With Lego Digital Designer, you can design your own model via PC or Mac, upload it to Lego’s site and then buy what you built! You can also design the box it comes in. Brilliant. Lego’s taken the ultimate customizeable toy and make it completely customizeable in a whole new way.

Cell phones and parenting: A Bad Mix
Twin Cities.com
By Peggy O’Crowley
9/24/08

The little girl sobbed as she held her foot, bruised from playing on the slide at a park in Bloomfield, N.J.

The baby sitter, who had been on her cell phone for about 15 minutes, put it down and tended to the child.

A few minutes later, however, the young woman was back on the cell, cradling it at her neck, as she placed the girl’s brother in a bucket swing.

The baby sitter’s phone conversation went on for nearly another half-hour.

Go anywhere these days — playgrounds, community pools, supermarkets — and you’ll see mothers, fathers and caregivers talking or texting on cell phones and other devices at the same time they are supposed to be supervising children.

They may think of it as another good way to multitask, but child development experts say such behavior can have serious consequences for young children.

“Children don’t learn language in a vacuum,” said Laura Mize, a pediatric speech and language pathologist in Louisville, Ky.

“They hear adult models and they interact with parents. They don’t learn how to talk from other kids. So when a parent’s on the phone and there’s a toddler there trying to communicate, even if it’s not even a word, just a sigh, the parent might totally miss that.”

Shari Harpaz, a speech pathologist in New York, agreed it can interfere with language development, especially with what’s called pragmatic language or how we interact verbally with others.

“The social use of language, that’s the piece

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that’s getting lost,” said Harpaz, who said she is seeing an increase in speech-delayed babies and toddlers. Learning social language requires stimulation and the back-and-forth of talking to someone, most often a parent, she said.
“You can watch Dora (the cartoon character) and she may tell you to point to the star, but Dora’s not going to respond to you,” said Harpaz, who is a consultant to ebeanstalk.com, an online toy store that specializes in age- and developmentally appropriate toys. Harpaz blogged about the issue at ebeanstalk.com.

There is scant research linking lags in childhood development with parents obsessively using technology. However, a recent study found mothers who frequently used a cell phone during pregnancy had children with behavioral problems by the time they reached age 7.

Researchers asked Danish mothers of more than 13,000 children participating in a study to fill out a questionnaire about their children’s behavior. The children whose mothers frequently used a cell phone during pregnancy were 80 percent more likely to have emotional, social and behavioral problems, including hyperactivity.

But the authors could not conclude the cause was the result solely of fetal exposure to radio frequency radiation, since it also is likely these same women continued heavy cell use after they gave birth.

“We were trying to see if exposure to mobile phones either during pregnancy or childhood had a behavioral effect on children at age 7. We did find an association,” said Leeka Kheifets, a study leader and an epidemiologist at the School of Public Health at the Univer-sity of California in Los Angeles.

“But it was unclear if it was due to exposure (to radiation). One of the possibilities we also discussed was whether children of mothers who used the cell phone a lot behave differently,” she said.

More study is needed.

But the concept of technology use distracting parents from their children hit home with Jennifer Merritt, a working mother who writes on the Wall Street Journal blog the Juggle. Merritt said she is among those parents at the playground with their BlackBerry.

“I know I’m not the only mom feverishly answering e-mails or checking in from the playground at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday or on the weekend.”

Cheryl Marshall-Petricoff of Montclair, N.J., likes the security that technology offers.

“I have three kids, so it’s good to be able to be out and get in touch with them. In that way, it’s a blessing.”

But she said parents also need to show their children how to use technology responsibly and that endless conversations on the phone aren’t appropriate.

Hanging on the phone isn’t a major concern for Jennifer Burke, however.

“I have small kids, and it’s really impossible to have a long conversation that I’d enjoy,” Burke said.

Harpaz, the New York speech pathologist, said parents need to be more “mentally present” for their young children.

“Pick a time that works for you: dinnertime, bath time, car rides, a place where there isn’t a lot of distractions. And don’t introduce any,” she said.

Child psychiatrist Michael Brody, a professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, said keeping up with what’s going on in a child’s life is important for parents.

“Five years ago, parents would bring a child to see me, and I’d know at least they had spent 15 to 20 minutes in the car. It’s a great opportunity to talk to a kid,” said Brody, who chairs the television and media committee of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. “When you drive through the streets here, everyone is talking on the phone.”

