Is there anything you can't do with twitter!?

Thanks PSFK

Twoddler Allows Toddlers To Communicate Through Twitter

December 7, 2009

Combining an Arduino microcontroller with a Fisher Price Activity Center, Bart Swennen, Gert Vos, and Johannes Taelman have put together a device which allows toddlers to communicate non-verbally with their caretakers through Twitter. Dubbed ‘Twoddler,” the device captures data from toddler interactions within the activity center and translates them to tweets that can be followed by the toddler’s parents; the toddler mashing the image of his mother for a predetermined amount of time might be translated to a tweet like ‘I’d like to see my mommy now.”

INCA Award 2009 WINNER: Twoddler from IBBT on Vimeo.

The project is the 2009 winner of the Innovative and Creative Applications Award.

[via CNET]

P&G moves soap opera genre online

OK... work drowning out all chances of sharing some of the great sutff that's happening out there around, but in a rather pathetic attempt to keep the flame alive, here are a few of the little tidbits i've come across in the last few weeks. Enjoy

This from cincinnati.com about how P&G are taking some large steps into online content...

By David Holthaus • dholthaus@enquirer.com • October 4, 2009

Now that "The Guiding Light" is a part of soap opera history, the newest stars of a Procter & Gamble drama are not Reva and Josh of GL's fictional Springfield, but Suzie and Steve Barston of real-life Los Angeles.

The Barstons are the stars of a 12-part series called "A Parent is Born," found not on television, but on the newest medium of choice for the world's largest advertiser, the Internet.

The Webisode is the latest example of how P&G, the inventor of the daytime drama, has moved beyond the soap opera and into the digital world, but with the same purpose it had when it launched the "Ma Perkins" radio serial in 1933: to create an interested audience it can use to build loyalty to its brands.

With the demise of "The Guiding Light," which ran on radio and then on TV for 72 years, P&G owns only one soap, "As the World Turns." The company that once produced more than 20 of the daytime television staples has turned its entertainment attention squarely to the Internet, practically abandoning the daytime TV genre it invented.

"We literally moved from radio to TV, and now we're in the digital world," said Pat Gentile, who heads P&G Productions, the Cincinnati-based unit that oversees P&G's entertainment properties. "We're putting our focus on creating digital content."

Just as it did with the soaps, P&G is creating places where it can gather a big audience, with the goal of building goodwill toward brands such as Pampers diapers, Iams dog food, Febreze fabric freshener and Dawn dish soap.

Case in point is "A Parent is Born," which follows the real-life Barstons from early pregnancy through the birth of their first child in a series of four- to five-minute videos available on the Web. The series is sponsored by P&G's Pampers brand and is found on the Pampers Web site. A 30-minute version aired on DirecTV in late August, and P&G plans to syndicate the series in other online venues.

"A Parent is Born" doesn't directly sell Pampers but helps shape how consumers feel about the brand, building what Gentile and other marketers call "brand equity." Following the young couple as they learn the baby's gender, decorate the child's room and talk about their hopes for their budding family can build an emotional connection to the brand that is valuable for creating long-time customers.

For Pampers, a $9 billion P&G brand, the show helps position it as a product concerned not only about keeping babies dry, but about the well-being of families, a key marketing message in the company's plans to double Pampers sales over the next several years.

A just-launched Web site, www.dinnertool.com, like the soaps, doesn't carry only P&G advertising, but is meant to be a destination site that brings a like-minded audience together. Dinnertool is a meal-planning site that generates recipes from a given list of ingredients, giving Moms a place to go when they need ideas for mealtime. "It fits nicely with our brands," Gentile said, especially after-dinner cleaning products such as Joy, Dawn and Cascade.

Its other destination site is www.petside.com, designed for dog, cat and bird lovers. More than a million of them call up the site each month, Gentile said.

Like the soap operas that preceded them, the Web sites don't simply pitch P&G products, but are meant to be sites that people return to over and over again, creating an interested audience that may be more receptive to the P&G message.

"People believe you more," Gentile said. "They don't feel like you're trying to shove something down their throats."

Providing good information is the key to creating a loyal audience, said Chris Allen, a University of Cincinnati marketing professor. "It's about providing content that attracts specific communities of users," he said. "It's the future of marketing."

The Web sites enjoy a major marketing advantage over television: e-mail. Visitors to the sites are asked to register, enabling P&G to capture potentially millions of e-mail addresses that it can use for surveys, for regular e-mail newsletters or to tout new products.

