kids world watch

Look at me, I'm a designer!

2008-07-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

You can design for your avatar in your favorite virtual world, and you can do the same for your tween girl self at Fashionology LA. Not only that, you can model it and show your creation and yourself on large screens throughout the store. As soon as you grow out of that, you'll grow into your personally-designed Lill Street bag.

Kids always say "I do it self!" The business of creating a platform and letting the young customers create content is not just for them, but they'll lunge for it fastest.

See what I mean by "adorable?"

2008-07-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

Meet Pucca who loves Garu in what's positioned as a funny love story. She looks exceptionally good on products and, though she didn't show up in a lot of press, she had a prominent spot at the NY Licensing Show.

Oddly appealing

2008-06-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

This year's Licensing Show was refreshingly un-dominated by ancient reruns.

A lot of new Japanese adorableness (kawaii) had elbowed its way in.

Simplistic "hand-draw" styles like Charlie & Lola and even Roald Dahl had center aisle presence.

And, breaking new ground, was Pampers' Kandoo, a lively spokesfrog previously mentioned in this blog. P&G was wisely licensing the rights to their potty-empowering character.

On behalf of Edgar & Ellen, I met with people from Israel, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Latin America and the US entertainment triangle: Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

NY Licensing Show starts tomorrow!

2008-06-08T05:39:00.000-07:00

I'm packing my wheelie in anticipation. Last time I went was in 2005 when I was disappointed in the lack of originality: Hello Kitty!, Barbie, Marvel Superheroes, same old stuff--except Chronicles of Narnia which had many people scratching their heads. Would it work? It was religious after all.

But it's doing fine--another in the trend toward literary properties for kids.

I'm taking the twins, Edgar & Ellen who, with eight books under their jammies, are beginning their licensing journey outside the US.

Prized supplies

2008-05-25T06:46:00.001-07:00

Jim McNeal has often talked about Chinese students' preference for school supplies over toys as premiums and treats. It can be true in the US, too. Here a girl uses her own discretionary dollars to buy the "cutest" pens.

Flatbread and geometry

2008-05-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

At the Fancy Food show in Chicago last month, along with Lithuanian liquors, Japanese pine needle juice and all manner of "healthy" dark chocolate, were homely flatbreads.

Why are they popular these days?

The answer offered by an enthusiastic flatbread puveyer was that they're "not the circles and squares that everyone's so tired of." I wondered if rectangles could possibly be so much more appealing a form. He said, "No, they get broken up--into sharp angles and uneven shapes. That's what makes them interesting."

I thought of Cheetos, which get their appeal from weird shapes--and that was the only thing that made me keep from raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Occupational Hazard

2008-05-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

While signing autographs at New York Comic Con 2008, Edgar & Ellen's illustrator, Rick Carton, got a dose of the pranking he invents. An 11-year-old fan named Jason popped him in the face with a whipped cream pie. Rick's brother (and Jason's co-conspirator), TV writer, Billy Carton had an Edgarish look as he laughed in the background.

To see the whole picture, visit:

http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=23177

Top Kids Picturebooks

2008-04-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the top-15 children's picture books sold in the US over the week of April 21, courtesy of our friends at Publishers Weekly.

Colleen's Clue for Kid Marketers: Notice how many titles include rhymes!

1. Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder, Workman, US$12.95.

2. The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems, Hyperion, US$14.99

3. Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy, HarperCollins, US$16.99

4. Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly by Jane O'Connor, HarperCollins, US$16.99

5. Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein, HarperCollins, US$17.99

6. Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems, Hyperion, US$16.99

7. The Jellybeans and the Big Dance by Laura Numeroff, Abrams, US$15.95

8. Smash Crash! by Jon Scieszka, Simon & Schuster, US$16.99

9. Zen Ties by Jon J. Muth, Scholastic Press, US$17.99

10. Alphabet by Matthew Van Fleet and Brian Stanton, Simon & Schuster/Wiseman, US$19.99.

11. My Dog May Be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky and James Stevenson, Greenwillow, US$18.99

12. First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Roaring Brook/Porter, US$14.95

13. Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart, Orchard US$32.99.

14. Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantasical World Around you by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, Simon & Schuster, US$24.99

15. Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann, HarperCollins, US$16.99.

