Fox International Channels, RCN TV Group Combine on MundoFox
New Hispanic-Targeted Network Eyes Fall Launch
Fox International Channels and Colombia’s RCN Television Group are pushing toward the launch of a new Spanish-language network this fall.
The joint venture, MundoFox, according to the parties, aspires to bring the sensibilities of the Fox broadcast network to Latino audiences. Officials say MundoFox, which will feature entertainment, sports and news, among other programming formats, is finalizing distribution deals in top Hispanic markets across the country, with an eye toward reaching 75% of U.S. households. RCN is one of the largest producers and exporters of Spanish-language television in the world and operates cable channels throughout the Americas.
MundoFox will represent Fox International Channels’ fourth U.S. service, joining Fox Deportes, Utilisima and NatGeo Mundo. Globally, FIX operates 350 channels in 35 nations.
The fledgling network plans to integrate programming from a variety of sources into its lineup. Colombian broadcaster RCN Television S.A., the creative force behind the original Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) and El Capo, will be contributing, along with FIC, which has produced weekly dramas combining U.S.-style, character-driven story-telling, plus factual and lifestyle programming.
Fox Deportes will also kick in with its exclusive U.S. Spanish-language rights to the UFC, as well as various soccer tournaments. NTN24, RCN’s international, 24-hour channel will offer Spanish-language news, analysis, opinion, sports and entertainment news programs from a Latin point of view.
The service also plans to tap product from Shine Group, Elisabeth Murdoch’s U.K. production company that owns Reveille in the U.S. and which News Corp. purchased last February. The Biggest Loser, MasterChef, One Born Every Minute, Merlin and The Hour are among its format and programm offerings.
MundoFox also plans to license and commission fare from third-party suppliers.
“Our partnership with RCN is a key step in the launch of MundoFox” said Hernan Lopez, president and CEO of FIC in a statement. announcing the venture. “There is an increasing demand for quality Spanish-language content in the U.S. from both viewers and advertisers. Fox saw similar dynamics in play 25 years ago when it launched the Fox network, and it would be a missed opportunity not to provide an alternative for the 50+ million Latino viewers who currently have limited options in Spanish-language broadcast television. Our partnership with RCN will help us do this and we aim do it in a big way.”
Noted RCN CEO Gabriel Reyes: “RCN has provided the main Hispanic networks in the U.S. with much of their primetime content for over two decades. We now plan to maximize our capabilities and bring an increasing variety of fresh and innovative productions directly to Spanish-speaking viewers. I am certain that Fox is the best partner to make this a successful network.”
How Volkswagen Conducted Its Canine Chorus
Notable orchestras have long interpreted John Williams’ familiar “Star Wars” score, and in the ’70s, Bill Murray appeared on “Saturday Night Live” singing his version of the theme: “Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars, give me those Star Wars!”
Mr. Murray has now been upstaged by … the dogs.
Last week, Volkswagen and Deutsch, Los Angeles, unveiled a 60-second Super Bowl teaser on YouTube and then on broadcast TV during an episode of “The Middle” on ABC. The spot stars mutts barking a canine rendition of “The Imperial March,” aka “Darth Vader’s Theme,” the track featured in last year’s VW Super Bowl darling, “The Force.”
The dozen dogs, selected from a pool of 40 who “auditioned,” were chosen not for their vocal chops but, in some cases, for their resemblance to “Star Wars” characters, according to Tim Mahoney, chief product and marketing officer for Volkswagen of America. “See if you can find Chewbacca,” he said, adding, “If you have a pet in the house, this ad drives them crazy.” (We got the lowdown on which pup plays who, check it out.)
The idea behind “The Bark Side” was to create an ad to promote an ad. “We were among a few brands last year who pre-released our Super Bowl ad, and the feeling was we were ahead of the pack,” said Mark Hunter, chief creative officer for Deutsch, apparently with no pun intended. “So this year, it’s what can we do to continue to set media trends.”
Mr. Hunter said “The Bark Side” is about “giving you enough information to whet your appetite. It would be a strange teaser if it didn’t reflect what was coming.”