Gina Bartley of Clifton, N.J., mother of 10-month-old Logan, said the sight of parents and caregivers constantly on the phone bothers her. But then, life can conspire against even those with the best intentions.

“I try to keep it to quick calls, but it can be hard sometimes,” said Bartley, a bookkeeper.

“My boss calls me all the time.”

“Remember ‘Go Outside and Play?‘”

Los Angeles Times
Rosa Brooks
May 18, 208

Can you forgive her?

In March, Lenore Skenazy, a New York City mother, gave her 9-year-old son, Izzy, a MetroCard, a subway map, a $20 bill and some quarters for pay phones. Then she let him make his own way home from Bloomingdale’s department store — by subway and bus.

Izzy survived unscathed. He wasn’t abducted by a perverted stranger or pushed under an oncoming train by a homicidal maniac. He didn’t even get lost. According to Skenazy, who wrote about it in a New York Sun column, he arrived home “ecstatic with independence.”

His mother wasn’t so lucky. Her column generated as much outrage as if she’d suggested that mothers make extra cash by hiring their kids out as child prostitutes.

But it also reinvigorated an important debate about children, safety and independence.

Reader, if you’re much over 30, you probably remember what it used to be like for the typical American kid. Remember how there used to be this thing called “going out to play”?

For younger readers, I’ll explain this archaic concept. It worked like this: The child or children in the house — as long as they were over age 4 or so — went to the door, opened it, and … went outside. They braved the neighborhood pedophile just waiting to pounce, the rusty nails just waiting to be stepped on, the trees just waiting to be fallen out of, and they “played.”

“Play,” incidentally, is a mysterious activity children engage in when not compelled to spend every hour under adult supervision, taking soccer or piano lessons or practicing vocabulary words with computerized flashcards.

All in all, “going out to play” worked out well for kids. As the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg testified to Congress in 2006, “Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles. … Play helps children develop new competencies … and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.” But here’s the catch: Those benefits aren’t realized when some helpful adult is hovering over kids the whole time.

Thirty years ago, the “going out to play” culture coexisted with other culturally sanctioned forms of independence for even very young children: Kids as young as 6 used to walk to school on their own, for instance, or take public buses or — gulp — subways. And if they lived on a school bus route, their mommies did not consider it necessary to escort them to the bus stop every morning and wait there with them.

But today, for most middle-class American children, “going out to play” has gone the way of the dodo, the typewriter and the eight-track tape. From 1981 to 1997, for instance, University of Michigan time-use studies show that 3- to 5-year-olds lost an average of 501 minutes of unstructured playtime each week; 6- to 8-year-olds lost an average of 228 minutes. (On the other hand, kids now do more organized activities and have more homework, the lucky devils!) And forget about walking to school alone. Today’s kids don’t walk much at all (adding to the childhood obesity problem).

Increasingly, American children are in a lose-lose situation. They’re forced, prematurely, to do all the un-fun kinds of things adults do (Be over-scheduled! Have no downtime! Study! Work!). But they don’t get any of the privileges of adult life: autonomy, the ability to make their own choices, use their own judgment, maybe even get interestingly lost now and then.

Somehow, we’ve managed to turn childhood into a long, hard slog. Is it any wonder our kids take their pleasures where they can find them, by escaping to “Grand Theft Auto IV” or the alluring, parent-free world of MySpace?

But, but, but, you say, all the same, Skenazy should never have let her 9-year-old son take the subway! In New York, for God’s sake! A cesspit of crack addicts, muggers and pedophiles!

Well, no. We parents have sold ourselves a bill of goods when it comes to child safety. Forget the television fear-mongering: Your child stands about the same chance of being struck by lightning as of being the victim of what the Department of Justice calls a “stereotypical kidnapping.” And unless you live in Baghdad, your child stands a much, much greater chance of being killed in a car accident than of being seriously harmed while wandering unsupervised around your neighborhood.

Skenazy responded to the firestorm generated by her column by starting a new website — freerangekids.wordpress.com — dedicated to giving “our kids the freedom we had.” She explains: “We believe in safe kids. … We do NOT believe that every time school-age children go outside, they need a security detail.”

