Why parents and kids associate with the same brand

Published on: August 22, 2022

This happened last week. I was getting ready for my third lap of jogging at the park. Usually, at 7 in the morning, I meet the same familiar faces. A head nod here and a smile there, marks the beginning of my daily socializing.

I had run by them twice, but this time I knew I had to stop. Clad from head to toe in Nike Yoga Dri-FITs, a mother-daughter duo was doing their surya namaskars. By the look of it, the mother seemed to be in her mid-40s and the daughter was a young teen. They both had their Airpods Max on, wore matching clothes and their similar neon Fitbits had really caught my attention. As I went closer, I realized they were talking into a GoPro Hero10 Black standing on a tripod. What was this about? In my eagerness to find out, I went up to them and asked what they were up to. There it was. Had I been living under a rock?! Of course, they were fitness influencers, shooting for Instagram!

It wasn’t really a revelation; one spots social media influencers IRL all the time. What got me thinking was this – brands have evolved to cater to the next generation. Today, mothers and their li’l ones are more connected than ever before. And brands are fast bridging the gap between what mothers and their kids consume – literally, and in terms of fashion, technology and even content.

Come one come all

Perhaps you spotted a 6-year-old vibing to his iPod Mini while waiting for his mom at the salon. Or maybe you were enjoying your cuppa at Starbucks when you overheard a mom and her teen daughter discussing which lip color to rock in the upcoming wedding season. When I am out shopping, I often see mothers and daughters looking admiringly at the same Chanel handbags!

It is as clear as day that we are in an era where parents and children can easily associate with the same brands. From international brands like H&M and United Colors of Benetton to Indian fashion houses like Biba and Global Desi, the kids section today can affirm your belief that “twinning” is really a thing. At our office picnic last month, my colleague and her daughter sported the same Armani backpacks!

Mom jeans and changing scenes

What is driving this trend? When I was growing up, you were mortified by your parents’ taste in just about anything.  You would never wear their clothes or listen to their music, and you only reluctantly ate their food. You’d be mocked by your friends if they were to see you dressed like your parents. Back then, no kid wanted to be a “mini-me” of their parents. 

A major factor that is shaping this new reality is a big demographic trend: women are marrying late, and hence are often having children later in life.

Women are marrying later than ever before, and this has a considerable impact on consumer spending. How, you wonder? Let’s talk about a millennial Indian woman - imagine anybody, say Nisha, your pretty neighbor who works at a fancy MNC. Nisha gets married at 31 and has a daughter at 35, her first. By the time she is 35, Nisha has had about 10-12 years of establishing a lifestyle before her baby enters the picture. She would do her fair share of experimenting with brands in her early years and would now be a brand loyal customer. She’d have switched up to better brands than she could afford in her 20s.

By the time her daughter is born, Nisha has shopped for makeup at Sephora more than a hundred times, had many orders of lattés and frappés, and earned enough loyalty points at all the major apparel outlets.

Naturally, Nisha’s daughter becomes a part of her world. It is then anybody’s guess that the little one will be spared the “experimenting” with brands. She has been to Starbucks since she was in a stroller and will not wait till she’s in college to wear her first MAC lipstick. Early on, she will have her own collection of vintage LV handbags, a hobby she inherits from and shares with her millennial mommy.

Coming of age, now!

All of this offers an opportunity with a huge potential for established brands to age “down”. While global luxury brands like Dior baby and Gucci Children have already created a strong foothold over the world, the idea is not restricted only to fashion. Mommy-and-me style hobby classes, spas that play host to kids’ mani/pedi birthday parties, travel agencies customizing mom-daughter travel packages are all jumping on the bandwagon.

So, let’s get this straight. Mom jeans and dad sneakers are the “in” thing now. If you are in a consumer business, it is worth looking at the opportunity to attract these young customers to your brand. Parents are more than willing to spend adult-size money on their children, who in turn want to follow in their parents’ footsteps (literally)! And if you think this trend is only restricted to the pink and pretty world of women, look around closely. See that teenage boy flaunting his ivory white Air Jordans, looking all suave? That’s his father sitting next to him, wearing the same shoes!

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