• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 13, 2007

Today's dads are not only spending more time with their kids; they're actively involved in making buying decisions about products and services for them, a new study from the youth market research and strategy firm Smarty Pants confirms.

The firm conducted 20-minute online surveys with more than 750 fathers of kids between infancy and 12 years of age, as well as individual and small-group interviews.

Turns out that most kid-related purchases, across a wide variety of categories, are jointly made by parents/partners. Furthermore, particularly in certain categories, significant numbers of dads call the shots alone.

For example, nearly a quarter (24%) of dads surveyed reported that they're the sole decision-makers for electronic/tech devices; 20% for recreational/sports equipment; 18% for video games, between 14% and 16% for family vacations, sit-down restaurant meals, fast-food meals, movies and videos, toys and games, educational books and DVDs, drinks, snacks, groceries, and personal care products; and 12% for clothing.

The numbers reporting making joint decisions with their wives/partners ranged from 50% for kids' personal care products to 74% for sit-down restaurant meals.

Involvement in buying appears to be a natural extension of dads' greater overall involvement with their children, as two-earner households and other factors cause the male parental role to evolve. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of these dads said that they're certain they spend more time with their children than their own fathers did. On average, they reported spending 5.2 hours with their kids on weekdays, and 6.6 hours on weekends.

Half of respondents said that they're "much better" fathers than their own fathers were, while 40% said that they're "on par" with their own fathers. Most say that enjoy the role of nurturing father, and one out of three said that their day-to-day relationship with their children is mentor or role model.

For the most part, however, marketers are still going the traditional route of appealing either to the child or the mother. "Marketers need to address the reality that dads, particularly younger dads, really are present and involved in their kids' lives, including the shopping," says Smarty Pants President Wynne Tyree.

Marketers of electronics, tech products and video games, for instance, are clearly missing "low-hanging fruit," says Tyree. "These younger dads grew up using video games, computers and Walkmans, and they tend to be more interested than the moms in helping their kids select these kinds of entertainment products."

Still, there are some signs of growing dad-awareness. Cheerios has featured dads in the nurturing role in some print ads, and the brand ran a TV ad showing a father using Cheerios to teach his infant about football strategy and good health. Johnson & Johnson has run print ads featuring dads in nurturing activities like bathing infants. Ford's "Bold Moves" campaign included an ad featuring a divorced father hanging with his kids on the weekend.

Some additional marketing suggestions from Tyree, based on the research:

• Strive to give more balance to your messages, to appeal to both dads and moms.
• Give dads a community to connect with other dads.
• Develop marketing materials that appeal to male shoppers--particularly in-store and sampling programs, which men cite as influencing their purchase decisions.