Used with permission, copyright Publishers Weekly 2008; a full listing in all categories can be found at www.publishersweekly.com.

Hello, Sweden!

2008-04-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Nickelodeon Nordic just put some Edgar & Ellen games on their site and suddenly Sweden, Norway and Finland jumped to the top 10 countries sending fans to http://edgarandellen.com Number eleven? Why, Denmark.

Never underestimate the power of casual games! The one that's getting the most play is Pet Soccer, featuring Pet, the beloved hairy eyeball as the soccer ball.

Beancake man and the cult of cute

2008-04-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

In Japan, "Kawaii" warms the hearts of the teen girl in everyone. The Kawaii icon is an adult-type cute--softy, cuddly, innocent, "like a baby bulldog" says Tokyo-based licensing agent, Jim Weatherford. "Hello Kitty!" reigns as the quintessential example, but Ampanman (named after a cute bean cake) is still sweeping Japan.

Western characters, Miffy and Snoopy qualify. How could you make your product as ineffably adorable?

Girls multiply sales

2008-04-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

In last month's Shop-along, three girls (each with $20 to spend) made identical purchases including pens, St. Patrick's Day hats and Play-Doh. POP aimed at girls would do well to reflect and encourage that propensity.

Pushing the right POP buttons

2008-03-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

In last week's Shop-Alongs for KidSay, Ali Pohn, noted that boys headed straight for the toy section and especially responded to anything that moved, could be punched, bounced or pushed. The girls tended to wander more and pay attention to signage that to showed what was in the departments. The cuter the better, like this Peeps daisy signifying the Easter candy section.

Martha Barletta's book, "Marketing to Women" has similar observations to make about how men and women shop for a white shirt and a black dress. Men head directly to the shirts, women check everything in between and around the dresses.

Kids properties to watch

2008-03-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine wrote from Atlanta to ask what properties were catching my eye in the kid world. Here's my quick reply:

-Yo Gabba Gabba for very young kids, is super hot

-In books it's The Twilight Saga — huge with teens, now I'm hearing adults talking about reading it

-Worth keeping an eye on: Word World (animals are formed from the letters that spell their names) on PBS

-Pirates of the Caribbean, the Massively Multiplayer Online Game from Disney is getting kids and adults who aren't quite geeky or devoted enough for World of Warcraft

-AddictingGames.com draws bunches of boys

-I guess I have to mention HS the Musical and Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, but I know you know them already

Baby/bebe cribs

2008-02-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

According to Kids Today, many of the big gains in Baby Crib sales from now through 2012 are projected to come from Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas.

That makes me suspect that we'll soonl be seeing more biligual Spanish/English activity toys, video games and TV shows, more non-blond dolls, more tamarind and mango baby foods. What else?

Twin wins for Edgar & Ellen at Elan Awards

2008-02-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

The mischievous twins sneaked off with two top prizes at Canada's Elan Awards, winning both Best Art Direction and Best Series.

Their Valentine’s Special “Crushed” (in which Edgar’s heart is temporarily broken) won the award entitled “Best Production Design or Art Direction” which may have helped mend his heart. But if it didn’t, Edgar and his identical twin sister Ellen should be celebrating the fact that they took the Seven Group Award for Best Animated Production – Television Series.

For me the real prizes come in the hundreds of emails from kids on http://edgarandellen.com, like this one from 10 year old Sara, last week, "Hello, I really like your cartoons and your books! At first Isaw alot of people reading it, and I wondered if it was as good as people said it was. I really like Pet because he is so ugly he's cute, sneaky, and mysterious."

Little Kids and Candidates

2008-02-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

On the heels of Brarak Obama's recent sweep, I'd like to share a finding reported by parents. Their kids love to run around the house saying, "Obama, Obama, Obama!" It's fun in their mouths.

A word to the wise: remember to look for this syllabic bounce when you're naming a kid's brand.

Back to Board Games

2008-01-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

Amid all the talk of tech at this week's Kid's Marketing Mega Event (I hosted the Symposium on Media & Technology) I was surprised at how many times kids, parents and speakers mentioned family board game nights. No wonder Hasbro paid $77 million for Cranium.