The ad was directed by Keith Schofield of Caviar Content, who said the dogs were shot together and then separately on the set, barking to a temporary track created by Endless Noise’s Jeff Elmassian, who was also behind the arrangement of John William’s original Vader march for “The Force.” Prior to production, “we talked about how this should probably be handled like a music video,” said Deutsch Director of Integrated Content Vic Palumbo. “We needed to create the track first and then figure out who the dogs are, what notes they’re going to be singing.”
For the final track, Mr. Elmassian created a mix of archived dog barks and yelps recorded on set rounded out by newly recorded woofs and howls-a number of which were later pitched to match the actual tune. One of the biggest challenges was the balancing act of using unaltered dog barks and digitally enhanced ones. The final mix featured a combination of both. “The human ear is discerning enough that even a lay person can tell when something is synthetic,” said Mr. Elmassian. “You want a certain amount of barks to not be effected. Your ear will anchor onto enough of those and start to forgive some of the sounds that do border more on the effected side.”
There was also the problem of matching yelp to snout. “We wanted the barks to sound like they were actually intoning a pitch, but it’s also important that we needed them to sound like the specific dog,” said Mr. Elmassian. “You may have a great Labrador with the right pitch, but at that moment it’s the Chihuahua barking. You can’t put a Lab’s bark into the Chihuahua voice.”
Assembling it all involved a very delicate dance between sound and edit. Mr. Elmassian said he also collaborated extensively with Editor Nicholas Wayman-Harris of Union. The agency teamed with Method Studios on the effects, but “it was important to minimize the CG work so it felt natural,” explained Deutsch Group Creative Director Jerome Austria. Overall, the teaser was a lesson in restraint-and how important it is to good comedy. None of the dogs don a Vader mask or Leia cinnamon-bun hairpieces. Only few have hints of costume, like the AT-AT poncho of the whippet in the final frame. The barks themselves start out sounding a bit cryptic and random, until they build into something really familiar.
“We were trying to not be too heavy-handed,” said Deutsch Group Creative Director Michael Kadin. “You don’t want to overly art-direct it, like if they all came out with eye patches and sang pirate songs.”
As for the continuing “Star Wars” theme, “We are leveraging our equity from last year,” said Mr. Mahoney, referring to “The Force.” According to Deutsch’s Mr. Austria, within the first 24 hours of its launch, “The Bark Side” surpassed 1.6 million views. Within the same time frame, “The Force” earned around 1.1 million hits.
The canine choir teaser leads viewers to a site where they can invite their friends to Bowl parties with a customized “Star Wars” title crawl. “It probably raises more questions than it answers,” added fellow Group Creative Director Matt Ian. “We like that it’s starting to tell the world, ‘Whatever you may have expected it to be, it may not be that.’”
But what we do know for certain is this: According to Mr. Kadin, the agency brought back Director Lance Acord and Editor Jim Haygood for the actual big game spot. “We had a winning combination,” he said, “so why mess with that?”
And what of VW’s 60-second commercial on the Bowl bought for the VW Beetle? Will “Star Wars” figure in?
“Don’t presume anything,” cautioned Mr. Mahoney.
http://creativity-online.com/news/how-volkswagen-conducted-its-canine-chorus/232285
FICO Launches myFICO.com en Español
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — FICO (NYSE: FICO) today announced the launch of myFICO en Espanol, the first Spanish-language website where consumers can obtain their personal credit report, credit report analysis, FICO� Score and FICO� Score analysis in Spanish.
“Today more than ever, American consumers need information, insight and tools that can help improve their understanding of how credit works in the U.S. financial marketplace,” said Mark Greene, CEO of FICO. “We felt it was essential to extend the award-winning resources on myFICO.com to the more than 34 million native Spanish-speaking consumers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.”
The FICO� Score is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States, and knowing and understanding it is considered by most personal finance experts to be a cornerstone of personal financial health. Ninety of the 100 largest U.S. banks use a consumer’s FICO� Score for such credit decisions as determining mortgage rates, car loan financing and credit card terms. Until now, Spanish speakers have only had access to their credit reports and FICO� Scores in English. Now these products and others � including FICO� Scores, credit reports, credit monitoring programs and the Suze Orman FICO� Kit � are available in Spanish.
“Accessing a FICO score and reading and understanding one’s credit report are fundamental to understanding one’s credit health,” said Sergio Ugarte, vice president of scores business development, FICO. “myFICO.com will change the way Spanish speaking consumers approach credit, just as it has done for English speaking consumers since 2001.”