"A big part of the whole agenda is building that marketing database," Allen said.

The decline of the soaps as a marketing technique is due partly to its limited flexibility as a one-way medium; we can only watch, not interact. But it's also due to their aging audiences, those that are outside the marketer's ideal demographic.

Microsoft's Kodu Turns Programming Into a Kid-Friendly Creative Medium

Thanks Next Great Thing for this on microsofts' KODU. This kind of thinking would do well applied to adults!

Do you think HTML is short for Hotmail? Is Java something you drink in the morning? A computer-savvy kid would instantly recognize these as programming languages. So while we have long joked that kids and adults speak different languages, thanks to computers this is becoming quite literally true. Now, a new programming language from Microsoft will make these even more of a reality, deepening the “digital divide” and preparing our kids for the Information Age.

The new language, called Kodu, is made specifically for creating games and is designed for kids. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Kids program using the Xbox and use the game controller for input. The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development, and programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. While not as general-purpose as classical programming languages, Kodu can express advanced game design concepts in a simple, direct, and intuitive manner.

So the idea is simple; kids can create their own game, play it, and even distribute it to the Xbox live community. In this way, Microsoft is looking to further “programming as a creative medium.” So just as the “creative class” could create their own blog or avatar, now they can program a game and share it with the community.

You can compare this Microsoft move to what Apple did with the desktop and then the iPhone. They basically turned widgets into giant icons, simplifying the idea that the web could fuel lots of individualized utilities. Thanks to computers and phones—and the quickening pace of our lives—we are becoming an increasingly visual culture. The graphically-driven interface of Kodu just reinforces this.

The implications of this and similar efforts will be quite remarkable. Kids today are growing up in a world where they have complete control over their media and experiences with it. As previous generations witnessed the release of the CD, the boom of the Internet, or the emergence of mobile phones, this generation is actually taking part in it; they are protagonists, the programmers of progress. They are learning the tools they will need to further shape the future, to craft and direct our increasingly digitized world.

----------------------

The microsoft research post on Kodu: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/

Kodu

Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. The programming environment runs on the Xbox, allowing rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input.

Programming as a Creative Medium

The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously.

The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development and provides specialized primitives derived from gaming scenarios. Programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. While not as general-purpose as classical programming languages, Kodu can express advanced game design concepts in a simple, direct, and intuitive manner.

Screen Shots

(Click to open a larger image a new window.)

Game load / community screen.

"Physical" sensors are used as rule input.

Yes, we have a turtle.

Stick can't walk but he packs a wallop.

Key Features

Kodu provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new games.

• High-level language incorporates real-world primitives: collision, color, vision
• Uses Xbox 360 Game Controller for input — no keyboard required
• Runs on XBox 360 and PC
• Interactive terrain editor
• Bridge and path builder
• Terrain editor - create worlds of arbitrary shape and size
• 20 different characters with different abilities

Mobile Devices For Kids On the Go

Thanks Next Great Thing

June 23rd, 2009 by NGT

For many young people, the mobile phone is a status symbol and an extension of identity. For aspirational young kids and tweens, this is no different. For them, getting a phone is a rite of passage, and the age at which this happens is getting younger and younger. According to Nielsen Mobile, the average age a kid starts using a borrowed cell phone is 8.6, and they typically get their own at 10.1.

However, most handset manufacturers don’t cater this this market — only recently shifting their adult-centric view. Parents may also be relutant to pass back their new iPhone (though we’re seeing this as well). This has opened up a market for special mobile devices just for kids. Here are some of the players:

• Fisher-Price offers the Pixter, a PDA-style portable activity center for kids. It has a color touchscreen and stylus with which children can draw, color and play with, not entirely unlike Adobe Illustrator. Separate software adds more features like math lessons, and an extra snap-on digital camera makes the “phone” just like Mom and Dad’s. While the Pixter is a fun tool, it still seems more like other handheld gaming devices for children than an actual mobile.

• If realism is what you’re going for, Bandai has you covered there with the “Mobile Communicator Smart Berry” for kids. This Japanese “toy” lets users actually email, text and play online games with each other as long as they’re within 10 meters of one another. It works on a wireless network and comes with a keyboard and an LCD touchscreen. Following this TotBerry trend, LeapFrog recently introduced the Text & Learn, affectionately known as the ‘baby BlackBerry.’ It even looks like a giant, colorful version of the real thing. Made for kids ages three and up, the Text & Learn features a full QWERY keyboard and pretend browser, and encourages little users to “text” with the virtual guide Scout.