Frequent mentions of scrapbooking, crafts, Crayolas and outdoor play convinced me that a counter-trend is in full flower. Parents and kids are valiently working to weigh down the anti-tech side of the scale with traditional amusements. Clearly, not all family time is spend gathered around the Wii.

Then I realized I had joined the trend, too. Last week, I had introduced my godchildren to Apples to Apples. They couldn't get enough of it--they never begged once to use my coveted laptop.

Grafitti is forever

2008-01-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Iesha lives in a Puerto Rican neighborhood on Chicago's west side. Yesterday, while walking by Lincoln Park's St. Clement's church, I asked her if she'd like to look inside.

At first she hung back, but when we came out she said she'd liked it, "Especially the beautiful graffiti around the ceiling."

Mosaic scriptures circle the golden dome as graffiti circles the el trains. To Iesha, graffiti doesn't deface, but embellishes.

Watch for more book back-matter

2008-01-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

DVD's provide their "making of" bonuses and funny outtakes, websites provide secret material that's unlocked by codes. Until recently, books just ended with "The End." Now publishing is catching on and catching up. The surge of Book Club questions and author interviews after the final sentence attests to it.

Edgar & Ellen books provided a hidden code that led readers to the site. 39 Clues will take you on a multimedia quest.

I predict that the popularity of our next series, Kaimira Code, will hinge largely on the mysterious back matter that provides coded messages, an unfinished manuscript and a lost diary.

Keep an eye out for a growing trend in intiguing, fragmentary content--the end after the end...

Wii Three Kings

2007-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

In St. Charles, Illinois the most played-with present under my 10-year-old nephew's tree, was the versatile Wii. It stole the crown from the dinosaur kit, the talking globe (from last year), and the Pirateology book. It commanded the attention of three generations of family who were easily lured into trying their skills and who did not necessarily beat the youngest person in the house.

After the college board, the longboard

2007-11-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

Chico State University students arrive at class on narrow-tailed longboards. Their feet don't touch the pavement between the dorm and the doorway where they hop off before propping their boards against classroom walls.

Yesterday, a knee-sized Chico resident whizzed by me on a board as tall as he was. Three years old and already preparing for college, California style. Just a reminder, if you're predicting trends always watch California kids.

Kids are quick, sales follow

2007-11-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

It astounded me to see how a 1.5 second appearance of a previously unadvertised book within a sweepstakes commercial made an immediate difference in its Amazon sales rank. Edgar & Ellen's Mischief Manual had previously ranked last among the Edgar & Ellen books but it flew to the top during the promotion period. It was briefly mentioned as part of a prize package for an Edgar & Ellen Party in a Box on Nicktoons Network.

More proof that today's kids have an uncanny ability to grasp visual information at high speeds. Maybe auditory, too.

Clan costuming

2007-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

This year, I spotted groups of people dressed as "casts." There were two groups of Ghost Busters, a handful of glistening French courtiers, a gang of jolly cons and a crew of pirates.

Costumes catch the eye when they're multiplied. Halloween customs seem to be borrowing from the costumed tribes in role-playing games.

Halloween, America's Carnaval

2007-11-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Returning from the Greenwich Village Halloween scene, I doubt that costumes will remain the domain of kids.

Sure there were little pirates, fairies, Spidermen and Elmos trick-or-treating at generous shops and liquor stores, but they were outnumbered by the throngs of Paris Hiltons, sexy angels, Louis IV courtiers, and taller pirates. Through the evening, the epicenter moved from 6th avenue to Washington Square. Lots of laughing students and groups of tottering girls--expect bands, sponsors and pregnancies to follow.

While we talk about KGOY "Kids Getting Older Younger," I propose a parallel trend: ASYLUM "Adults Staying Younger Longer Until Married." Bring on the adult-sized costumes, welcome to Carnaval.

Twice the fun at Halloween

2007-10-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

On this blog, I've noted that kids are wearing costumes outside of Halloween season; so how can you make Halloween special? One dynamic four-year-old at the Halloween Fair in Oz Park had the perfect solution: wear two costumes at once. His full Spiderman suit was topped with a fire fighter's hat and rubber coat.

I do hear that Target is having its best Halloween ever. Could it be the Edgar & Ellen theme, or simply that kids are doubling up?