(2007) Advergaming is shifting from online to mobile, so younger kids and parents need a heads-up to spot the spin. Here’s an updated piece with fresh new links from my last article about kids under eight “gobbling up” interactive marketing. This time we're talking more about tweens, but it's amazing to see how early the K-5 set starts toting cell phones: Is your … [Read more...]
The New York Times’ Stuart Elliot wrote that “A Procession of Penguins” was arriving on the advertising scene, and referenced Shaping Youth’s article where we admonished pharmaceutical giant Roche for tredding on thin ice by using animated kiddie flicks to mine pocketbooks of parents to promote their flu elixir.Nothing against Happy Feet, just the penguin pill-pushing policy. … [Read more...]
What do you get when you cross a top-rated TV show like American Idol with online advergaming? “Pop Tarts American Idols Live Tour,” a media+mind+body equation that adds up to a challenging counter-marketing focus for Shaping Youth. Preteens love "behind the scenes" info and being "in the know" which is why we use the same methods to deprogram corporate cues and … [Read more...]
I’m baking homemade apple-cranberry pie for my pile of holiday guests arriving, and the scent of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen makes me realize this is one sensory, tactile, shared experience with my child that surely can’t be replicated with a media experience…Even in the surreal 3-D virtual world of Second Life. What is Second Life? A simulated … [Read more...]
We're barely back to school, it’s not remotely close to Halloween, yet the mass muck of Christmas consumerism is filling the aisles, as marketers turn up the volume on pester power to target parents relentlessly. Wal-Mart is leading the techno-begging frenzy with a whimsically cheerful interactive toyland site of smarmy back-talking elves with attitude. These … [Read more...]
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