• For slightly older children with a desire for phone-like capabilities, there’s Firefly Mobile, “the mobile phone for mobile kids.” It has actual voice services and a pay-as-you-go-plan. However, it’s made for smaller hands and instead of a regular dial pad, there are just five keys. Parents use a PIN to program up to 22 outgoing numbers into the phone, putting adults in charge of just who their kids are talking to. The Firefly has struggled to find a market though. Tweens, who now increasingly own real phones, find it too babyish, while younger kids have less of a need since they are almost always with adults. Still, the Firefly can be seen as the training bra of a mobile lifestyle.

• Aware of tweens’ fashion sensibility and love of “real” phones, another contender for the tween market, Kajeet, offers LG, Samsung, and Sanyo phones that parents (with their kids) can customize. The Maryland-based company offers shared payment plans (the kids can pay the texts, the parents can pay the calls), limits for call or text usage, blockable contacts, and GPS for the restless children. On the other hand, Kajeet does not offer any kind of data service, a crucial feature for generation Y.

So what does this mobile mania for pre-teens mean? Some are concerned. In France, there are even new laws in the works that crack down on children’s use of mobile phones. Advertising these devices to children under 12 will be prohibited under the legislation and steps will be taken to ban the sale of any phone designed to be used by kids under six years old.

However, if the trend we’re seing in youth adoption continues, pacifiers will soon come with keypads. If nothing else, we’re breeding a tech savvy generation who will be the next wave in mobile innovators.

Digital Moms

Some summary outakes from Razorfish + cafe moms new report ' Digital Moms'. Get the full deal here: http://digitalmom.razorfish.com/publication/?m=4248&l=1&p=1

Here's Going Social Now's outake:

Digital Mom's Purchasing Behaviour Changes When Kids Turn 12, Razorfish study
By Shiv Singh on February 2, 2009 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Razorfish just released the results of a study done in partnership with Cafe Mom that examined how Mom's live in a digital world. Digital Mom consists of two companion studies. The first study, conducted by Razorfish focuses on how digital moms are adopting social and emerging technologies. The second study, prepared by CafeMom--the largest social networking site for moms-- concentrates on the role that social media play in helping to inform purchase decisions, among other key trends.

1,500 "digital moms"--defined as women with at least one child under 18 in the home who have engaged with two or more emerging technologies and who have researched, sought advice or purchased a product online in the last three months. Results confirm digital moms have moved beyond email and search, and are now active users of Web 2.0 technologies. The majority of moms are using social networks (65%) and text messaging (56%). More than half of these moms are also gamers, with 52% of them playing games online or via a console.

Some of the Key Findings include:

• Moms with children 12 and older are motivated to adopt new technologies to stay in tune with their children. Of those who use social networks and blogs, almost half (47% and 40%, respectively) monitor their children. Likewise, digital moms of children 12 and older, versus moms with children under 12, are more likely to watch online video, (40% vs. 34%), game (57% vs. 51%), read online consumer reviews (38% vs. 30%), and watch or listen to podcasts (13% vs. 9%); This trend can be explained by different leisure time patterns among women with older children and a compelling interest in understanding their teenage children's digital lives.
• The gap is closing between TV and digital channels in terms of creating awareness and affecting product decisions, and social influence channels are increasingly important. Although TV still has the most impact on creating initial awareness for a product (31%), social influence channels such as online consumer reviews, blogs, social network sites and RSS are highly influential in the learning/researching stage (29%).
• Moms' interests are broad; some interests change by life stage, and some do not. More moms show interest in clothing/fashion and food than in parenting information, with the exception of moms with children under six.

Take a look at the report which is freely available here and let me know what you think. Needless to say, Mom's are an important audience for any marketer and their use of digital technologies is changing at a rapid pace. It's no surprise that word of mouth and social influence marketing play a large role in their worlds. The study was led by Terri Walters who's our VP of Emerging Media and a partner in crime for all things Social Influence Marketing too.

