Styring creates video short for In Your Car insight

M2Moms® E-ssentials recently heard from Kelley Styring, principal of InsightFarm Inc. and good friend of the M2Moms® and M2W® communities.  As you will recall, Styring took her family on a 5,500 mile road trip this past summer—conducting ethnographies in 7 cities, visiting great American icons and automotive roadside oddities, and immersing themselves in a 2009 Honda Pilot courtesy of the American Honda Motor Company.   Combining this personal experience and ethnology with more than 200 quantitative interviews, Styring is working on her latest book In Your Car:  Road Trip through the American Automobile that will provide an in-depth look into the automotive lifestyle, unlocking innovation opportunity for any company wanting to market to this ‘home away from home.’  She has recently uploaded a video short on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dGW9wXyLE.  Styring is looking for your feedback on the video and, more importantly, she says, “rate the video so we bump its ranking up!”  Also, check out her blog for highlights of an innovation tool under development, http://www.insightfarm.blogspot.com .

Seventh Generation benefits Healthy Child Healthy World through eco-diaper bag sales

Looking for the perfect green gift for new and expectant parents this holiday? Seventh Generation offers the Wee Generation Eco-Diaper Bag, directly benefiting eco-advocacy Healthy Child Healthy World.  The recyclable Wee Generation Eco-Diaper Bag features PVC-free material made from recycled beverage bottles, is gender neutral for both mom and dad and has light-colored lining for easier visual cues, in addition to many other highly-functional qualities.  Created for parents by parents, the bag was designed in collaboration with acclaimed green architect and visionary William McDonough, innovative design firm IDEO and Rickshaw Bagworks – a leading manufacturer and designer of sustainable urban bags.  Available for purchase at www.weegeneration.com, the bag is priced at $200 with 100 percent of profits directly benefitting Healthy Child Healthy World’s mission to educate parents, support protective policies, and engage communities to make responsible decisions, simple everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements.  The bag is also loaded with $100 worth of eco-friendly treats including Seventh Generation non-toxic, green home cleaning and baby product vouchers, a copy of the book Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy Non-Toxic Cleaning, a Wee Generation baby T and healthy household tips from Healthy Child Healthy World (a total value of $300.) The bag is available only through 2008.

Disney Family.com gets parents “plugged in” to technology

Only seven percent of parents, when asked about their family’s technology use, said they typically buy the latest and greatest gadgets and 53% said they choose to buy new technology when prices drop. Additionally, 83% said access to new technology in school has opened new worlds of possibilities for their children and only 29% of respondents opposed having the U.S. government subsidize computers for families even if it means raising taxes. These findings, among others, were revealed in a recent online survey about kids and technology from Disney Family.com (www.family.com).  In addition to focusing on technology use at home and in school, the recent survey asked what gadgets are most desired by kids today. According to the results, the top three tech toys on the wish lists of respondents’ kids were the Nintendo Wii, an iPod and digital cameras. As kids continue to ask for more and more new gadgets at younger ages, Disney Family.com created an online tech timeline to help parents understand what technology is appropriate for kids of all ages.  “After reviewing the survey findings and reading the conversations parents are having on Disney Family.com, it’s clear that parents are welcoming technology into their children’s lives, but aren’t sure how to make the experience safe and secure,” said Emily Smith, vice president of Disney Online’s Family Group of Sites. “To address parents’ concerns and answer some of their questions, we developed the “Get Plugged In” resource on Disney Family.com and enlisted technology experts to help guide parents to make the best technology decisions.” The “Get Plugged In” resource (www.family.com/kidtech) includes simple tips and ideas to get up to speed quickly, along with original articles from Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D., Editor of Children’s Technology Review who teaches at Rutgers University and New York University.

Sittercity.com partners with KidsLinked.com

KidsLinked.com, an innovative community website designed for families, has announced its partnership with Sittercity.com, a Showcase Sponsor for this year’s M2Moms™-The Marketing To Moms Conference. Focusing on tapping local resources to ease family management, the partnership offers KidsLinked.com visitors access to sitters and tutors in their area, complete with a detailed background check. Profiles of sitters and tutors contain references, photos, feedback from parents, calendars, contact information, videos and more than 40 different pieces of criteria on each caregiver. Families can search for sitters and view names, photos, reviews, skills and education of the potential caregiver.  “This partnership has been another step for KidsLinked.com in our effort to connect families to an important resource in their lives,” said KidsLinked.com founder Greg Yoakam. “Offering the highest quality of options for busy parents is something we’ll continue to do with KidsLinked.com and offering access to Sittercity.com is something we’re really excited about.”  Continues Yoakam, “We’re continually looking to connect KidsLinked.com users with the latest in parenting trends and reputable services in their community.  Being able to instantly provide the access parents want and need is something we’ll continue to provide in a variety of outlets.”

CafeMom announces new positions and new ad network

CafeMom.com introduces two new sales and marketing positions and unveils the CafeMom Plus Ad Network, a boutique ad network that targets mom-focused websites in a way that provides advertisers the opportunity to expand and double audience reach.  Key staff changes include Laura Fortner, former CafeMom senior vice president of sales strategy and operations, promoted to senior vice president of marketing and insights and Aimee Higgins joins CafeMom from MySpace where she will oversee the site’s sales development and operations.  In addition, the company is launching the CafeMom Plus Ad Network, a group of high-quality websites that double CafeMom’s audience reach for advertisers from 4 million unique visitors per month to more than 8 million unique visitors. The new network enables CafeMom advertisers to reach sites with complementary audiences, such as Greatschools.net, Sittercity.com, Education.com, Baby-Gaga.com, BettyConfidential.com, SavvySource.com and BabySpot.com.

