Enrolling the Household
Watch a family walk into a fall open house. Dad asks about tuition and the commute. Mom asks about college placement and class size. The eighth grader isn't listening to any of it; she's watching two sophomores laugh in the hallway and deciding whether she can picture herself there.
Three people, three different questions, one decision. That's what to notice.
The Household is the Buying Unit
In my last post, I argued that generational marketing overlooks how families actually choose brands. A recentHarrisX and Allison Worldwide study found that 80% of teens say their parents shape which brands they like, while 91% of parents say their teens shape theirs. Influence circulates around the kitchen table.
No purchase fits that model better than a high school. The student is the user and, increasingly, the initiator. Mom is usually the chief researcher; the study found that she outweighs every social platform, creator, and celebrity in shaping teen preferences. Dad weighs cost and logistics. Sometimes grandparents write the check. The family that enrolls is the one that agrees.
What Household Admissions Looks Like
Map roles, not demographics. Track each family as a single record: who initiated, who's researching, who's skeptical, and who holds the budget. Then reach each member where they already are. The study's platform data is a ready-made media plan: TikTok and Instagram for the teen, email and Facebook for mom, and YouTube for dad. Same message, different doors.
Design for the conversation you can't attend. The decision gets made at dinner, not at your open house. So arm the enthusiast: give a sold student the answers her skeptical mother will ask for, and give a sold mother something her reluctant kid actually wants to watch.
Remember that your students are the campaign. If a teen's opinion moves parents more than any ad, a happy freshman talking to a prospective eighth grader outperforms anything your communications office produces.
One Move for this Fall
Restructure your next open house into parallel tracks: a real shadow experience for students, an academic and financial session for parents, and twenty minutes together to compare notes before they leave. That trio in your hallway is going home to vote. Make sure all three heard a reason to say yes.
Source: Marketing Dive, "Amazon, Nike reign supreme with Gen Alpha teens", covering the HarrisX/Allison Worldwide Gen Alpha Household Influence Study, May 2026.