Who's Doing What for Back-to-School

Selling to Kids, August 4, 1999

While kids are partying and avoiding all thoughts of school, you're busy working for fall when they'll come back to earth and brand consciousness. So, of course, is every other marketer. What's contained in the brand clutter you'll be competing with for kids' mindspace this fall?

Let's take a look: Some retailers are already out there with back-to-school shopping suggestions. For example, the Old Navy is putting all of its back-to-school marketing power into its Tech Vest campaign, which began last Monday, says spokesperson Joe Enos.

The campaign has been hitting the media waves in many directions - national TV, postcard s and full-page newspaper ads in major cities - with its "It's Hip to Zip" message. In selected cities, the company has also bought billboards, Enos says.

Two promotions accompany the print messages: Last weekend, visitors to Old Navy's more than 400 stores could participate in the Hip to Zip Scratcher contest for a chance to win $10,000, a vest or other prizes.

During this month, there's also an in-store sweepstakes going on with a prize of a Schwinn mountain bike.

By running its back-to-school campaign now, Old Navy's taking advantage of favorable TV rates. You can, too. Until September 20, when the fall TV season starts, commercial ad rates are cheaper, says Paul Kurnit, GriffinBacal, a kids' marketing agency in New York. That's why you may be seeing back-to-school spots starting as early as mid-August, but most back-to-school marketing coincides with opening school dates, he says.

dELiA*s in the mail

The cover of the back-to-school issue of Delia's catalog, which hit homes last month, features a close-up of a typical customer/model along with logo-style randomly upper-and-lowercase headlines highlighting promotions, like a free mousepad for ordering online. (Get that? It's smart how Delia's knows the strength of each medium. It uses its snailmail catalog to bring customers online, in the promotion and in a note about a new online size calculator.)

The cover also offers a free CD for orders over $75, highlights a ribbon cardigan and introduces the catalog's theme: "wHeN I ruLe tHe WorLd...." On every spread of the 75-page catalog, there's a different ending to that sentence that speaks in the voice and fantasies of teen. For example, "When I rule the world:"

* life will have a soundtrack,

* movies will be free,

* junk food will be good for you,

* infomercials will be outlawed.

A "link" in the catalog, in the form of a bound-in insert, promotes the 1999 gurlmail Web site's back-to-school giveaways. (www.gurl.com/contest/bts/). The two Web sites are also linked online. The five best accounts of life's worst moments as a result of being disorganized will win a Helio personal organizer.

Back-to-School Books

Back-to-school means books so publishers are also gearing up to target students with new or expanded lines. Pleasant Company's American Girl back-to-school offerings include two new book lines for tween girls ages 10 and up. The lines - AG Fiction and History Mysteries - are for girls who've outgrown the traditional American Girl series, says Julie Parks, public relations manager at Pleasant Company.

For example, AG Fiction's three novels deal with issues like divorce, homelessness and illness. The company will also launch individual book titles this September, with such topics as divorce, sibling and friends relationships.

Those topics come straight from the concerns of the audience, in letters to the editor of American Girl magazine, says Parks. Talk about market research: The 720,000-circulation magazine gets 10,000 pieces of mail a month from its readers, girls 8 and up, she says. Book ideas come out of topics that generate a lot of mail.

Ideas also may come out of the market. The history series sounds similar to Scholastic's Dear America book/doll/HBO series. "Our books launched two-and-a-half years ago. [American Girl] started off in dolls and are launching the books," says Leslye Schaefer, Scholastic Entertainment Group's SVP of marketing and consumer products. Scholastic's series targets girls 8 to 13.

In mid-September, the company will introduce e-commerce to its Web site, Americangirl. com, which gets 8 million hits a month. Print catalog mentions - "we send 40,000 catalogs a year to targeted consumers," says Parks - and publicity efforts will help inform customers about their new ordering option.

For the publisher's Amelia series, expanding this fall into two new titles, a CD-ROM, school supplies and a doll, merchants can buy a half-price T-shirt with every book to resell at full price.

Lights, Camera, Food

While publishers peddle reality, food manufacturers continue to serve up fun to attract picky eaters ages 7 to 12. As it did last year, Quaker Oats has launched another performance-art cereal for back-to-school. It's shipping now and will be in all stores by mid-August.

Boiling water added to Sea Adventures Instant Oatmeal turns "coral reef rocks" into sharks, divers and treasure chests. National TV and print ads, sampling, couponing and in-store promotions are supporting the launch.