Steinmeyer is a commercial designer for the branding agency MetaDesign Berlin.  DW-TV: We need an expert to verify this. Let’s pull in Rupali Steinmeyer, a commercial designer for the branding agency MetaDesign here in Berlin. Do kids really recognize brands at the age of five? Rupali Steinmeyer: Absolutely. They're ready for it. They're ready for all the information that's associated with branding and products, and they get it from so many different sources these days, internet, television, the radio, newspapers and magazines. They're like little sponges, ready for it. DW-TV: You have two kids. Are they sophisticated consumers? Rupali Steinmeyer: Definitely. They are ten and eight and that's what they get from all over, school, the kindergarten, in the media. They can distinguish between brands. They talk about converse shoes, Barbie dolls, Lego blocks, there's always a brand associated with it. DW-TV: Let's take a look at how much children spend. Six to 19 year olds spend 3 point four billion euros a year on clothes. More than two billion a year on mobile phones and more than one billion a year on fast food. Frau Steinmeyer, you are a mother and an advertising executive. Is that a conflict for you. Rupali Steinmeyer: No. It's not a conflict. I'm not at all surprised, because the topics you just mentioned are what the kids are asking for. Fast food is a topic, when they're going to get their mobile is a topic, and clothes. DW-TV: But you don't feel that children are drowning in too much brand consciousness right now? Rupali Steinmeyer: I don't think so at all. I think that the information that they get...you have to find the right balance...but this is the type of information that they need to make the right decisions and the good choices they have to make later in life. DW-TV: Let's talk about the global recession. What has it meant for your company and the branding business? Rupali Steinmeyer: We've seen that the communications budgets ha...