It’s official, when companies feature teen models, child models, toddler models or baby models it vastly improves the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.

Nielsen IAG data shared on the ‘Marketing Week’ website earlier this month indicates that by using child models of all ages in advertising, companies can improve both the likeability and recall of their campaigns.

This trend was highlighted, in the ‘Viewpoints’ article, by figures that relate to the supermarket chain Morrisons. The Morrisons advertising campaign exampled – which involves advertisements featuring child models discussing Morrisons products with farmers, butchers and fishermen – has, according to the figures shown, been the most effective advert to appear on our screens for the last two months.

Incredibly, studies relating specifically to the Morrisons advertisement that features children talking to fisherman suggest that it is remembered on average 75% more than others to have appeared on television during August. Equally noteworthy is the fact that figures relating to the viewers’ recall of the brand in association with this advertisement is even higher, at an incredible 143%. This means that consumers appear to remember, not only the advertisement itself but also the brand advertised, at a far higher than average level.

Marketing Week explain to readers that the Nielsen IAG data studied clearly shows supermarket advertisements featuring child models to be far more successful than those that do not. The article states: “Of the 6,000 TV ads tracked in 2010, the 1,200 that feature children are remembered 9% more and liked 14% more than ads without children. This uplift is even higher for ads featuring teenagers – they are 13% more remembered and 21% more liked than ads without kids.”

It goes on: “Morrisons isn’t the only supermarket advertiser to have success featuring children. All supermarkets see some form of uplift when their ads feature children; on average, recall of the advertiser increases by 38% and likeability increases by 64%.”

This comes as no surprise to leading UK modelling agency Models Direct. We have been following many advertising campaigns that feature child models over the past few months and have noted their enduring popularity with consumers. As a result of this trend more parents are considering the benefits of putting their baby, toddler, child or teen forward to become a model and we continue to receive requests for baby, toddler, child and teen models from clients who wish to select them for modelling jobs. Clients seem to be recognising the benefits of featuring younger models in their campaigns and Models Direct is proud to be able to deliver the right looks for success.