Milk Shakes Up Campaign

Article Source: AdWeek

NEW YORK The California Milk Processor Board, the originator of the iconic "Got milk?" ad campaign, is changing with the times.

The advertiser is making its first foray into gaming with an advergame, "Thrashteurizer," available for download starting today. The game is part of the "White Gold" campaign created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners a year ago with a series of music videos from a so-lame-it's-cool fake rock band. The game communicates the key health benefits of drinking milk while challenging users to accumulate points by playing in tune with White Gold.

The move is the latest shift from traditional media for CMPB, which has gone from spending 60 percent of its budget on TV spots three years ago to about 35 percent today. It rolled out "White Gold," for instance, on MySpace, and TV has played a support role. According to Nielsen, the CMPB spent $3 million on media in 2008.

"We're going [online] where we believe our eyeballs and hearts and minds are," said Steve James, executive director of CMPB.....

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Activists Reject Having It Burger King’s ‘SquarePants’ Way

Article Source: New York Times

By Stuart Elliott

Burger King has long thrived on polarizing ad campaigns that delight its core audience of younger men and discomfit other consumers. From the “Subservient Chicken” Web site to an invitation to earn a burger by deleting friends on Facebook, the ads have generated headlines and, often, sales.

But eyebrows have gone up a bit higher than usual over a current promotion for a children’s value meal called the 99-cent B.K. Kids Meal, which features SpongeBob SquarePants of Nickelodeon cable TV fame. Because the offer requires the purchase of an adult value meal at the same time, Burger King is advertising the Kids Meal to adults ­ in a campaign with an adult approach...

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COMIC RELIEF: Phone Sexting Grows as a Teen Trend

Gary Markstein, copyright 2009 Creators Syndicate
Image Source: The Week

Cartoon Network, XD Add More Live-Action To Draw Older Boys

Article Source: USA Today

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Kids programmers are going where the boys are.

With Disney Channel, MTV and American Idol cornering the TV market for tween girls and younger, Cartoon Network and a new channel, dubbed Disney XD, are focusing more intently on the XY chromosome.

Nickelodeon remains the dominant network for kids, but Cartoon and XD, formerly known as Toon Disney, are moving away from a mostly single-minded focus on animation in search of a broader audience and slightly older viewers. The new target is ages 6 to 14, incorporating the sought-after tween crowd....

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Disney to Target Boys with Rebranded Cable Channel

Article Source: Los Angeles Times

The entertainment giant plans to relaunch Toon Disney as Disney XD,
which will be aimed at boys ages 6 to 14.

By Dawn C. Chmielewski August 07, 2008

The entertainment giant, which has made billions catering to the princess fantasies of young girls, plans to relaunch Toon Disney as Disney XD as a cable channel targeting boys. The move, under wraps for more than a year, is an attempt by the company to capture a market that has long eluded it.

Starting in February, Disney XD will seek to become to young dudes what the Disney Channel, with its lineup of tweeny bopper programs such as "High School Musical," "Hannah Montana" and "Camp Rock" is to girls. Disney XD, aiming squarely at boys ages 6 to 14, will offer original action-adventure and comedy series, movies, animation and sports-themed shows developed with Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN.

"What was clear to me, and clear to us, is we had a huge opportunity to create content that were boys' favorites," said Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide.....

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IRS Seeks New Blood With Teen Tax Talent Search...NOT!

By Con Chapman

KANSAS CITY, Mo. This Midwestern city lies close to both the population and geographic centers of the United States, and this weekend it is ground zero for another subject that is close to the heart of America--taxes.

"We're like a shark," says Internal Revenue Service Regional Director Gene Rollins. "If we don't keep moving, constantly searching for new blood, the nation's tax cheats will swim away from us, and we'll have to bite the leg off some unsuspecting surfer who makes so little money he probably qualifies for no-tax status." .....

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Disney rolls into S. Africa, Finland

Article Source: Variety

By JOHN HOPEWELL

Company continues overseas expansion

CANNES -- Disney-ABC-ESPN Television has inked multi-year deals with South African paybox M-Net and Finnish broadcast network Nelonen Media at the Mip TV programming market.

Both deals underscore continuing overseas expansion for Disney. They also illustrate Disney's ability to reversion content for local markets, according to Ben Pyne, prexy of global distribution, Disney-ABC Worldwide Television and Disney Media Networks.