And here an overview from Adage:

Technology No Longer Just Kid Stuff. Plugged-In Parents Still Spy on Their Children, but Most Take to Texting, Social Networking to Feed Their Own Interests
by Beth Snyder Bulik. Published: February 02, 2009

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- Everyone knows a mom who's joined Facebook to check out what her newly off-to-college daughter is posting (Please friend me. Or else. Love, Mom). Or the business-traveler dad who plays games with his tween son to stay connected while away.

But guess what: Parents aren't online just for the kids. Today's digital moms and dads are texting each other and hooking up with their own friends on social networks. Blending parenting and technology isn't easy, however -- 70% of moms say they have it tougher than moms did 20 or 30 years ago. Razorfish surveyed 1,500 online moms to find out what the 27 million digital moms are doing, and CafeMom surveyed 1,700 members to understand the different types of moms and what marketers can do to engage them.

First of all, "moms use [digital media] for themselves primarily and secondarily for their kids," said Terri Walter, VP of emerging media, Razorfish. They're most interested in fashion and food, regardless of age and their use of online video, blogs and DVRs have become mainstream, in the 29% to 36% range, while podcasting, RSS feeds and mobile-web browsing remain niche channels, used by 10% to 21% of respondents.

They learn about new products from TV, friends and magazines, followed by e-mail, websites, podcasts, search engines and mobile-web browsing. Among mobile-internet users, web browsing was almost as important a new-product source as search engines in brokerage, telecommunications, electronics and cars.

Moms are also watching out for their kids online (or, as the kids might put it, spying). Moms with children 12 and older are more likely to watch online videos and play games -- and are more likely to be doing it because they're monitoring their children. Almost half of the social-network users monitor their children's behavior online; and 40% of blog readers mind their children's blogging habits.

CafeMom identified five segments of digital moms; and three additional psychographic profiles below are from a survey and profile analysis of digital parents by Mindset Media. Take a quiz from Ad Age and Cafe Mom to find out what type of linked-in parent you are.

SELF-EXPRESSER

These 30-something, outgoing women make up 40% of CafeMoms and are eager to connect with other moms. A self-expresser typically has a preschooler at home and is thinking about more children. Her favorite online discussion topics are parenting and shopping, although she still consults her "in-person" friends first. She gathers information and responds to online polls and most likely has at least some college education.

UTILITY MOM

The "veteran mom" denoted by this moniker defines 26% of CafeMoms. She has the most children of the five segments and is usually in her mid- to late 30s with tween-age kids. She spends the most time online, although she is relatively introverted, using social networks mostly to stay in touch with people she already knows. She shares the least number of photos with others, but likes to play games and puzzles.

GROUPSTER

This 30-ish mom is likely to have young, school-age children and makes up 12% of those studied. She's an active online participant, often joining and starting groups, blogging, and asking and answering questions. She is the most influenced by brand sponsorships on social networks but often gets more friend requests than she sends out. She uses private messaging more often than the other segments and is less likely to share photos or answer polls.

INFOSEEKER

Another 12% of the CafeMoms fell into this group, the youngest segment. The Infoseeker is typically a woman in her late 20s with a baby and maybe a toddler, and while she is most likely of all the segments to stay at home, she is also the most educated. She is not very social or engaged online, and instead prefers to go straight for the parenting information she needs. The infoseeker likes reading blogs and looking at other moms' pictures and will even willingly upload her own baby's photos.

HYPERCONNECTOR

The smallest segment of the CafeMom sample is also the most digital. The hyperconnector, in her 40s, has finished looking for parenting advice, for the most part, and is more likely to be looking for online friends to chat with and compare shopping notes. She uses social networking to check up on her teen children online. She blogs and uses personal messaging, and is most likely to respond to open-ended questions and comment on others' posts.

RESPONSIBLE RECYCLERS

Thorough, detail-oriented parents are 24% more likely than other parents to allow their children unrestricted internet access, according to Mindset Media's recent study of 10,000 parents with children under the age of 18. Indeed, the people who consider themselves most accountable are also among the most permissive when it comes to the web. "Maybe it's the expectation that their children will be as responsible as they are in the medium," said Mindset Chief Operating Officer Sarah Welch. Highly responsible people also index high for recycling and use of skin-care products.

SOCIALLY LIBERAL ORGANIC EATERS

Parents who rank low as being dogmatic are most likely to allow their children unrestricted digital and media access. In fact, these non-dogmatics, described as "socially liberal types who disdain so-called moral authorities, especially the conservative kind," are 39% more likely to never restrict internet access, 30% more likely to allow unlimited video games and 40% more likely to give no restrictions on music.

