Financial Brands: Why the Children Are Your Future (With Shari Storm and John Lanza)

Brief Summary of Episode #84

The children are our future. It’s a horrible cliche, I know. 

But if your financial brand doesn’t successfully engage the youth… 

You don’t have a future.

In the latest episode, I catch up with John Lanza, The Money Mammals Kids' Club and Shari Storm, CEO of Category 6 Consulting, and learn why the youth demographic is the key to future success for any financial brand.

Today’s youth are different. 

They grew up connected. They’ve never been in a taxi — only Uber. They never watch network TV because Netflix gives them what they want, when they want it. 

They have high expectations — and so few financial brands meet them. 

Even worse, most don’t even try. 

If you want to engage the kids, you need to offer easy-to-use services that rival Amazon and Netflix.

So, where do you begin? 

Well, you need to engage the youth — who, even as young as 2, are already forming brand associations. 

And if you want to get on their radar, you need to target the moms. Moms typically make the financial decisions in most households. 

Kids look to their parents to learn finance — no, not TikTok, and engaging the parents early is how your brand survives into the future. 

Moms are the ultimate influencers. Target them and you will succeed. 

Key Insights and Takeaways

• How parents (especially moms) shape their children’s financial habits
• Why the youth of today have different brand expectations
• The value of focus groups