VOLUME
10
Table
of Contents
Heard
on the Playground
What's
New This Month
Tech
Trends
Kids
Tweens
Teens
Trend
Watch
Heard
on the Playground
Old
Enough to Vote?
Survivor
II did more than just catch the attention of adults. It also ranked number one for children aged 6-11 for all programs
dating back to last October.
The Wonderful World of Disney, Simpsons, Malcolm
in the Middle and Rugrats Runaway Reptar filled out the
Top Five.
While
more “kid-like” programs such as Catdog, SpongeBob,
and Pokemon 2 were also in the overall top ten, the first
few programs provide some interesting learning.
The statistics indicate a continued strong trend of “family
viewership” during prime time.
This same phenomenon was evident a year ago when Who Wants
to Be a Millionaire? topped the rating charts for kids as well
as adults. However,
the interesting element of the most recent ratings indicate that
the kids are watching with their parents, even when the programming
is clearly not targeted to kids…or is it?
It’s
like Days of Our Lives meets Gilligan’s Island meets
the X Games. Both
kids and their parents can identify with the outlandish characters
because there’s someone to match everyone’s own quirky personality.
No
one wants to miss out on the next exciting adventure, and since
it’s “reality TV”, you never know what’s going to happen next. The next adventure or immunity challenge may entail snake charming,
cliff diving or eating rats—ewwwh!
Bugs! Slime!
Oozing mud! Wait,
doesn’t that sound like Nickelodeon?
Survivor
and Survivor II have definitely been two of the major success stories
in television during the last twelve months.
Whether kids watch because their parents do or vice versa,
CBS has definitely redefined “family programming.”
Back
to Top
What's
New This Month
This
month Mattel re-introduced He-Man®
and the Masters of the Universe® at the Comic-Con International
2001 convention. The
re-designed product line will hit shelves in February 2000, nearly
20 years after the first introduction of
He-Man. The
forces of evil will be represented by Skeletor®, Beast Man and Mer-man.
In
order to give the collection a new look,
the award-winning design team, the Four Horsemen, was teamed
with master painter, Ken Kelly.
Kelly is known worldwide for his illustrations of sorcery
and fantasy.
Along
with the warriors, Mattel is also planning to bring back several
of the characters’ accessories, like battle vehicles suited for
land or air. The retail
price of the figures and the accessories will range from $7.99 to
$24.99.
Mattel
hopes to reach the same level of success the second time around.
At its pinnacle in 1985, the line raked in a $450 million profit
for Mattel and is rumored to have grossed over $1 billion dollars
during its entire run during the 1980’s.
Back
to Top
Tech
Trends
Window Shopping on the Web
A recent report from Jupiter Media Matrix showed
that 89 percent of teens aged 13-17 have never made an on-line purchase.
However, 29 percent have researched products on the Internet
before going out to buy them.
This demonstrates how important it is for advertising campaigns
to be consistent across all mediums since teens are seeing them
in multiple occasions.
Some other interesting findings were disclosed from
the study. The teen
segment, which was found to spend an average of 264 minutes on-line
per month, spends the most amount of time using the Yahoo! and MSN
portals and checking e-mail at Hotmail.
This same data also showed that teens spend over 50 minutes
on eBay.
The fact that teens spent so much
time on a site like eBay, where a checkbook or credit card is required
to make a purchase, is very interesting.
The introduction of the Visa Buxx card to teens may lead to
more on-line purchases on sites like eBay.
However, teens will continue to make a majority of their purchases
at the mall where shopping is more of an event with friends than anything
else.
Back
to Top
Kids
What’s a Summer Without Arts and Crafts?
Another
well-known marketer has entered the world of kids. Martha Stewart Kids hit newsstands this month as an extension
of the very popular Martha Stewart Living line and will alternate
with Martha Stewart Baby.
The magazine features creative projects, games, recipes and
other ideas to inspire adults and their children to try new activities
together.
On
tap to be published twice a year, Martha Stewart Kids is geared
toward parents with kids between the ages of 3-10.
While not directly targeted to children, the publication
does hope to establish a dialogue with younger readers that will
translate into a long-term relationship.
The
first issue provides inspiration for a backyard birthday sprinkler
party, making jewelry, and ways to make vacation travel more memorable.
The popularity of cooking amongst youngsters is also acknowledged
with several recipes that parents and children can create together.
The
publication will be cross-promoted throughout Martha Stewart’s other
media and retail platforms. Martha Stewart also hopes to reach more
youngsters through kids-related segments on Martha Stewart Living
television, as well as offering products for kids in the e-commerce
area of marthastewart.com.
