Music Together is an internationally recognized early childhood music program for children from birth through age 7 and the adults who love them. The company pioneered the concept of a research-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes and facilitates adult involvement. Based in Princeton, NJ, Music Together has locations in more than 2000 communities around the globe. Child’s Play Communications will position Music Together as a thought leader in music education and create further awareness of the value of its brand, through an extensive traditional media and social media campaign.

 Fairy Tales Hair Care is the U.S. leader in all-natural lice prevention products for children.  Headquartered in Passaic, NJ, the company produces a best-selling line of organic Rosemary Repel hair care products, and a wide range of natural products for bed bugs and mosquitoes.  The brand is available in over 7,000 salons, specialty stores and pharmacies across the U.S. Child’s Play will be responsible for launching the company’s new products and expanding awareness of its existing lines, through traditional and social media outreach.

My Twinn is the leading creator of one-of-a-kind personalized dolls since 1993.  Designed to look like children ages 3-12, handcrafted My Twinn dolls are cuddly companions today and cherished keepsakes in the years to come.  My Twinn is headquartered in Chatham, VA. Child’s Play will spread word about the brand and introduce new products, through both traditional and social media programs.

So whether you’re a toy manufacturer looking for more awareness among moms or a mom blogger interested in reviewing toys, we hope to meet you at Toy Fair! Connect with us at childsplay@childsplaypr.com.

See you there!

In a recent  Advertising Age article entitled “Time to Rethink Your Message: Now the Cart Belongs to Daddy,” the magazine takes a look at how the expanding role of today’s American father is shifting the way companies are marketing the consumer goods and services formerly considered “for mom only.”  Jack Neff writes:

“Through decades of media fragmentation, marketers of packaged goods and many other brands could take solace in one thing – at least they could count on their core consumers being moms and reach them through often narrowly targeted cable TV, print and digital media.  But a study by Yahoo finds that… dads in particular are taking up the shopping cart, with about six in 10 identifying themselves as their household’s decision maker on packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases.”

While the men’s perception is a tad off – the article goes on to state that “actual behavioral research of these shoppers shows a number more like 35%” – it does raise the question: what about dad?   With more men embracing additional responsibilities at home, not to mention the recent surge in the number of “stay-at-home-dads” pushing strollers around the city,  it’s no surprise that savvy companies are interested in reaching the new “modern day” dad. 

According to the article, brands such as Head & Shoulders and Huggies have already started running ads targeted specifically to men.  And online, marketing giant P&G has recently launched manofthehouse.com, an online destination for dads where they can find articles, blog posts and product news on topics ranging from “family & parenting” to “looking good” – subjects traditionally reserved for women’s magazines and mommy blogs.

At Child’s Play Communications, we’re dedicated to reaching moms with influence over the family’s purse strings.  We also have a longstanding Digital Dads program, for some of the very reasons outlined here.  

Moms, when it comes to purchasing everyday household goods, who wears the pants in your family these days?  Do you think it’s time for marketers to start paying more attention to dad?

Marketers, have you shifted your focus to include dads in your outreach?

First, here at Child’s Play we are utterly thrilled that despite the terrible economy, we had the opportunity to represent an amazing array of companies, expand our services and even hire new staff.  So, first and foremost, a huge thank you to all the companies that have turned to us this year for traditional public relations, social media outreach, word of mouth communications or a combination of the above. It has been a true pleasure to work with you.

Second, on behalf of myself and my staff, I would like to thank all the bloggers who attended our Bloggers Brunch events this year, in Los Angeles and Chicago, and our special Dinner’s on Us during BlogHer in New York City, where we had the honor of hosting the first annual Bloganthropy Awards. I hope you all had a blast — we certainly did! And bloggers we reconnected with or met for the first time in the halls at various social media conferences – terrific seeing you, too!  We are grateful, also, to the many wonderful bloggers who spoke on the panels we organized this year to help companies work most effectively with moms in social media.

And let’s not forget the moms around the country who hosted home-based brand immersion events through our new Child’s Play Party! program,  then posted the most fabulous photos and comments online.

Last, but by no means least, a huge thanks to my amazing team, many of whom the moms out there have had the opportunity to meet: Marie Baker,  who heads our award-winning, Team Mom blogger review network; Julie Livingston, the wizard behind our blogger and home-party events; Shara Benison, our infant and toddler expert; Erika Sanchez, queen of holiday gift guides and local event publicity; Alyson Rowe, who is somehow managing to get her master’s degree despite us, and Fiona MacLeod, our special-projects assistant. Big hugs to all of you — I could not do any of this without your warmth and wisdom.

That said, starting now I will be taking a break from blogging for the next  few weeks while I visit my son, who is spending the year in China. Seeing him for the first time since he left in August is yet something else I am most grateful for this year.

Happy New Year everyone!

On  April 13^th, Child’s Play Communications hosted its third annual Bloggers Brunch – and its first on the West Coast.  The Los Angeles event, designed to connect companies with mom bloggers in an intimate atmosphere conducive to conversation and personal connections, featured a panel  presentation by leading West Coast mom bloggers, titled, “Connecting with Moms in Social Media.”