Next time I take my kids to New York, I’m asking Skenazy to baby-sit.

Courtesy of ArtBusiness.com:

Ryan Alexiev – The Land Of A Million Cereals.

Comment by AB: Ryan Alexiev goes serial with cereal. Attractions include a
monster Trix box composed of innumerable miniature cereal boxes, a hilarious
video of various people trying to eat a bowl of cereal with a berserk
mechanized cereal feeder, celebrity cereal portraits including Osama Bin
Laden and Larry King, cereal fashion, and more.

The age old saying about your mom having eyes in the back of her head has some scientific back-up. Okay, not actually having eyes in the back of her head, but scientifically, the rods in women’s retinas are greater in number and result in greater peripheral vision and the ability to see the whole picture, which is something to take into consideration as marketers to female specific items and environments.

Read more at: The Eye of the Female Consumer, 6/16/08 from WonderBranding: Marketing to Women

This summer, Starbucks launched a Smoothie campaign to reach out to consumers wanting a healthy drink choice. More recently, the coffee conglomerate announced 600+ stores would be closing nationwide. Yesterday, Starbucks rolled out Sorbetto – an idea formed from customer research and (!) a trip to Italy. Sorbetto is available in Los Angeles and Orange County, CA. Starbucks it seems, is facing a fundamental problem: “Starbucks is a mass brand attempting to command a premium price for an experience that is no longer special.” (John Quelch, Working Knowledge, 7/9/08).

Now it is possible to have some packaging for your walls, in wallpaper form of course. The whimsical, bright pattern consists of assorted graphics that resemble packaging of some favorite food products, like Skippy PB  and Ritz crackers. Seems like it would be fun in a small space, or against a single wall – though it would be crazy-making if an entire space were papered in its fun, off-kilter style.

Read this article that just came out from BrandWeek on the post-soccer mom that is now the “we” mom living and moving between digital tribes that is shifting how marketers work WITH (note, not AT) this new Gen Y mom.

Direct Mail Still Effective for Marketers

Marketing Sherpa

Jun 19, 2008

How To #HOW632

If your market includes tweens – preadolescent children who want to be teens but still act like kids – knowing how to get their attention is a critical first step.

The media habits of these 8- to 12-year-olds include TV, radio, magazines and video games – just like the Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers before them. But those choices merely scratch the surface of the media worlds they enter for information.

Tweens – also known as Generation I (as in Internet) – are the first demographic that takes the online world completely for granted. After all, the Internet has always been there for them. Here’s a Special Report based on chats with a host of marketers to discover how to reach out to preadolescents. Why tweens? Well, for one, they control tens of billions of dollars in spending power.

Data About Tweens
Tweens are children who want to be teens but aren’t quite old enough yet. The United States has approximately 20 million tweens. Annually, this demographic spends about $1,442 each, or about $28.4 billion total, of their own cash, according to C&R Research Inc.’s ‘YouthBeat Syndicated Report, Fall Wave 1’ study. But that figure is only the start. Factor in the purchasing power that their parents spend on them, and that jumps to at least $260 billion a year.

How do tweens get their hands on all that cash? Other data from C&R:
o 77% are gifts from people other than parents/guardians
o 57% are gifts from parents/guardians
o 58% are allowances

Here’s what they spend the money on:
o 82% on video games, music, movies, books, videos/DVDs, virtual worlds, etc.
o 57% on food/beverages.
o 42% on toys (games/dolls/collectibles)
o 40% on clothing/shoes/accessories

Even though tweens grew up with the Internet, they don’t spend as much time online as their older siblings. 48% spend less than one hour per day online, compared to 81% of teens, according to a December 2007 study by the Nielsen Company. And, when tweens are online, 70% are gaming.

Now, let’s look at the sites they visit online. Here are C&R Research’s top five tweens’ websites:
1. WebKinz.com
2. YouTube.com
3. MySpace.com
4. Nick.com
5. Disney.com (a tie with Nick.com)

Here are the types of sites they visit:
o 82% entertainment/media sites
o 53% TV channel sites
o 46% music sites
o 36% video-sharing sites
o 20% movie sites
o 15% magazine sites
o 15% sports sites

Tweens do spend some time on social networking sites, such as MySpace and YouTube. But most don’t become seriously entrenched in those sites until the last phase of their tween years.