Back to
Top
Tweens
A Midsummer Nights Dream
Just
when you thought you were hip to know who Lil’ Bow Wow is, another
young rapper has made an even bigger splash in the talent pool. Eleven-year-old Lil’ Romeo, son of famed rapper/producer Master
P, became the youngest artist to top the charts back in May with
his single My Baby.
Now he is enjoying the success of his self-titled debut album
which recently reached number 6 on the Billboard charts.
While
it seems amazing that a tween could have a number one single,
Lil’ Romeo in fact first appeared on one of his father’s albums
when he was just 4. One
of the major appeals of Lil’ Romeo is that he writes much of his
own music. Kids
and tweens love to hear music that revolves around their interests
from someone their age.
Along with
the release of his first album, Lil’ Romeo has kept busy this summer
opening for ‘N Sync and performing his own half-hour concert special
on Nickelodeon’s Teen Nick Concert Series.
And like any tween, he is involved in multiple activities.
If Lil’ Romeo eventually disappears from the music scene,
it may be because of a career in basketball.
The fifth grader was the MVP of the
Michael Jordan basketball camp.
The
music industry can’t seem to get enough of these pint-sized performers.
Another family member, Lil’ Romeo’s cousin, Little D., is releasing his debut
album Meet Me At The Playground in September, with the single,
Cotton Candy.
Back
to Top
Teens
The “3 Rs” Revisited
A
recent poll by the National Education Association found that teens
consider reading to be the most important skill a young person needs
to be successful in life.
The survey of over 500 Americans aged 12 to 18 found that
half of the respondents rate the enjoyment that they get from reading
as a “4” or “5” on a five-point scale.
Nearly
4 out of 5 teens described reading to be “stimulating and interesting,”
“relaxing” and “rewarding and satisfying”.
There are basically two main reasons that most teens read.
Forty-two percent of teens said that most of the books they
read in the past year were for their own enjoyment, while 46 percent
said that most of it was for school or homework.
Parents
were also shown to have an influence on their teen’s reading habits.
A greater number of teens who report that their parents encourage
them to read more do just that, with 63 percent reading more than
10 books a year. Only
51 percent of teens that say their parents leave it up to them read
more than 10 books a year.
Teens
also demonstrated that they enjoy reading about a wide level of
subjects.
As the chart below demonstrates, teens literary choices vary
as much as their taste in music and fashion.
|
Favorite
Reading Topics
|
|
|
One of Favorite Topics/
Pretty Interesting
|
|
Stories
about people your age
|
64%
|
|
Mysteries
and detective stories
|
53%
|
|
Your
culture or heritage
|
49%
|
|
Sports
and athletes
|
47%
|
|
History
and people from the past
|
41%
|
|
Other
countries and the people who live there
|
39%
|
|
Science
and science fiction
|
39%
|
Back
to Top
Trend Watch
The Buck Stops Here…Sort of
A
recent report from the American Express Retail Index shows that
parents and teenagers plan to spend an average of $527 on clothing
and other school needs like supplies.
That number is $21 dollars less than the $548 spent during
the same time in 2000. The
budget for parents remained relatively stagnant, but the amount
teens’ plans to contribute fell almost 20 percent from $124 to $101.
Ninety
percent of parents plan on buying clothing and school supplies for
their children this year.
Eighty-eight percent of teens plan to buy clothing for the
year, with almost 50 percent expecting to buy jeans, and 40 percent
buying shirts and tops.
While
fewer parents planned to hit the stores before August, there was
a slight increase in the number of teens that planned on starting
in July. The majority,
65 percent, planned to hit the stores in August.
The stores of choice for teens will be somewhere in the mall,
with nearly 90 percent planning a trip there.
Aside
from the selection, teens also listed convenience, entertainment
value and a chance to meet up with friends as other reasons for
visiting shopping malls.
What
will teens be buying on these excursions, and how will they go about
it? The preferred style
for boys continues to be athletic/sporty while girls strive for
the preppy look. Thirty
six percent of teens said the number one reason they will purchase
a particular item of clothing is for the comfort or fit, while 33
percent listed style, and 13 percent listed price as the leading
factor.
While
brand lagged behind at 10 percent, teens still have their favorites.
The top five clothing brands for boys are Tommy Hilfiger, Nike,
Adidas, Polo/Ralph Lauren and FUBU.
Girls ranked Old Navy, The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie
& Fitch and Express/The Limited as their favorites.
Back to
Top
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|
