Mhairi Campbell, executive editor of BBC Learning said that the key- which may seem obvious- is to talk to one’s audience, even though they are children. "Children are better equipped than we are," she said. “They navigate with impressive confidence, talking about their favorite web sites…and the brands that make up their purchase repertoire."

Paul Farrell, group marketing manager of the Irish Times Group, took an interesting viewpoint. "Age is becoming less and less relevant as a primary segmentation tool," he said, and recommended thinking about overall business objectives rather than trying to market to one particular audience segment.

“Younger customers in particular will see through promotional initiatives or buy into them solely on the basis of the deal as opposed to any long term affinity or relationship,” he added, stressing that traditional marketing campaigns will not work and that campaigns must embrace new media to pull in youth.

Others stressed the importance of starting readers young – very young. Villaweb, the main electronic newspaper in the Catalan region of Spain, has integrated a blog into its Newspapers in Education (NIE) program, allowing children as young as six to post their opinions and debate.

German newspaper Recklinghäuer Zeitung has started supplying papers to preschools, where children cut out pictures and identify letters in the papers before they can even read.

Click here for a list of participants, quotes from the conference and other information.

Source: WAN press release