“We see migration to usage of social networks sites at about ages 11 and 12,” says Jacqueline Lane, VP, TeenEyes Division, C&R Research. “Overall, tweens who are on [these sites] are not really that engaged in it. And, for the most part, they end up on these sites because of older siblings — wanting to be like a brother or sister.”

Tweens also use mobile phones, according to Nielsen:
o 35% own a mobile phone
o 20% have used text messaging
o 21% have used ring and answer tones

Tweens Evolve into Multitaskers
Past tweens’ brand favorites were influenced by television the most. Now, they have several media entities competing for their time. There’s plenty of evidence that tweens multitask: they’re surfing the Web while watching TV.

For instance, Grunwald Associates’ 2007-08 study, “Kids’ Social Networking,” discovered that 30% of young people ages 9-17 multitask between the Web and TV at least once a day.

Peter Grunwald, President, has watched the change and points out the opportunities for creative programmers and marketers. “They should be developing real-time online environments designed to run while the show is airing. This includes character-specific chat environments, real-time games that pit fans of one character [against] fans of another, real-time polls, etc.”

And here’s a compelling data point from Grunwald’s study: nearly 40% of children age nine to 12 have participated in sponsor-branded interactive activities.

Tweens as ‘Internet Natives’
The first point marketers have to understand about today’s tweens is that they see computers as extensions of themselves, says Kelly Thompson, Associate Director, Strategy & Insights, Space150. “It’s often a situation where the 12-year-old is the tech support person in the family. Technology is really a second language.”

Thompson has worked on marketing to this segment for several well-known brands – most recently launching a tween site for Dairy Queen. The site is concluding a soft launch and has been getting an impressive 10.9 minutes average time spent.

Based on Thompson’s experience, here are three factors that marketers need to consider when focusing on tweens:

-> Factor #1. Tweens are media-savvy

Unlike their Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y predecessors, tweens are digital natives. “These kids are so media-savvy. It’s about engaging and involving them with interactivity – rather than talking *at* them. They can smell when someone is being condescending to them, which represents a brand they do not want to be a part of.”

-> Factor #2. Tweens want to be entertained online

Tweens want a fun interactive online experience that accents their social behaviors in some manner. Think virtual worlds, games, creatures and quizzes – experiences they want to be a part of.

“Kids are always looking for something new, something entertaining,” Thompson says. “They’re seekers. Their online experiences become cultural currency for them to take back and to talk to their friends about.”

-> Factor #3. Tweens’ development is complicated

With the help of today’s more democratic parenting style, tweens have more choices how to spend their time, so they want their time to be valued. “They are a complicated segment developmentally to connect with in a relevant and authentic way. So, that’s the mindset we take when focusing on tweens.”

-> Top 7 Dos and Don’ts for Tweens Marketing

Tweens know they want to enjoy their time no matter what they do. This makes it hard for marketers to get their heads around addressing this demographic.

Here are seven dos and don’ts:

#1: Target with a tween sensibility

Tweens are testing the boundaries of independence. They still need the reassurance that children require, but they won’t respond well to being targeted as children in a public way.

That’s why it’s crucial to avoid referring to the fact that they can’t make up their own minds about issues in the household. Highlight how your product helps them achieve control. If it’s a child-oriented product, don’t try to make it appealing to all tweens by misrepresentation.

#2: Combine online and offline

Grunwald’s research points out that the possibilities for multichannel marketing to the multitasking tweens is growing. Here are three examples of ways to combine your online marketing with promotions in the offline world:

- Street teams that hand out flyers at events that tweens attend
- Direct mail where the primary call to action is a dedicated website for tweens
- Ads on TV shows that are popular with tweens

#3: Make them laugh

For five years, C&R Research has found that humor is the No. 1 aspect tweens value in an online experience; they love to laugh.

Boring them or missing their hot buttons can have strong repercussions, says Space150’s Thompson. “They might try your brand out and say, ‘That’s not for me.’ And, that is the real challenge here. You want that experience to be rich enough and engaging enough for them to come back to.”

#4: Avoid nonconformity

Community and “fitting in” is critical for tweens. While teens might enjoy being out on the fringe, tweens won’t find a break from the crowd to be a characteristic of coolness. Instead, they’ll see individuality as something negative and even scary. Show your product in a social setting that projects group unity.