FICO helps millions of individuals manage their personal credit health through its award-winning website, www.myFICO.com. It is a trusted source of consumer credit information with an average of 700,000 visitors monthly. The new site enables users to toggle between Spanish and English, a format that is preferred by many bilingual speakers. More than 600 pages of Spanish-language consumer financial educational materials are available to visitors.
“As someone who regularly works with Spanish-speaking consumers, I can tell you that myFICO en Espanol is ground breaking,” said Yamila Ayad, associate vice president, First Nations Home Finance. “This site is critical not only for the Latino consumer, but for many of the professional practitioners who help educate Hispanic families who want to become homeowners.”
The site is live at the following link: http://espanol.myfico.com.
About FICO
FICO (NYSE:FICO) delivers superior predictive analytics solutions that drive smarter decisions. The company’s groundbreaking use of mathematics to predict consumer behavior has transformed entire industries and revolutionized the way risk is managed and products are marketed. FICO’s innovative solutions include the FICO� Score � the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States � along with industry-leading solutions for managing credit accounts, identifying and minimizing the impact of fraud, and customizing consumer offers with pinpoint accuracy. Most of the world’s top banks, as well as leading insurers, retailers, pharmaceutical companies and government agencies, rely on FICO solutions to accelerate growth, control risk, boost profits and meet regulatory and competitive demands. FICO also helps millions of individuals manage their personal credit health through www.myFICO.com. Learn more at www.fico.com. FICO: Make every decision count�.
Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements contained in this news release that relate to FICO or its business are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the success of the Company’s Decision Management strategy and reengineering plan, the maintenance of its existing relationships and ability to create new relationships with customers and key alliance partners, its ability to continue to develop new and enhanced products and services, its ability to recruit and retain key technical and managerial personnel, competition, regulatory changes applicable to the use of consumer credit and other data, the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions, continuing material adverse developments in global economic conditions, and other risks described from time to time in FICO’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2011. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes, FICO’s results could differ materially from its expectations. FICO disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. FICO and “Make every decision count” are trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and other countries.
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2012/1/24/fico_launches_myficocom_en_espanol.htm
Twitter Joins Facebook, Google, Launches ‘Brand Pages’ for Marketers
Twitter is looking to strengthen its relationship with advertisers by launching brand pages that will be unveiled today as part of a more comprehensive redesign.
Twitter’s existing brand pages have been under the radar, especially compared with the buildup around Google+ brand pages, which were launched last month. But Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain said that he’s spent the better part of the past year meeting with chief marketing officers, and brand pages were a recurring and frequent request.
Brand pages have two key elements, both of them free. They can be customized with large header images that advertisers can use to display their logo and tagline more prominently than under the standard format, where branded elements of the page design are often partially covered by the time line of tweets. Brands can also choose to keep a particular tweet at the top of their time line, and that top tweet also auto-expands to reveal an embedded photo or video from Flickr, YouTube or other sources, without requiring the user to take action.
Additionally, they separate out a brand’s @ replies and mentions, which Mr. Bain noted is important for a customer-service oriented company like JetBlue, one of the launch partners, which frequently responds to users but wanted a way to keep its messaging from getting diluted.
“A tweet’s only 140 characters,” said Mr. Bain. “[Brand page are] like an invitation to learn more. When consumers want to learn more, spend more time or get deeper in terms of engagement, we think they’ll end up on the brand page.”
Twitter is launching brand pages with 21 marketers: American Express, Best Buy, Bing, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Dell , Disney, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, JetBlue, Kia, McDonald’s, Nike , PepsiCo, Staples, Verizon Communications Wireless, NYSE Euronext, Heineken, Subway and Paramount Pictures, specifically for the release of “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.” It has also partnered with some charities and individuals that it hasn’t disclosed.
Mr. Bain said that all the marketers involved in the launch are strategic partners and advertisers that have been involved in ongoing dialogues with Twitter.
There’s a clear application for entertainment brands like Paramount and Disney, which is promoting the upcoming movie “Brave” in its top tweet. But early-use cases are varied. Pepsi is deploying the brand page functionality for individual products such as Pepsi and Diet Pepsi . General Electric created video content for today’s launch geared toward helping consumers understand what the company does in human terms. Mr. Bain pointed toward the company as a forward-thinking marketer that will be increasingly using promoted tweets and trends to drive eyes to its brand page in 2012.
