YMA regularly covers projects and initiatives with world-changing objectives. Each project is launched with the best intentions and high hopes, but a launch is just the beginning.
YMA checked in with several companies that appeared in its pages in 2010 to see how they are faring and what they learned:
Welch’s Gardening Initiative
Welch’s aligned with Scholastic’s Parent & Child magazine to teach students about nutrition and sustainable gardening through the “Harvest Grants” initiative. One hundred K-8 schools — two from each state — received a gardening kit containing a variety of garden tools, seeds, and educational materials. The effort involved more than 12,500 students and participating schools reported a 17% improvement in overall test scores, which is attributed to the presence of the gardening curriculum.
This year, Welch’s is relaunching the effort, with an extra focus on reaching the parent. In addition to its classroom outreach and student initiatives, Welch’s has created a Harvest Time game and Healthy Eating Pledge via its Facebook page to encourage parents to include more fruits and vegetables in their families’ diets. Parents also have the opportunity to win garden kits and a trip to visit a Welch’s family farm.
The key lesson from this initiative is when developing a program that encourages a shift in youth behavior, the effort needs to infiltrate their and their families lives as much as possible.
The Government Reaches Kids Via Online Games
It seems as if the government is enjoying a second career as a game developer. In 2010, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) each launched multi-media initiatives to educate tweens about their respective agencies. More recently, the National Security Agency (NSA) unveiled CryptoKids, a microsite of the NSA website, to teach kids about its mission. The site features games and activities, and encourages visitors to “be part of the next generation of America’s codemakers and codebreakers.” Now, the government is focused on bringing these educational efforts to new formats (e.g. mobile and Twitter) and addressing new concerns, such as bullying.
Websites Cultivates Niche Audience
With the abundance of websites and portals chasing the same young Internet user, new efforts are more likely to cultivate niche audiences rather than dominate a la Facebook. For example, K!dult.com, the teen-targeted cross-platform that follows news and current affairs, is reaching a small, but steady following some eight months after its launch. K!dult, which was created by multi-hyphenate entertainer Pharrell Williams and journalist Mimi Valdes, reaches some 6,300 — primarily Black and Hispanic — users each month, according to Quantcast.com. It also has around 1,500 followers on Twitter and 1,300 fans on Facebook.
Similarly, Webosaurs, a virtual world created by ReelFX, reaches around 8,500 users each month. While the site is “unabashedly for boys,” its metrics show the site skews girl (57% vs. 43%), according to Quantcast (though it could mean mom is signing on for her boy.)
Teen Movie Delay Bumps Licensee Program
CBS Film’s Beastly, aided by a full-scale licensing effort, was expected to be a teen hit when it opened July 30. CBS Films lined up many of its licensees to target back-to-school and Halloween shoppers. (The
movie is an updated version of Beauty and the Beast.) However, CBS Films was forced to shift the movie to March to avoid competing against another teen movie, Charlie St. Cloud, starring Zac Efron.
Even though movie release dates are subject to change (Hasbro’s Stretch Armstrong, for instance, is now scheduled for 2013 instead of 2012), Beastly’s shift was undeniably a setback for licensees whose retail plans were in place but with no film support to generate interest.
Yet in terms of Beastly, all licensees are “thankfully still on board” for the March release, says CBS Consumer Products’ Liz Kalodner, adding that month is more amenable for the licensing program. Graphic t-shirts, for instance, conceived when the movie was opening in the summer, will be more attractive to teens experiencing signs of spring outside than if the movie were to open in January or February. Furthermore, the DVD release coincides with Halloween, thus allowing costume licensee Rubies to still enable teens to dress like the film’s characters.
Clothing Drive Continues To Grow
Teens donated more than three times as many jeans during the 2010 Teens for Jeans clothing drive as in 2009. The effort, backed by retailer Aeropostale and not-for-profit Do Something, collected 625,000 pairs, up from 200,000 jeans in 2009 and 125,000 in 2008. Do Something partly attributes the rise in donations to timing; The drive coincided with the Haiti earthquake, allowing teens to assist with the humanitarian outreach by sending 200,000 pairs specifically to youth in Haiti. The remaining jeans were distributed to U.S. homeless.
In addition, some 250,000 teens visited the Do Something website in order to learn more about the campaign, and 3,000 requested kits featuring stickers and posters. The fourth annual Teens for Jeans campaign kicks off this month with the stated goal of collecting one million donated jeans. [Advertising/Marketing]
Contacts and Connections: Aéropostale, Scott Birnbaum, SVP Marketing, 112 W. 34th St., 22nd Fl., New York, NY 10120, 646-264-6217; sbirnbaum@aeropostale.com; www.aeropostale.com.
CBS Films, Liz Kalodner, EVP/GM Consumer Products, 1700 Broadway, 32nd Fl., New York, NY 10019; 212-975-7795; liz.kalodner@cbs.com; www.cbs.com.
Do Something, Aria Finger, Director Business Development, 24-32 Union Sq. E. 4th Fl., New York, NY 10003; 212-254-2390, afinger@dosomething.org; www.dosomething.org.
K!dult, Mimi Valdes, Founder, 3930 NE 2nd Ave., #202, Miami, FL 33137; mimi@kidult.com; www.kidult.com.
Reel FX, Jacques Panis, Director, 301 N. Crowdus St., Dallas, TX 75226; 214-247-2474; jacques.panis@reelfx.com; www.webosaurs.com.
Scholastic, Risa Crandall, VP Parents Media, 557 Broadway, 5th Fl., New York, NY 10012; rcrandall@scholastic.com; www.scholastic.com.
Welch’s, Casey Lewis, Marketing Manager, 575 Virginia Rd., Concord, MA 01742; 978-371-1000; clewis@welchs.com; www.welchs.com.
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