is actually pretty genius for a number of companies.

Why the shift in my opinion?

Well you see, last week Mrs. Espo and I welcomed our first child into the world – a beautiful baby boy. During our stay in the hospital, I couldn’t help but notice that we were being marketed to from the minute the baby came into our room.

While the scenario is opportunistic and almost vulturistic, it is actually genius for the companies that gave the fine people at Beth Israel “samples” to pass out parents. Some of the major players included Johnson & Johnson, Similac, Pampers and the Boston Red Sox.

As first time parents who were looking for all the help that we could get, some things were just simple things to latch onto. I will admit that we fell into the marketing push of some of these companies. For example, Baby Espo was hooked on his Soothie pacifier (given to him in the nursery) so we went out and purchased two packages of the teal nipples for him to rotate through. We also grabbed some Pampers -well, mostly because we knew that they fit him. And when he turns the ripe old age of five, we’ll take him for a complimentary tour of the 104 year old Fenway Park.

We didn’t take full advantage of the formula sample due to our feeding preferences, but can see how parents who do can fall prey to the companies offering the free samples. Nurses told us that babies get addicted to a particular brand and have trouble changing over, sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco companies I mentioned above.

At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to make the decisions and get options from sources you trust. We asked a lot of questions to experienced parents and hospital staff and used our friend Google to inform our decisions. In some cases we were told, I wouldn’t use X product, we just use it because company X gives it to us from hospital staff.

Those reviews were few and far between, but it does make you wonder how much the “sample” marketing game costs these companies to get in with certain hospitals. This is a very impressionable audience with money to spend on their new baby. How much would you guess these companies spend on these partnerships?

When you think of target marketing to impressionable audiences or children, what companies come to mind?

Up until a few days ago, I would have easily rattled off a number of tobacco, fast and junk food companies and noted that the practice was pretty damn sleazy as well.

If you asked me that same question today, I would say that the practice of marketing to this demographic is actually pretty genius for a number of companies.

Why the shift in my opinion?

Well you see, last week Mrs. Espo and I welcomed our first child into the world – a beautiful baby boy. During our stay in the hospital, I couldn’t help but notice that we were being marketed to from the minute the baby came into our room.

While the scenario is opportunistic and almost vulturistic, it is actually genius for the companies that gave the fine people at Beth Israel “samples” to pass out parents. Some of the major players included Johnson & Johnson, Similac, Pampers and the Boston Red Sox.

As first time parents who were looking for all the help that we could get, some things were just simple things to latch onto. I will admit that we fell into the marketing push of some of these companies. For example, Baby Espo was hooked on his Soothie pacifier (given to him in the nursery) so we went out and purchased two packages of the teal nipples for him to rotate through. We also grabbed some Pampers -well, mostly because we knew that they fit him. And when he turns the ripe old age of five, we’ll take him for a complimentary tour of the 104 year old Fenway Park.

We didn’t take full advantage of the formula sample due to our feeding preferences, but can see how parents who do can fall prey to the companies offering the free samples. Nurses told us that babies get addicted to a particular brand and have trouble changing over, sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco companies I mentioned above.

At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to make the decisions and get options from sources you trust. We asked a lot of questions to experienced parents and hospital staff and used our friend Google to inform our decisions. In some cases we were told, I wouldn’t use X product, we just use it because company X gives it to us from hospital staff.

Those reviews were few and far between, but it does make you wonder how much the “sample” marketing game costs these companies to get in with certain hospitals. This is a very impressionable audience with money to spend on their new baby. How much would you guess these companies spend on these partnerships?

When you think of target marketing to impressionable audiences or children, what companies come to mind?

Up until a few days ago, I would have easily rattled off a number of tobacco, fast and junk food companies and noted that the practice was pretty damn sleazy as well.

If you asked me that same question today, I would say that the practice of marketing to this demographic is actually pretty genius for a number of companies.

Why the shift in my opinion?

Well you see, last week Mrs. Espo and I welcomed our first child into the world – a beautiful baby boy. During our stay in the hospital, I couldn’t help but notice that we were being marketed to from the minute the baby came into our room.

While the scenario is opportunistic and almost vulturistic, it is actually genius for the companies that gave the fine people at Beth Israel “samples” to pass out parents. Some of the major players included Johnson & Johnson, Similac, Pampers and the Boston Red Sox.

As first time parents who were looking for all the help that we could get, some things were just simple things to latch onto. I will admit that we fell into the marketing push of some of these companies. For example, Baby Espo was hooked on his Soothie pacifier (given to him in the nursery) so we went out and purchased two packages of the teal nipples for him to rotate through. We also grabbed some Pampers -well, mostly because we knew that they fit him. And when he turns the ripe old age of five, we’ll take him for a complimentary tour of the 104 year old Fenway Park.

We didn’t take full advantage of the formula sample due to our feeding preferences, but can see how parents who do can fall prey to the companies offering the free samples. Nurses told us that babies get addicted to a particular brand and have trouble changing over, sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco companies I mentioned above.

At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to make the decisions and get options from sources you trust. We asked a lot of questions to experienced parents and hospital staff and used our friend Google to inform our decisions. In some cases we were told, I wouldn’t use X product, we just use it because company X gives it to us from hospital staff.

Those reviews were few and far between, but it does make you wonder how much the “sample” marketing game costs these companies to get in with certain hospitals. This is a very impressionable audience with money to spend on their new baby. How much would you guess these companies spend on these partnerships?

When you think of target marketing to impressionable audiences or children, what companies come to mind?

Up until a few days ago, I would have easily rattled off a number of tobacco, fast and junk food companies and noted that the practice was pretty damn sleazy as well.

If you asked me that same question today, I would say that the practice of marketing to this demographic is actually pretty genius for a number of companies.

Why the shift in my opinion?

Well you see, last week Mrs. Espo and I welcomed our first child into the world – a beautiful baby boy. During our stay in the hospital, I couldn’t help but notice that we were being marketed to from the minute the baby came into our room.

While the scenario is opportunistic and almost vulturistic, it is actually genius for the companies that gave the fine people at Beth Israel “samples” to pass out parents. Some of the major players included Johnson & Johnson, Similac, Pampers and the Boston Red Sox.

As first time parents who were looking for all the help that we could get, some things were just simple things to latch onto. I will admit that we fell into the marketing push of some of these companies. For example, Baby Espo was hooked on his Soothie pacifier (given to him in the nursery) so we went out and purchased two packages of the teal nipples for him to rotate through. We also grabbed some Pampers -well, mostly because we knew that they fit him. And when he turns the ripe old age of five, we’ll take him for a complimentary tour of the 104 year old Fenway Park.

We didn’t take full advantage of the formula sample due to our feeding preferences, but can see how parents who do can fall prey to the companies offering the free samples. Nurses told us that babies get addicted to a particular brand and have trouble changing over, sounds eerily familiar to the tobacco companies I mentioned above.

At the end of the day it is up to the consumer to make the decisions and get options from sources you trust. We asked a lot of questions to experienced parents and hospital staff and used our friend Google to inform our decisions. In some cases we were told, I wouldn’t use X product, we just use it because company X gives it to us from hospital staff.

Those reviews were few and far between, but it does make you wonder how much the “sample” marketing game costs these companies to get in with certain hospitals. This is a very impressionable audience with money to spend on their new baby. How much would you guess these companies spend on these partnerships?