“The question for each one of these marketers is what is the interesting, compelling, provocative content that they can be putting out to a larger audience to keep that engagement high,” said Mr. Bain, adding that marketers in the launch group were already actively distributing content on Twitter but were looking for a way to make it stand out better.
For Twitter, launching brand pages could be a way of challenging Facebook’s hegemony as the secondary branded destination for a company after its own site, as well as another means of inducing big brand advertisers to loosen the purse strings by making organic and paid content more interconnected. If brand pages become enticing destinations with rich content experiences, Twitter’s advertising products become more appealing as a means of directing people there.
Twitter’s global ad revenue is projected to reach $139.5 million in 2011 and approach $400 million in 2013, according to eMarketer. It launched its advertising program in April 2010 with six advertisers signed up to use promoted tweets.
Brand pages will also ultimately be deployed for Twitter’s mobile clients, but not for today’s launch.
360i Report on Hispanic Digital Influencers
Today, we’re launching the first in a series of reports exploring the role social media plays in the lives of Hispanics living in the United States. Reaching and engaging this population has become increasingly important to marketers over the past decade. The growth of this population presents both the promise of reaching a dynamic and engaged audience – armed with ever-increasing purchasing power – and the challenge of understanding the cultural nuances of a demographic with unique digital behaviors.
» Download 360i’s Report on Hispanic Digital Influencers
Why a POV series?
According to the 2010 US Census, the Hispanic population rose by 15.2 million between 2000 and 2010, , accounting for more than half of the nation’s population increase. Furthermore, in sheer dollar power, Hispanics’ economic influence rose from $212 billion in 1990 to $489 billion in 2000, to $978 billion in 2009, and is estimated to rise to roughly $1.3 trillion in 2014 (Selig Center for Economic Growth, Dec. 2010).
Beyond the amplification of their economic clout, Hispanics are also taking on a more critical role within the digital landscape. Hispanics have long prided themselves on living extremely social lives filled with family and friends; the fluidity of digital media serves as an effortless extension of centuries-old cultural habits.
Currently, there are roughly 32.2 million US Hispanics online, which represents 14 percent of the total online population. This number is expected to increase to 42 million by 2015 (Interactive Advertising Bureau). Hispanics are spending, on average, 16 hours a week browsing the Internet, comparable to the 18 hours spent by the total US online population (Forrester). In the past year alone, the number of Hispanics using social media grew 38 percent versus 16 percent for the general population (comScore). Additionally, higher mobile device penetration enables Hispanics to stay connected on the go, both through traditional text and phone calls, as well as through mobile social media. While utility and information-seeking play a big role in motivating their digital behaviors, social networking and content creation form the centerpiece of Hispanics’ online lives.
Our first report in the series is about Hispanic Digital Influencers – their motivations, passions and behaviors. .Through our research, we identify trends that will help brands craft an outreach strategy to better engage and build relationships with US Hispanics online.
http://nglc.biz/2012/01/21/360i-report-on-hispanic-digital-influencers/
The 7 Hottest Trends in Brazil’s Online Market
The latest studies are showing several key online trends in Brazil that should impact the advertising, media and marketing worlds. Here’s a look at the main ones to watch during 2012 and beyond.
#1 Online Ad Spend in Brazil Broke Records in 2011
According to IAB Brasil, online ad spend in September 2011 was 40% higher than online ad spend in September 2010. It reached a record amount of $141 million reales (US$79 million). It grew more than any other medium in that time period—pay TV was a distant second with 22% growth. Overall, in 2011 online ad spend went up by 25% compared to 2011, taking in 3.1 billion reales (US$1.7 billion). Online broke another record in Brazil in 2011 by taking up 10% of overall ad spend, a huge jump from 2010 in which online only made up 4.3% of total ad spend.
#2 Internet Penetration in Brazil Will Hit 70-80% by 2015
As of the end of 2011, Brazil had around 78.5 million Internet users—37% penetration. However, two different sources are projecting huge increases in the next couple of years. In October 2011, Paulo Bernardo, Brazil’s Communications Minister, predicted that 70% of Brazilian homes will have Internet service by 2015. However, the Comitê Gestor da Internet, an organization with members from the government, the online industry and academia, projects that 80% of Brazilian homes will have Internet access by 2014.