PUGNACIOUS TRUCKERS

So who won't let their kids online? Pugnacious parents, or those unafraid to tell others what they think. They value honesty and bluntness and are 30% more likely to cut the web cord. They also overindex as truck and BMW owners, which makes sense as they tend to be "own-the-road" types, Ms. Welch said.

Most Popular Sites for Kids, Teens and Young Adults in UK

Thanks to neilsen online and marketing charts for this update.

Those under age 12 have an affinity for entertainment sites, whereas for those age 12-17 it’s games sites - and student and video sites for those age 18-22 - according to (pdf) a Nielsen Online study of Britons under age 23.

Under 12

- Fashion community site Stardoll has the highest percentage (32%) of children under 12 years old among its audience - making it the site with the greatest affinity with that age group.
- Entertainment sites - including Nick, Cartoon Network, the BBC’s CBBC and CBeebies and Disney International - dominate the sites with the greatest affinity with children under 12.

“The Internet is very much an entertainment resource for young children, mainly due to how well TV broadcasters such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, the BBC and Disney have adapt

ed and extended their traditional offering to the web,” said Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen Online.

12-17-Year-Olds

- Mobile phone social networking site Frengo has the highest percentage (26%) of 12-17-year-olds among its audience - making it the site with the greatest affinity with that age group.- Online games sites - including RuneScape, FreeOnlineGames, AddictingGames and MiniClip - dominate the sites with the greatest affinity with 12-17 year-olds.

“As children hit their teenage years, general entertainment sites tend to make way for games-focused sites, which offer a massive range of easily accessible games and ensure that teenage gaming activity extends far beyond the PS3, Wii and Xbox consoles,” Burmaster commented.

Young Adults

-The three sites with the highest concentration of 18-22 year-olds (40%) are all student-related - the Student Loans Company, UCAS and Student Finance Direct.
- Sites offering video-related content - such as Sidereel, TV Links, Alluc and Youku - also feature heavily among sites with the greatest affinity with young adults.

“It’s interesting to see that the sites with the heaviest concentration of young adults split into two conflicting groups - functional and entertainment. This mirrors the uneasy transition of growing up from teenage years into adulthood and the associated increase in responsibility,” Burmaster said.

“Whilst entertainment, mainly through video sites, still has a place, this has been usurped by the need to investigate higher education and financing oneself through it.”

McDonald's is Launching Their Own Virtual World

This Is Smart Business.
by: Scott Goodson thanks to FutureLab

What can we learn from McDonald's creating their own virtual world? That they are moving into their own customized world says one thing to me, that it will become more valuable for brands to create and curate their own virtual worlds rather than joining existing public virtual worlds.

The reason being that the brand not only benefits from being in an innovative virtual world, but it owns the media and, over time this media, will become more and more valuable. Very smart marketing on the part of the firm and equally smart business.
From Virtual Worlds: McDonald's is apparently in the process of soft-launching a virtual world to take over HappyMeal.com. It's not clear how old the world is, but the contest is still open for kids to pick the virtual world's name--and, according to the intro video, new games, lands, events, etc., to build the world from the ground up based on videos.. So I'm guessing the transition is pretty new, possibly even just from last week. There is already an eye toward real-world integration: entering a code from actual Happy Meal boxes and bags as well as McDonald's milk cartons and Apple Dipper bags will let users unlock exclusive items in the Flash-based virtual world. Treehouse There are also already a fair number of environments available for play in addition to a customizable treehouse where you can store some of your virtual goods. Other items will customize users' avatars, add interactive pets, or feature interactive characters from movies, comic books, and TV shows. Aside from the cost of a Happy Meal, the website says everything is free for its users. Users can also earn points towards purchases simply by completing activities in the virtual world, but it seems like there will still be exclusive items available only for McDonald's customers. There also appears to be a metagame, where characters earn points and have "smarts," "strength," and "spark," stats. Points are earned through all the in-world activities, and the goal is to "keep your avatar happy" by keeping all three stats at their maximum level while playing. I'm not sure what that does, though. In addition to the casual games, there are also larger quests for users to complete as interactive stories throughout the world. Piratebay The registration process doesn't take much information from users, keeping it fairly private. Users can also simply login quickly as guests without providing any information. Of course, then they can't build their characters and houses over time. On the safety side, users can chat and add to a buddy list, but it looks like chat is done entirely through pre-set phrases. However, while there's a "Parent's Retreat" on the main site, I can't find any information specifically about the virtual world to confirm its safety precautions.

