rigorousintuition.ca

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:53 pm**

In Books for Young, Two Views on Product Placement
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/books/19cathy.html

In “Mackenzie Blue,” on the other hand, a new series aimed at 8- to 12-year-old girls from HarperCollins Children’s Books, product placement is very much a part of the plan. Tina Wells, chief executive of Buzz Marketing Group, which advises consumer product companies on how to sell to teenagers and preteenagers, will herself be the author of titles in the series filled with references to brands. She plans to offer the companies that make them the chance to sponsor the books.

Ms. Wells said she would not change a brand that she felt was at the core of a particular character’s identity merely to cement a marketing partnership. “Mackenzie loves Converse,” she said, referring to the series’s heroine and the popular sneaker brand she favors. “Does Converse want to work with us? I have no clue. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Mackenzie loves Converse.”

However, when asked what she would do if another sneaker company like Nike (one of her clients) wanted to sponsor the books, she said, “Maybe another character could become a Nike girl.”

Ms. Wells, 27, who founded Buzz Marketing when she was just 16, is also seeking a tie-in with a music label to produce a soundtrack for the books. She said she was also interested in enticing companies to sponsor the books in exchange for references to their philanthropic initiatives related to themes like global warming that she plans to address in the story lines; one idea would be to include resource pages at the back of the books.

So, for example, one of the characters in the series, Ally, is the daughter of journalists who end up in the Sudan in one of the books. Ms. Wells suggested she could work with Procter & Gamble, which sponsors projects to donate feminine hygiene products to girls in Africa.

Yikes! The future of children's fiction is looking rather grim.

Wind in the Willows would have been more enjoyable if I had known what brand of soda pop those loveable creatures drank.

Annie

Posted: **Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:54 pm**

annie aronburg wrote:Yikes! The future of children's fiction is looking rather grim.

Wind in the Willows would have been more enjoyable if I had known what brand of soda pop those loveable creatures drank.

Annie

"Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Hey, I just wanted to thank you for the recent advancements in sanitary napkins. These new ultra-thin pads with wings made by Always really work swell...."

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:25 am**

Annie I don't think any seriously good literature is gonna come out of that stable. I can imagine it beng bad enough to pive fast and die quickly.

Isn't there a whole genre of product placement books for yuppies? American Psycho flirted with genre didn't it.

Someone told me about it once, clothing and coitus books was how they described them.

I do hope our Wells (Jeff, not Tina) doesn't get any ideas for the mythical Rigourous Intuition book, tho it could be an interesting take on "conspiracy culture".

I am also waiting for the inevitable HMW kename hijack post re all this...

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:50 pm**

Joe Hillshoist wrote:.....
I am also waiting for the inevitable HMW kename hijack post re all this...

I just found this. Yes, keywords, like brands...rule.
And youth's status anxiety and identity-shopping is easily tapped into with style and trends.

A whole industry specializes in marketing to youth...and this is legal. hmpf.
Hmm. I know a serious honcho at HarperCollins. A nice lady.
I have a call to make. :evil:

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:37 pm**

Annie I don't think any seriously good literature is gonna come out of that stable. I can imagine it beng bad enough to pive fast and die quickly.

I balked at even calling it Kid LIT but it made for a catchier post title.

Books were my main sources of joy and escape as a child, and I know that pop crap has been with us since we acheived the means of mass production, but this is such predatory babylonian nonsense.

I'd be fascinated to hear how your phone call went, Hugh.

annie

Posted: **Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:01 am**

Of course the obvvious items come from Disney, or follow tha pattern of Star Wars or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--but maybe those are somehow different from mentioning a brand-name item in a story?

The general pattern of marketing to younger kids struck me as particularly annoying/disgusting in the example of National Geographic's kids' magazines. Seeing a tie-ion with Newscorp sealed the deal as far as cutting off that subscription for our household.

(Shame, given some good covereage of issues by Nat. Geog., in general)

Again, this is general--not just product placement--but if you havne't already seen it, a great introduction to this is the PBS Frontline show 'Merchants of Cool'.

link:http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

rigorousintuition.ca

Product Placement in Kid Lit

Product Placement in Kid Lit

Re: Product Placement in Kid Lit

It's everywhere, kids.

There's so much of this it's sickening.