"The studios have been able to open up a lot of interest outside the traditional big European markets of France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the U.K. International is ever more important," he added.

As the TV biz is rocked by near global recession, the Mouse House can play to its strengths by the large-scale diversification of its product to meet the needs of key-client broadcast nets and payboxes worldwide.

"The diversity and depth of our portfolios across ABC Studios, ABC Family, Walt Disney Studios and Disney Channel is a major strength," said Pyne.

Disney's M-Net pact homes in on flagship films, but ranges across the portfolios of Walt Disney Pictures, Disney/Pixar and Miramax Films.

It encompasses "There Will Be Blood," "Enchanted," the Disney Channel Original Movie "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," "Wall-E" from Disney-Pixar, and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." .....

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Twitter To Be Taught to Ten-Year-Olds in the UK

Image © Twitter

By Duncan Geere

Alongside Wikipedia, how to blog, and how to type on a keyboard. The UK government announced today that it wants to teach Twitter in primary schools as part of a campaign to make online communication and social media part of the national curriculum. Kids will also be taught to use Wikipedia, how to blog, and proper typing skills alongside traditional handwriting skills.

The plans, which also remove the Victorians and Second World War from the primary syllabus, were going to be launched next month, but leaked early in the Guardian. Analysts and teacher groups have cautiously welcomed the moves, though they wonder why current trends are being given so much weight.

Personally, I'm glad that Wikipedia, blogging and proper keyboard usage are being taught - all of those are, for the moment, here to stay. I'm a little confused, though, as to why Twitter has been singled out. It's not that revolutionary and, even speaking as a heavy user, it's current prominence in the news is surely no more than a passing media fad caused by high-profile celebrities joining up. Students should certainly understand online communication, but I'm not convinced Twitter is the best way to show them.

What do you think? Tell us on Twitter - and no, the irony of that isn't lost on me - @techdigest.

Cartoon Network Rolls out New Slate

Cartoon Network's live-action 'Survive This' focuses on teamwork.

Upfront presentation includes 13 new series

By SAM THIELMAN

Article Source: Variety

NEW YORK -- Cartoon Network is getting into the live-action reality biz.

Execs announced a slate of six reality skeins at Cartoon's upfront presentation in Gotham Wednesday. The cabler's ambitious programming slate, unveiled by chief content officer Rob Sorcher and Turner Animation prexy Stuart Snyder, also encompasses seven new animated skeins and four original animated telepics.

In addition to the reality shows, Cartoon has launched a partnership with the NBA, repped by a shortform entry into the network's slate: "My Dad's a Pro," starring Jalen House, son of Celtics player Eddie House.

"If I were a buyer, I would buy," joked NBA commish David Stern to the advertisers in the aud.

The NBA tie-in is likely a response to Disney XD's much-publicized partnership with ESPN. Disney XD is seeking to wrest the 6-11 boys demo from Cartoon, but it faces an uphill battle. Cartoon's focus on boys over the past year has earned it further dominance over its target aud, traditionally the most lucrative kid demographic for advertisers. The presentation was filled with thinly veiled refs to "the kind of sanitized shows you see from the competition," as more than one exec put it.....

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Nick Cannon adjusts to his new role as 'execustar'

Article Source: USA Today

By Kelly Carter, Special for USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Most employees might try to avoid walking by the boss's office, especially these days with pink slips flying. But when the boss is Nick Cannon, it's a different story.

"I've got co-workers tip-toeing past my door pretending like they're using the copier, going in all of the pantries, but really they're just trying to see if (my wife) Mariah (Carey) is going to walk in. She comes by every once in a while, so they might catch her," he says.

Cannon is rehearsing his lines for Thursday's "upfront" meeting of television network executives with press and advertisers. His new gig? Honorary chairman and development consultant for Nickelodeon's TEENick.....

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Rivals Unafraid to Borrow, or Steal, From Each Other

Article Source: New York Times

The cast of “Glen Martin DDS,” about an eccentric dentist’s family, which will start on Nick at Nite this summer.