Original Post: http://scottgoodson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/mcdonalds-is-launching-their-own-virtual-world-this-is-smart-business.html

Retailers 'Sell' to Young, Virtually

Not only have Tampax developed a new campaign tapping into social network 'Stardoll' to kick-off its monthly gift club (see here) but now see how other big brands like Kohls, Sears and K-Swiss are setting up shop there to sell virtual versions of their products to girls.

Thanks again to NGT and The Wall Street Jounral for this alert.

Kohl's, Sears Build Brands As Children Clothe Their Avatars Online

Retailer Kohl's Corp. this month launched a new line of apparel, but the plaid skirts and printed T-shirts won't be sold in its 957 stores. Instead, it's selling them on Stardoll.com, a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" -- purchased online at a nominal sum -- to buy apparel for their online characters.

With back-to-school sales off to a slow start, more old-line retailers and clothing labels are reaching out to kids online, enticing them to try virtual versions of their togs in hopes of making actual sales later. Kohl's first virtual line features pieces from its new Abbey Dawn collection, designed by singer Avril Lavigne. In its first 16 days, Kohl's Stardoll boutique logged some 2.2 million visits and sold 1.8 million items. Kohls.com lured 97,000 visitors who clicked through from the boutique site.

This month, casual-wear maker K-Swiss Inc. and lingerie and swimwear designer Eberjey rolled out virtual clothes on There.com. And in late July, retail pioneer Sears Holdings Corp. opened its first online boutique featuring back-to-school apparel and dorm-room furniture on teen site Zwinky.com. Sears said the boutiques logged 750,000 visitors and sold 850,000 virtual items during their first 16 days through mid-August.

These mainline retailers hope the virtual showrooms will be more effective than traditional ads in hooking tweens and teens. Users of the sites already can spend virtual dollars on virtual clothes designed by the sites, or by early adopters such as American Apparel Inc. that went virtual two years ago. The sites are places to fashion digital personalities, called "avatars," that participants use to explore new styles, relationships and behaviors. Typically, these sites now offer a click through to buy the real products.

"When you look at an ad, it's pretty quick," said Jennifer Weiderman, vice president of global marketing for K-Swiss. "But when they're in this virtual world, this gets them to spend more time [viewing] your product. It's a little bit more sticky."

Ms. Weiderman said she is dialing back her spending on TV ads this year and expects to allocate 15% of her marketing budget to online initiatives, up from 5% last year. Sears and J.C. Penney Co., which last month made virtual versions of its teen and young-adult clothing available to users of Yahoo's instant messenger service, say they've increased online ad spending this year. Kohl's also said it is allocating more of its online ad dollars this year to targeting teens. None would detail the scale of the budget shift.

Details of the arrangements vary, but a retailer or brand typically pays a fee to have a virtual community host and develop its store and products. At There.com, the fee ranges from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on how elaborate the store is and how many items will be sold. The brand and the Web site sometimes split revenue from the virtual purchases. But since virtual clothes cost from under $1 to $5 -- brands regard this revenue as negligible.

"It's really a way to get shoppers to test-drive your product," said Carlos Mejia, chief financial officer of Eberjey, a maker of lingerie, swimwear and sleepwear. The brand, which largely sells to women ages 20 to 45, hopes to attract teenagers with its virtual line.

Penney decided this year to put back-to-school outfits on Yahoo after learning that, during a seven-week experiment last summer, 1.5 million avatars wore its clothing on Yahoo and 5 million Penney outfits were tried on. "It casts a very modern, current light on the brand with teens," says Mike Boylson, Penney's chief marketing officer. Before Penney's presence on Yahoo, "perhaps J.C. Penney wasn't on their radar before," he says.

Sears is marketing its virtual boutiques on billboards in the virtual world, and is hosting daily fashion shows on the site promoting its products through the end of August.

Not everyone is pleased. Patti Miller, vice president of Children Now, an Oakland, Calif.-based national children's advocacy group, expressed concern over marketing to youngsters via these virtual shops. The Federal Communications Commission in 1990 established rules governing the hourly amount of advertising directed at children. But the newer, Web-based virtual communities that have replaced TV viewing for some kids have no similar restrictions.