Miracle Blanket sees sales soar through viral word-of-mouth

News and sales are traveling fast for the newborn swaddler Miracle Blanket® thanks to a vocal mommy-blogging nation that has thrust the unique product into the spotlight. The momentum is nothing short of phenomenal resulting in increased website traffic, visibility and bottom-line sales that have stretched well beyond 1 million units. For company officials, who attribute 90% of Miracle Blanket sales to that unrelenting online word-of-mouth influence, those numbers speak volumes.  “We are astounded with the power of social media and how it’s ignited such a passion for our product,” says Michael Gatten, creator/founder of Miracle Industries®, makers of Miracle Blanket, a unique swaddle design that calms fussy, colicky babies. “Nothing in our product category even comes close to our popularity in the blogosphere or social media in general.”  According to blogging moms it’s attention well deserved with numerous glowing social networking testimonials being tracked each and every day by search engines.    From blogs, podcasts, social networking and social bookmarking to social network aggregation, microblogs, Q&A sites, photo sharing and video sharing, Miracle Blanket is no doubt reaping the enormous benefit of this intensified word-of-mouth phenomena that’s influencing buying behavior.  “Customers are too jaded to believe it when I, as the owner of the company, tell them how great our swaddling blanket is,” says Gatten. “But when they hear the same things from these independent bloggers or moms posting testimonials, they feel safer trusting the source.”

The Knot.com welcomes its latest addition: TheBump.com

First comes The Knot, then comes The Nest, and now The Bump (www.thebump.com), the latest lifestage website from The Knot Inc. offering the perfect blend of style, substance, and local advice for each stage of having a baby.  “TheBump.com is like ‘The Knot for new moms,’” explains Carley Roney, cofounder of parent company The Knot Inc. “For the first time, new parents can have access to local pregnancy resources, stylish ideas, expert advice, and a first-time new mommy community all in one place. And as a new mom, I understand how important it is to quickly navigate one site with tailored-to-me tools and advice. We’re thrilled to announce the birth of TheBump.com!”  Site features include pregnancy tools, mom experts, city-by-city guides & listings, birth stories, mom blogs, 24/7 chats, baby gift registry search engine and personalized baby gift shop.  

Cheerios launches Spoonfuls of Stories® program

Encouraging kids to read has led the people at Cheerios to think outside of the box – by putting millions of books INSIDE the box. For the seventh year in a row, through its Spoonfuls of Stories(R) program, Cheerios is offering 5 million books free inside Cheerios(R) cereal boxes, with stories that make it fun for parents and children to read together. This year’s books again hold broad appeal, with entertaining stories about: a duck who runs for president, a girl who imitates zoo animals, stores that give out free dinosaurs with every purchase, two friends who blast off and discover another world, and Nickelodeon characters Dora and Diego’s daring adventure to rescue a wolf pup.  The Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program kicks off this fall, with five great titles from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing in Cheerios cereal boxes marked “Spoonfuls of Stories.” Families can see which book is in the box through a special cut-out window on the front of the box.  Cheerios is also working with First Book, an award-winning children’s literacy nonprofit, to give a year’s worth of children’s books to every child participating in 51 reading programs – one in each state across the country plus Washington, D.C.  

Welch’s partners with The Doctors to help moms

The secret is finally out on how to get kids to snack on fruits and vegetables, thanks to a new partnership between The Doctors, the new syndicated talk show from CBS Television Distribution, and Welch’s.  Welch’s has formed a year-long partnership with The Doctors in an effort to help moms understand the nutrition benefits of 100% fruit juices, specifically the unique health benefits of purple and white grape juice. In addition to an on-air partnership, Welch’s will be featured on The Doctors’ website with a branded microsite containing health and nutrition resources for moms.  “Welch’s is committed to researching and communicating the unique health and nutrition benefits of its 100% juices to moms and their families,” says Chris Heye, chief marketing officer for Welch’s. “When the opportunity to partner with The Doctors came knocking, we were very excited because it furthers our ability to take our health message to a wider, yet highly targeted audience in a credible setting.”

Child’s Play Communications hosts first annual Bloggers Brunch

Child’s Play Communications held its first annual Bloggers Brunch last week.  Designed to connect top brands with influential mom bloggers just in time for the holiday shopping season, the brunch attracted two dozen representatives from leading parenting blogs including People.com’s Celebrity Baby Blog, Glamour.com’s Storked! and Parents.com’s GoodyBlog. Guests at the event reach an audience of well over 5 million moms.  “We were thrilled with the turnout, both in terms of bloggers and exhibitors,” said Stephanie Azzarone, president of Child’s Play. “Online media relations is an imperative for any successful communications campaign today. At the Bloggers Brunch, companies had a rare opportunity to meet with and provide in-depth, one-on-one product demonstrations to many of the country’s top online parenting media.”  The event, held at the elegant Williams Club in New York City, consisted of product displays, beauty treatments, raffle prizes, luncheon and ample time for one-on-one meetings between bloggers and exhibitors. Each blogger received product samples, press kits and promotional materials.  Exhibitors included: Disney Publishing, DK Publishing, Elmer’s Products, Fathom Studios, Genius Products, JAKKS-Pacific, Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Petite Palate and StainedGlassNYC. Beauty services were provided by Clarins.  Online media relations is a major focus at Child’s Play Communications, which has specialized in connecting brands with moms for 20 years. In addition to the Bloggers Brunch, the agency offers two proprietary services focused on engaging consumers through online and social media: Web Mom Directory, an extensive, exclusive, exhaustively researched compendium of parenting websites, blogs, ezines, podcasts and electronic newsletters; and Team Mom™, the agency’s own team of more than 100 mom bloggers, who have agreed to write about Child’s Play clients’ products and services on an ongoing basis. Together, these services deliver tens of millions of targeted online impressions for Child’s Play clients each year.