Speakers included Jill Asher, Silicon Valley Moms Blog; Ciaran Blumenfeld, Momfluential; Caryn Bailey, Rockin’ Mama and Maryanne Conlin (MC Milker), The Not Quite Crunchy Parent. I had the opportunity and the distinct pleasure of serving as moderator for this great group of women, all of whom offered terrific, thoughtful and highly useful advice to an audience of corporate representatives mixed with other mom bloggers.

The morning presentation was followed by an elegant brunch in the sun-filled courtyard of the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, where 50 West Coast bloggers enjoyed each other’s company and engaged one:one with top-of-the-line sponsors including Bandai, Cold Stone Creamery, Dyson, Nickelodeon, PajamaJeans, Pottery Barn Kids, Summit Products and Toyota. Temptress, meanwhile, provided makeovers to all our guests. The sponsors offered wonderful giveaways and an amazing array of raffle prizes, from baskets full of toys to shopping and spa gift certificates to vacuum cleaners to a year’s worth of free ice cream. Guests also had the opportunity to test drive cars.

We were so pleased to have such a great turnout of bloggers and sponsors alike, and I would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to speakers, sponsors and guests. Based on the numbers of bloggers who attended, the quality of the sponsors and the  feedback from both—in person and on Twitter —  I’d have to say this was our best Brunch ever!

For photos of  the Los Angeles Brunch, please click here. Video coming soon!

We’ve got more Bloggers Brunch events and other great  mom-focused  social media activities planned for 2010. Be sure to get in touch if you’d like to know more about them (sa@childsplaypr.com). Hope to see you there!

Stephanie  Azzarone

President

Child’s Play Communications

135 W. 29th St., Suite 701

NYC NY 10001

Specialists in reaching moms

Phone: (212) 488-2060 x 11

Email: sa@childsplaypr.com

Website: www.childsplaypr.com

Blog: MomMarketTrends.com

Twitter: ChildsPlayComm

More than 1,000 young parents were chosen from a  group whose own parents had participated in a nationwide survey initiated in 1979. For the three behaviors researched — spanking children, giving physical affection/praise, and reading to children — women closely followed what their mother did, while men did not.

 The researchers also discovered significant changes in behaviors among this generation vs. the previous one, with parenting today involving much more reading and affection to children and less spanking.

What parenting approaches will today’s young boys pick up from their mothers — and what from their dads? And should companies be developing products and services that tie into these different choices?

So much for birthing babies into the lap of luxury. This morning’s New York Times points out that even high-income couples are now looking first to second-hand sources when buying for their kids. Craig’s List, hand-me-downs and other money-saving options have become the purchasing preference for many parents.

The reasons: Beyond the practical – in this recession, you never know if you’ll have a job tomorrow – there are both philosophical and perceptual. In the current economy, even couples who are OK financially don’t want to openly champion conspicuous consumption. No longer are moms and dads pointedly asking retailers for the most expensive item in the shop.

What the Times calls the “play and discover” market – a $343 million category for toys and goods marketed to parents of children under  a year old – has declined by more than a third in the past 18 months. According to the article, “New purchases have become more considered, less spontaneous.”

Moms – how have your shopping habits changed? Are you going second-hand for the first time? Marketers, are you experiencing this trend – and how are you responding?

For more, see the New York Times article here.

Full disclosure: Goddard Systems, the leading child care franchise in the U.S., is a client here at Child’s Play Communications. I thought I’d share some social media activities we’ve recently implemented for the company, as a way of offering suggestions to marketers on how to reach out to moms in the blogosphere and beyond.

In the last few months alone, we’ve launched Goddard’s corporate blog, initiated its Twitter account (@GoddardSchools), connected with mom bloggers to announce special events, provided helpful information to moms on how they can implement educational themes at home, devised ways that Goddard can connect with those moms in person, even sponsored a blogger to attend BlogHer, the leading blogging conference for women, taking place in Chicago later this month. We’ve also developed a social media policy for the company.

Moms, we welcome you to visit the Goddard blog or follow their director of education on Twitter, where you’ll find a broad variety of helpful child-raising tips as well as Goddard news. Marketers, if you want to reach moms, consider some of the activities above. If you need assistance strategizing a plan or taking the first steps, we’d be happy to help you.

Mom-stats worth repeating from this week’s Motherlode blog.

• Mothers make 73 cents to every dollar earned by an equally qualified man at the same job.
• Single mothers make about 60 cents compared to that dollar.
• Over a lifetime, mothers earn from $40,000 to $2 million less than men doing the same work, due to gender wage disparity.
• A full quarter of U.S. families with children less than six years old live in poverty.
• Motherhood does not come with Social Security or health benefits.

Happy Mother’s Day.

So you can imagine the recent blog post from Wired.com Math Meets Meteorology: New TV Show for Kids on Climate Change sparked our interest. PBS Kids Go is set to debut an animated series that will teach children about climate issues. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) just launched a website, www.EarthHourKids.org, which provides content to schools and children. This site features lesson-plans, games and songs that children can download. Goddard has also developed tips parents can use to teach kids about the environment (email me @ sa@childsplaypr.com for a copy).

As parents, are you teaching your children about climate change? As marketers, how are you helping parents convey the message?