Today’s post really proves that you never know where your next great idea may come from, and that you should always be on the lookout for it.

This past weekend, I took two of my kids for their routine dental checkup. Thankfully, our dentist has a very modernized office with flat screen TVs in each room to help distract their patients. Since it was a Saturday morning, they had Nickelodeon on for the kids.

While my son was being examined, SpongeBob Squarepants came on.  I wasn’t paying close attention to the show until I heard Mr. Krabs asking SpongeBob to spy on Plankton to see what he was up to at The Chum Bucket to lure away customers from The Krusty Krab.

As Mr. Krabs was grilling SpongeBob as to what was going on over at The Chum Bucket, SpongeBob gets distracted by a large statue and starts to climb it with a bunch of kids. That’s when Mr. Krabs figures it out – cater to the kids and the parents will follow. It didn’t matter if the food tasted better, if the prices were lower or if service was better. The kids wanted to go climb the statue, and the parents had to take them to The Chum Bucket to do so. And while there, they might as well buy them lunch.

Now, not every business has a product or service that is appropriate for children, but there are a ton of businesses that could and should start marketing towards them. There are also plenty of examples out there to look to for inspiration such as McDonald’s, Disney and Chuck E. Cheese, to name a few.

So, what are you doing to cater to the kids to get their parents to spend their money with you?

Image credit: jerrroen