"Some of these younger kids, those younger than 8 and even kids up to 12, can't make the distinction between what's advertising and what's not," says Ms. Miller. She says children may not grasp that the virtual stores function as a brand advertisement.

Dave Bazant, Sears' marketing manager for online and emerging media, argues that children who frequent the virtual sites are savvy enough to know that the stores also function as a branding tool.

"It's fairly transparent -- kids are not very naïve these days," says Mr. Bazant. He notes that Sears is careful to not aggressively push its wares in these sites because teens and tweens are "turned off by direct advertising. We're not giving away our product for free. Most of these items, they have to purchase."

The online pitches are striking a chord with Jen Rediger's daughters, 13-year-old Tyler and 9-year-old Kenzie. In the first week that the Kohl's store opened on Stardoll, they spent about 70 Star Dollars, or $7, on virtual skirts and shoes. Ms. Rediger, 32, an interior designer who lives in Hoschton, Ga., says she doesn't mind her daughters being exposed to such marketing because "it's not worse than what they see on television."

Tyler has already asked her mom to take her to Kohl's to buy the real versions. "They look really cool on my doll," she says. "It's my style so I think I'll wear it a lot."

Building websites for kids

Sorry - this is a long one. Thanks to iMedia Connection for this post.

Conquering kid culture online
By Steve Glauberman

Designing sites for kids isn't child's play -- it takes a careful balance of usability, creative intuition and regulatory compliance.

They represent an internet population that's expected to balloon to nearly 38 million in 2008. Yet in many ways, they're the hardest online audience to reach. They're kids, and they're at the heart of a riddle that's been troubling online marketers for years: How can we effectively engage them on the web?

The emergence of new internet technologies and trends has provided us with some good options for increasing children's awareness of our products and brands. Marketers have been developing all manner of virtual worlds, online communities, social networks and online gaming destinations in an effort to attract and retain the attention of kids aged 3 through 17. The movement toward creating kid-friendly virtual worlds in particular has been likened to an online gold rush, as businesses recognize the potential of these sites to draw millions of dedicated young users each month.

This potential only promises to increase. Online research firm eMarketer reported last year that 24 percent of the 34.3 million child and teen web users in the U.S. visited virtual worlds once a month with that number expected to rise to 34 percent in 2008 and over 50 percent within the next three years. Meanwhile, Mediamark Research and Intelligence recently found that nearly 80 percent of kids aged 6 to 11 routinely play online games, with boys and girls spending almost an equal amount of time on the popular online activity.

Knowing young consumers are eager to experiment with these media doesn't make our task much easier. Marketing to kids has become a competitive business; we certainly benefit from understanding where their interests lie, but simply incorporating social community or gaming components into our sites (or those of our clients) doesn't guarantee their success. Designing sites for kids requires a unique strategy that takes usability, best practices and child marketing regulations into account.

Sounds like fun
The process of designing a site for kids begins as any web project does: by analyzing the needs of its target audience. If that audience is particularly young -- aged 3 to 7 -- sound will be an essential element of your site. Although kids this age are likely to go online with their parents, it's important to make sites as accessible to them as possible. Since they aren't likely to be reading well yet, that means using sound and voice-overs to narrate text intros, site options, even registration information if users are required to become members in order to use the site.

Children's attention can be further captured by the use of video, and in cases where sound is a must, offering an accompanying narrative video makes good sense. Many kids' sites incorporate a narrated video demo into their home page to walk new users through site features and familiarize them (and their cautious parents) with the site.

Rules to design by
The "anything goes" mentality inherent in many forms of online advertising doesn't apply when you're targeting kids. Laws like the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), enacted by congress in 1998, and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPR), issued by the FTC in 1999, have been put into place to protect children online and now guide every aspect of web design from site structure to copywriting.

These laws primarily prevent the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental involvement. Website publishers are therefore required to comply on a number of levels, including by posting their privacy policies, obtaining parental consent before collecting and using personal information (though email addresses can be collected in some instances) and allowing parents to review personal information collected from their kids. The FTC maintains a site where kids, adults and businesses can all obtain more information about both laws.

Even more relevant to web design are the regulations instilled by the Children's Advertising Review Unit. Established in 1974 by the National Advertising Review Council, CARU is a self-regulatory program intended to promote responsible children's advertising. Among other things, the program's guidelines require that online advertisers and publishers prominently identify the name, company or brand associated with each ad, and that online advertising integrated into the content of a game or activity be clearly demarcated as such.