By JACQUES STEINBERG

Early in his tenure as chairman of the Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner said he became so frustrated with the competitive advantage that Nickelodeon held over the Disney Channel among young cable viewers that he set about poaching a cadre of Nickelodeon executives, including Rich Ross, who now oversees the Disney Channel.

“Although Disney has its own ethos,” Mr. Eisner said in a recent interview, “Nickelodeon was a model.”

For Nickelodeon, it seems, turnabout has been fair play. Cyma Zarghami, the longtime president of Nickelodeon, has been fighting some of the recent successes of the Disney Channel — including the hit series “Hannah Montana” and the “High School Musical” movie franchise — with some Disney fairy dust of her own.

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Tween Brands Adds In-Store Video Network

Article Source: Media Week

-By Katy Bachman, Mediaweek

The recession may be taking its toll on traditional media, but it doesn't seem to apply as much to in-store video networks. Retailers continue to look for new ways to engage customers when they're in the mood to shop.

One of the most recent converts is Tween Brands, the largest retailer targeting tween girls (ages 7-14), which recently finished installation of The Tween Network in 600 of its Justice and Limited Too stores.

Until now, the retailer's marketing strategy has relied on mailing its “catazines” (think catalog plus some content and advertising) directly to its database of 10 million plus tweens. The Tween Network closes the loop with customers in the stores.

"We wanted to bring our brand to life within our store and create a destination for tweens and their moms with social content that gives the girls status," said Scott Bracale, president of Tween Brands Agency. "The length of stay for the family unit in the store appears to be longer. [The network] is now one of our core strategies of our media business."

Working with Seattle-based Retail Entertainment Design, Tween Network content is a mix of fashion, photo shoots, music videos, and artist interviews. About five percent of the content is paid advertising from marketers trying to reach tween girls, such as American Greetings, Nickelodeon and recording artists.....

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It's Cooler Than Ever To Be A Tween, But Is Childhood Lost?

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

The prepubescent children of days gone by have given way to a cooler kid — the tween — who aspires to teenhood but is not quite there yet.

Tweens are in-between — generally the 8-to-12 set. The U.S. Census estimates that in 2009, tweens are about 20 million strong and projected to hit almost 23 million by 2020.

Among them now are Malia Obama, at 10 already a tween, and sister Sasha, who turns 8 this year. With the Obama daughters in the White House, the nation's attention will focus even more on this emerging group — and the new "first tweens" will likely be high-profile representatives of their generation.....

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The Myth of Rampant Teenage Promiscuity

Article Source: The New York Times

By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: January 26, 2009

Have American teenagers gone wild?

Parents have worried for generations about changing moral values and risky behavior among young people, and the latest news seems particularly worrisome.

It came from the National Center for Health Statistics, which reported this month that births to 15- to 19-year-olds had risen for the first time in more than a decade.

And that is not the only alarm being sounded. The talk show host Tyra Banks declared a teen sex crisis last fall after her show surveyed girls about sexual behavior. A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey warned parents of a teenage oral-sex epidemic.

The news is troubling, but it’s also misleading. While some young people are clearly engaging in risky sexual behavior, a vast majority are not. The reality is that in many ways, today’s teenagers are more conservative about sex than previous generations.

Today, fewer than half of all high school students have had sex: 47.8 percent as of 2007, according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, down from 54.1 percent in 1991.....

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Technology to Stop Phone Use in Cars Isn't Perfect

Article Source: ABC News

Inventors Still Trying Ways to Prevent Drivers From Using Cell Phones

By PAUL FOY AP Business Writer

SALT LAKE CITY January 19, 2009 (AP)

Many parents would love to be able to give their teenagers a cell phone that couldn't be used while driving. Now some inventors say they have come up with ways to make that possible, but they appear to be relying on wishful thinking.

One product to hit the market, $10-a-month software by Dallas-based WQN Inc., can disable a cell phone while its owner is driving. It uses GPS technology, which can tell how fast a person is traveling. But it can't know whether the person is driving — and therefore it can needlessly lock a phone. WQN, which sells cell phone and Internet security software under the name WebSafety, says it signed up about 50 customers for its first month of service.

Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, plans to release a similar Global Positioning System-based product this fall, known as DriveAssistT. Aegis is in talks with big U.S. wireless phone carriers, which would have to support the software and charge families a fee of probably $10 to $20 a month, said David Teater, the company's vice president.