In fact, being comfortable is at the heart of tweens’ sites, such as the one Dairy Queen has created. “It’s about providing an experience that’s both compelling and appropriate for their age,” Thompson says.

#5: Downplay the “ick” factor

A commercial on TV may be totally kid-targeted, but online, you’re likely to be reaching kids and their parents. Therefore, be kid-targeted but Mom-friendly. In other words, if your product is gooey or has other elements Mom might consider unsavory, don’t overdo it.

#6: Blend fantasy & reality

Teens are rooted in reality; kids love fantasy. For tweens, a fantasy/reality combination is most appealing. Think of tween-oriented shows, such as ‘High School Musical,’ ‘The Suite Life of Zack & Cody’ and ‘Bindi, the Jungle Girl.’

Better yet: look at what the No. 1 tweens’ site, Webkinz.com, has done by combining their plush animal dolls with their website. Talk about interactivity. Webkinz.com is the Holy Grail of where reality and fantasy merge in the tween mindset.

#7: Deliver different messages to boys and girls

Boys want to demonstrate mastery. They’re all about gaming and winning. Give them games and tools to interact with one another. Those might include the ability to email game scores, challenge a friend to a game, show how high up they can get their names on a high-score page.

Girls, on the other hand, want to know how others perceive their world. They’re much more interested in fitting in and being popular. Girls want to see polls of what’s important to others, have the chance to vote on their favorite model and find idols to emulate. Show them trends in fashion and anything else that helps them wear the right thing, like the right people and talk to the right group at school.

#8: Avoid email campaigns

Emailing tweens is generally an unsuccessful marketing approach. Plus, you need to follow laws about children very closely (more on that in the next section).

“Newsletter marketing is not an effective tactic for tweens at all. It’s the interactivity stuff that really wins,” says Parry Aftab, Executive Director, WiredSafety, an online child privacy authority.

COPPA Overview: Follow the Law
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) mandates that websites must obtain parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from children under 13. COPPA applies to individually identifiable information about a child that is collected online.

This includes:
o Full name
o Home address
o Email address
o Telephone number
o Any other information that would allow someone to identify or contact the child

According to COPPA’s website, it also covers other types of information – for example, hobbies, interests and “information collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms – when they are tied to individually identifiable information.”

The legal landscape gets a bit more complicated when it comes to tweens. For example, Texas Attorney General’s Office settled in March 2008 with TheDollPalace.com that tested COPPA’s restrictions. Mainly, the final agreement mandated that the company had to make sure “all information displayed or collected on their websites is age appropriate based on the average users of those sites.”

“COPPA never said anything about [appropriateness],” says Aftab. “If the attorney generals at the state level are now working with COPPA in a new way, you are going to see a lot of different [legal] applications.”

Therefore, make sure that you stay in touch with your company’s legal counsel to watch for potential state-by-state developments.

Denise Tayloe, President, Privo, a privacy management website, adds: “Social networks are under extreme pressure by 49 state attorneys general to figure out how to protect or separate kids and adults, and this is leading to discussions of age and identity verification and parental consent.”

If you decide you want to email tweens, make sure you follow the COPPA guidelines closely. These include a mandate to get a parent’s email address, send a confirmation message and allow for a chance to opt out the child from your database.

Another tip: in the email, make clear what content is for which gender or create defined-content areas for boys and girls so they can easily go to their specific areas of interest.

Useful links related to this article

Creative Samples from Tweens Campaigns
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/tweens/study.html

Past Sherpa articles on tweens:
Tweens: A Force to be Reckoned With: Changing Consumption Habits of 8-12 Year-Olds:
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/research-detail.html?id
4859

Email Marketing to Tweens: COPPA Loopholes, Demographics, Creative Samples”
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=2332

Reality Marketing Story Part III: 4 Unexpected Lessons of Marketing to Teens and Tweens:
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=2372

COPPA.org:
http://www.coppa.org

COPPA Privacy Law Blog:
http://privacylaw.proskauer.com/tags/coppa/

Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARUE):
http://www.caru.org/

C&R Research:
http://www.crresearch.com

Grunwald Associates LLC:
http://www.grunwald.com/

Nielsen Company:
http://www.nielsen.com

Privo:
http://privo.com/