Childrens' site developers abide by these rules by marking banners with the term "advertising" and by creating "jump pages" that site users see each time they transition from an sponsor-free page to one that features third-party ads. In the case of the latter, text will typically read, "You're about to enter the commercial area of our site," and might also provide a friendly warning about internet use in general (i.e., "Remember to never give out your personal information online").

Such site pages needn't be dull; in fact, they should maintain the same playful look and tone as the remainder of the site. Take a look at an example for DiscoveryKids.com (Disclosure: Discovery Kids is a client of Enlighten).

Creative that interacts
Whether designing brand sites or virtual worlds, the focus should be on activity and interactivity. Kids expect a lot from an online experience, for various reasons. They've never known a world without the energizing action of television and film and use these as a barometer for the entertainment value delivered by a medium like the web. They also didn't get to experience the internet the way it looked ten years ago, when deliberate interactivity wasn't nearly as prevalent as it is now. If they aren't sufficiently entertained by a site, there are plenty of other options to choose from. As such, keeping them engaged is a requirement, not a perk.

There are countless creative ways in which to do this. Some sites offer interactive slideshows of new features, transform the standard mouse curser into a symbol or character or provide users with avatars with which to navigate the site's activities. In virtual worlds, kids are often given a private online space to decorate in accordance with their personal tastes and are allowed to shop online for virtual furniture and accessories using credits earned by participating in site activities. This feature can be extended to brand sites in order to increase the time spent on a property and the child's affiliation with the product, but developers should be sure to update assets regularly to retain their users' interests.

Also worth considering is the amount of interactivity available on each individual site page. Our information architecture team has found that while sites that are uncluttered generally receive a higher usability rating, it's quite the opposite with sites for kids. Children have such a high tolerance for interaction that they expect every graphic on a site page to be clickable and deliver an interesting payoff.

Another useful finding is the way in which children interact with FAQ lists and help sections on a site. Because they have little patience for sorting through a laundry list of tips in search of the one that relates to their immediate needs, it's best to identify potential usability issues section by section and offer a succinct list of answers on each site page.

It may seem like child's play, but designing sites for kids requires a concerted approach that takes into account the users' capabilities, online behavior, interests, and needs. But that doesn't mean it can't be as much fun as the end product.

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/19649.asp

In car advertising?

Thanks to AdAge for this post.

Why Your Car May Soon Be Driving Digital Advertising

Steve Rubel on Digital Communications
By Steve Rubel
Published: June 02, 2008

If you think there's already enough to distract you in your life, just wait. With Americans spending 100 hours a year commuting, according to the Census Bureau, the internet is coming to your car in a big way -- and not just to the front seat either.

Dashboard navigation systems provide a natural entry point. Year-over-year unit sales of GPS devices grew nearly 500% during the 2007 holiday season, according to NPD.

Several GPS manufacturers such as Tele Atlas, which supplies systems to the automakers, already display the logos of nearby fast-food restaurants' gas stations. However, the screens are quickly getting more useful -- or cluttered, depending on your point of view. Navigon's high-end model, for example, features helpful restaurant reviews and ratings from Zagat.

Soon, devices that can both send and receive data will hit the market. Dash, for example, is integrating Web 2.0 crowdsourcing into its systems, allowing cars to send information back to the company to improve traffic calculations. As mobile broadband becomes more ubiquitous, it's conceivable that these devices will soon talk to your cellphone via Bluetooth and, thus, talk to social networks as well.

With send/receive capabilities and overall bandwidth improving, local contextual advertising, perhaps rich-media-based, is just around the corner. Google already allows users in Europe to send directions from the web to maps on connected dashboards. Microsoft is working in a system through its Sync technology to provide ad-supported, location-based information for which users would normally pay. (Disclosure: Microsoft and Zagat are clients of Edelman, my employer.)

The back seat offers perhaps more immediate promise for TV advertisers in search of new venues. In March Sirius and Chrysler launched an in-car video network called Backseat TV. The subscription service carries kids programming from Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. Kids weaned on the service will surely demand more as the technology gets more sophisticated, perhaps to the chagrin of parents.

And therein lies the rub: Marketers will need to strike a careful balance to protect privacy and to not push into a space that many consider sacrosanct. However, given the size and captive nature of the in-car audience, the digital-advertising potential is becoming very clear.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=127433