MediaPost Publications - Packaged Facts Finds Kids Take Lead On Green Purchases
Half of 6- to-8-year-olds encourage their parents to buy green products–with Hispanic children leading other demographics by a wide
margin. The Hispanic kids’ environmentalism, in turn, may be the reason why the Pacific region–with its large Hispanic population–leads all other areas in numbers of kids pushing their parent to go green.
July 25, 2008
Ypulse Research » Blog Archive » Teen Topix Teens & Internet, Spring 2008 | OTX and Intelligence Group
New Research from OTX and Intelligence Group Looks at Teens’ Online Behavior.
Teens Online Buy Stuff, Prefer Reality Over Virtual Sometimes, And Have Concerns
New research from OTX and The Intelligence Group studies teens’ online behavior, finding that teens are spending an average of 11.5 hours per week online, doing everything from instant messaging and visiting social networking sites to shopping and listening to music, but dispels myths that this group wants to do everything online. The study did find that 24% of teens are spending more than 15 hours a week online.
July 23, 2008
Rooms to Stop the Young From Straying - NYTimes.com
The rec room, once a wood-paneled corner of the basement with a dumpy couch and a TV with rabbit ears, is enjoying a revival in more upscale form. The space that parents cringed at the thought of entering and adolescents couldn’t wait to escape has been reimagined, largely by affluent suburbanites, as a haven of home theaters, stylish furniture, stainless kitchens and spa bathrooms — all deployed as lures to keep teenagers at home.
July 16, 2008
An unusually large number of classic characters for children are being
freshened up and reintroduced — on store shelves, on the Internet and
on television screens — as their corporate owners try to cater to
parents’ nostalgia and children’s YouTube-era sensibilities.
~A
Fictional Stars Get a 21st Century Facelift - NYTimes.com
LOS ANGELES — Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis. The “it” doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. Too candy-obsessed. Too ditzy. Too fond of wearing bloomers.
June 11, 2008
Mattel’s struggle to breathe life back into Barbie–more than a year after problems surfaced–shows the ongoing challenge the toy industry faces in attracting the fickle attention of young girls.
In many of last year’s Barbie lines, for example, the company sought to modernize the doll with more electronic features. But attempts to
address the competition posed by iPods and other electronic items have only
confused its young customers.
~A
As Barbie Sales Fall, Mattel Looks To Simplify Its Iconic Line - WSJ.com
For Mattel Inc. and its flagship icon Barbie, chasing the ever-changing tastes of American girls is turning out to be more difficult than expected.
Amid a rare quarterly loss reported Monday, the El Segundo, Calif., company reported flat world-wide sales for the Barbie brand. That reflects a 12% decline in the U.S., repeating a pattern the company struggled with last year, when domestic Barbie sales declined as foreign sales increased.
April 22, 2008
WWE is getting in on the social networking phenomenon on the virtual world Habbo. This is a big step for WWE in developing its digital footprint. They know that the only way to remain a relevant brand in today’s highly technological world, they must expand beyond live shows and TV.
C.
WWE Paves Virtual ‘Road to Wrestlemania’
NEW YORK In an effort to generate excitement among teens and tweens, World Wrestling Entertainment is taking its Road to Wrestlemania XXIV to the virtual world of Habbo, a social networking site aimed at teenagers.
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March 20, 2008
Beverage makers are targeting dogs and kids as they chase shares in the category.
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Fortified Water Has Gone to the Dogs - Advertising Age - News
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — How many more ways can marketers possibly target “enhanced” water? At least two: for kids and dogs.
Cott Corp. earlier this month introduced Fortifido, described as the
“first-ever fortified water for pets with real functional benefits.”
The brand comes in vitamin-enhanced formulas to promote healthy bones,
healthy skin, fresh breath and healthy joints in flavors including
spearmint, parsley and peanut butter.Meanwhile, Bot Beverages, which markets a line of kid-targeted waters
in orange, grape and berry flavors that have no artificial sweeteners
and preservatives, is looking to support its growing distribution with
an inaugural marketing campaign.
February 25, 2008
Dora was one of the first bilingual characters in the US. The success of the character has been extremely widespread and highly regarded among parents, teachers and children. Following the trend, a new character is making her way on to Nickelodeon - Kai-lan. The new show has a similar to Dora the Explorer, except the main character is Asian and will incorporate Chinese.
Media Life Magazine - The new kids thing: Asian characters
Preschoolers have already been introduced to Hispanic culture through Dora, Diego and Manny. Now the burgeoning multicultural kids’ television market is moving on to Asian Americans.
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February 8, 2008
Virtual worlds for kids have been exploding since the introduction of Webkinz and Club Penguin. These sites have reached beyond online and put something in the kid’s hand so that are thinking about the virtual world even if they are away from the computer. Now, Build-A-Bear, a retail store that lets customers design and personalize their own teddy bears, has launched it’s own virtual world. In buildabearville.com, kids can bring their bears to life and give it a unique personality. Interesting stuff. As a kid, I always had a fear of my stuffed animals coming to life.
C.
Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) Successfully Launches buildabearville.com(TM)
Build-A-Bear Workshop® Guests are bringing their furry best friends to life in buildabearville.com™. The new virtual world, which launched on December 11, is on track to reach one million unique monthly visitors by the end of January.
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January 10, 2008
In all, eMarketer estimates that 20 million children will be part of a virtual
world by 2011, up from 8.2 million today. Disney, for example, plans to follow
Club Penguin’s success with virtual worlds for “Pirates of the Caribbean” and
“Cars.”
“Get ready for a total inundation” of kiddie-oriented virtual worlds, says
eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. Webkinz, Club Penguin and the like have
been a smashing success where adult-oriented counterparts Second Life and
There.com have not. According to comScore, Disney-owned Club Penguin attracts
seven times the traffic of Second Life. Webkinz, a site where children create
and care for virtual stuffed animals, has seen its traffic soar 342 percent in
the last year.
~A
Web Playgrounds of the Very Young - New York Times
LOS ANGELES — Forget Second Life. The real virtual world gold rush centers on the grammar-school set.
Trying to duplicate the success of blockbuster Web sites like Club
Penguin and Webkinz, children’s entertainment companies are greatly
accelerating efforts to build virtual worlds for children. Media
conglomerates in particular think these sites — part online
role-playing game and part social scene — can deliver quick growth,
help keep movie franchises alive and instill brand loyalty in a
generation of new customers.
January 2, 2008
