Parents looking to ensure that their child’s feet get the proper care for healthy growth are flocking to shoes endorsed by the American Podiatric Medical Association. Women’s Wear Daily says that the endorsement helps retailers and marketers by giving a solid recommendation for the quality of the shoes. Writes Eric Newman, parents aren’t the only ones lured by the seal. For retailers, it can connote a quality product and serves as an important sales piece. “The seal is definitely an important selling point, if needed,” said Danny Wasserman, owner of Tip Top Shoes in New York. “Parents love the fact that it has validity and that it has got [a professional organization] behind it.”Kids’ Brands Aim to Seal the Deal

Kids in select markets will now have an easier time choosing what to order at the popular Mexican-style restaurant, Chipotle. QSR Magazine reports that the move comes after research showing that Chipotle’s customers did not understand the extent of its menu, which, according to spokesman Chris Arnold, contains more than 60,000 ingredient combinations.While Chipotle has long offered kids’ options, it never put them on the official menu…But now the kids’ choices have made it onto the menuboard in Boston, Dallas, Sacramento, and Denver, as well as statewide in Arizona and Wisconsin.How do you think Chipotle will market their new kid-friendly menu?Chipotle’s Secret Menu

Baby Einstein DVD owners are now eligible for a refund, Disney states. The DVDs were marketed under the educational platform, but new research suggests that television does not help but hinder a child’s early development. The Los Angeles Times reports, The videos have been the subject of complaints and a threatened lawsuit by an advocacy group called Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood, which contended that contrary to the company’s early claims that Baby Einstein would enhance child development, watching TV is actually detrimental to children younger than 2. The campaign had more going for its argument than Baby Einstein did, with the American Academy of Pediatrics taking a dim view of the under-2 set as a TV audience and several studies to back that up. The pitch for the videos’ benefits softened in the last couple of years.For more information on the article mentioned, please click here.

YMME AND KMME PRESENT: Create NEXT NOW

Future forward practices for connecting deeply with the Modern Family Unit by translating needs and trends into new business opportunities
May 10-12, 2010
Chicago, IL

The Institute for International Research is excited to announce that production of the YMME AND KMME PRESENT: Create NEXT NOW conference s underway. We will be reviewing presentation submissions until September 21st – space is limited so please submit your ideas TODAY! This three-day event is the destination for those looking to reach all segments of the modern, young family – moms, dads, kids, tweens and teens. Showcasing what’s next in these markets in terms of shopper behavior, interests, and the latest in market research, marketing, trends and innovation, the conference will bring together corporate best practices and gurus to facilitate understanding and connecting with these focused segments.

Your Opportunity
We are currently recruiting corporate practitioners to share unique ideas, perspectives and case studies related to future trends. Got a good story to tell? Have a provocative perspective that needs to be shared? I’m interested in hearing from you.

Session topics include but are not limited to:
• Youths and Parents: Shopping Habits and Behaviors
• Trends in the Future of Social Media
• Integrating New Trends into Traditional Products to Grow Your Brand
• How is the Family Dynamic Changing?
• What’s New in Green?
• Parent to Friend: The Changing Parent/Millennial Relationship
• Cutting Edge Trends: What’s Next?

Submission Guidelines & Deadline
For consideration, please e-mail Amy Kritzer at akritzer@iirusa.com with the following information by Monday, September 21st:
• Proposed speaker name(s), job title(s), and company name(s)
• Contact information including address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail
• Title of presentation
• Brief overview of the presentation (1 paragraph plus 3 – 5 key audience “takeaways): Please write this with the knowledge that if your proposal is selected, this description will be printed in the brochure
• Previous conference presentations and/or brief speaker biography

Due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to respond to each submission. All those selected to participate as speakers will be notified shortly after the deadline.

Thank you for your interest in Create NEXT NOW!

All the best,
Amy Kritzer
Senior Conference Producer
Marketing and Business Strategy Division
Institute for International Research
akritzer@iirusa.com

Restaurants looking to make extra money during this tight economy should not rule out marketing heavily to families and kids. According to Restaurants and Institutions Mag, a Chicago-based research firm NPD Group recently reported that the average guest party with children is more than twice as large as grownups-only parties, pushing check averages up nearly $8.

Deals, discounts and value meals are more important than ever for encouraging families to go out to eat. R&I’s 2009 New American Diner Study found that among respondents who feel restaurants should be more family-friendly, 58% would like to see them offer more discounts and value-based options. A number of operators, including Spartanburg, S.C.-based Denny’s, invite kids to eat free on certain days when parents purchase an entrée.

Thinking about marketing to this segment, what would be the most beneficial to your brand? In-restuaurant marketing? Special discounts?

Dave Rosenberg of CNET.com, reports that “a new report (PDF) published by the Joan Ganz Clooney Center at Sesame Workshop discusses the potentially positive effects of video games in educating children and promoting their physical well-being. (And if you can’t trust the fine people at Sesame Workshop, who can you trust?)”

If video games really are positive for kids, how can marketers effectively market the educational merit of video games to parents while keep kids entertained?

In a recent blog post, Chris Brogan explores the marketing campaign for One Laptop One Child. Brogan focuses his article on the issue of sending “clunky” laptops to third world countries in lieu of food and basic necessities in order to empower the children of these nations to compete in the digital age. 

He writes:

If you can empower with your products and services, choose that for your marketing. If you can spend dollars on things that help others, enable others, give the people who use your products and services something that allows them to do something meaningful, make that a spending priority.

We encourage you to read his full post here.

How is your marketing empowering?

Boasting huge growth in viewership in both daytime and primetime television, Cartoon Network released it’s new program lineup which contains 19 new features.  They’re also continuing their emphasis on live action, including The Othersiders, featuring five friends separating paranormal fact from fiction; Survive This, a challenge-based adventure series hosted by Survivorman’s Les Stroud.  They’ll also be showing their first all-CGI feature length movie called Firebreather.

For more, read the article here.

A new website has launched for kids into designing their own clothing.  By Kids Only is a new web page where children can take initiative and begin designing their own clothes.

ByKidsOnly.com is an interactive site where children aged 5-13 draw and post their ideal shirts, dresses, pants – even pajamas – and vote on their favorites. Winning designs are interpreted by fashion designers into actual clothing that will be produced locally with eco-friendly materials and sold online and at select retailers for mid-range prices.

For more information read the article here.

A new study has come out that says those 15-24 years old spend only 9 minutes a day reading.  We’ve heard much hype over this generations fascination with book series such as Harry Potter and Twilight.  This article at IPS believes that the generation is taking in books and reading in different forms.  As they’ve grown up with digital media, so have their reading habits.  Marketing for these books has changed as well, and has grown to encompass movies, websites and blogs that cover fiction for the generation.

Could this generations reading habits be switching mediums? The article states that many readers have turn to social networks and fan fiction relating to their favorite books online.

What does this mean for marketers?  The two series mentioned above clearly have kids reading, but also have movies and huge internet followings.  What does this say about marketing to the younger generations?  Will not only marketing for the publishing industry have to change?