#3 Brazil’s Internet Audience is Becoming Socioeconomically Broader
According to a recent study done by Fecomercio-RJ and Ipsos, many more Brazilians from classes C and D have Internet access and their numbers are steadily growing. In 2007, only 31% of class C members in Brazil had Internet access—but this number jumped to 43% in 2011. And while only 8% of Class D members had Internet access in 2007, by 2011 17% of them had it.
#4 Brazil Still Leads Latam in E-Commerce
Besides accounting for 70% of all Latin American e-commerce sales, the country’s per capita online spend is the highest: $42, followed by both Chile and Argentina, each with $36. The trend continued in 2011. Research firm e-bit projected $18 billion reales (US$10 billion) in 2011 e-commerce sales in Brazil, up 26% from 2010. However, the final numbers could be higher, since Brazilian e-commerce sales on Black Friday 2011 shot up by 88% compared to 2010. And for 2012, the firm forecasts 25% growth in the e-commerce market of Brazil.
#5 By 2015, Brazil Will Be the World’s #4 Online Market
This is according to T-Index 2015, a rating developed to help companies decide in which languages to translate their sites for maximum online sales potential. The T-Index rating is driven by factors like amount of Internet users and GDP.
In 2015, China will be the #1 online market in the world, followed by the United States and Japan. T-Index predicts that Brazil will in the #4 slot after passing Germany. Interestingly enough, in 2011 Brazil passed Germany in terms of its amount of Internet users.
#6 Mobile is the #2 Way for Brazilians to Go Online
According to F/Nazca, 29 million Brazilians access the Internet from mobile devices: 74% use cell phones and the rest use other kinds, such as tablets. So many now do this that mobile devices are the #2 way for Brazilians go online—they’re tied with the LAN Houses (Internet cafes) that many use. In fact, until April 2010 LAN Houses were actually the #1 way for Brazilians to go online. These days, however, most Brazilian Internet users (43.5 million) access the Internet from a home connection.
#7 Many More Brazilians Are Going Online with Tablets
While the F/Nazca study showed that the large majority of Brazilians access the mobile web via cell phones, another recent study by comScore shows different results. Released in December 2011, comScore’s Device Essentials study showed that 39.9% of the non-computer web traffic in Brazil came from tablets. The only other country in Latin America with a similar percentage was Colombia, with tablets making up 38.9% of its non-computer web traffic.
Bacardi celebrates 150th Anniversary
Bacardi Limited declared that 2012 will be its most innovative year since the creation of BACARDI rum in 1862. Throughout the year, Bacardi will host one-of-a-kind birthday parties, launch special promotions featuring 100 years of ground-breaking advertising, introduce a $2,000 limited-edition decanter of rare BACARDI rum, offer travel retail exclusives and commemorative gifts, and much more for consumers to come together and share in the excitement.
“The passion and entrepreneurial spirit shown by my great-great grandfather in Santiago de Cuba a century and a half ago gave birth to exceptional rum that would change the spirits industry forever,” said Facundo L. Bacardi, Bacardi Limited Chairman and fifth-generation Bacardi family member. “These qualities remain key to our phenomenal success and position today as the world’s favorite and most awarded rum brand, with more than 400 awards to date.”
Bacardi was founded in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, when Don Facundo Bacardi Masso purchased a small distillery. After years of experimenting, Bacardi revolutionized the spirits industry by adding steps never before used in rum-making. He selected high quality blackstrap sugarcane molasses, isolated a special strain of yeast (still used today), filtered, mellowed his rums in American white oak barrels, and then blended them to create the perfect taste. The smooth, light-bodied spirit he created, as opposed to the harsh “fire water” of the time, was BACARDI – the world’s first premium rum and the first mixable rum – helping usher in a cocktail culture that thrives today. The artful Maestros de Ron (Master Blenders) continue to follow the same exacting standards set forth by Don Facundo.
“For the past 150 years, Bacardi—as a family, Company and brand—has brought people together through legendary parties and great-tasting cocktails. Visit any bar, club or restaurant almost anywhere in the world, and the impact Bacardi has made on the spirits industry is crystal-clear,” said Seamus McBride, Bacardi Limited President and Chief Executive Officer. “It’s incredible to see how a one-brand company founded 150 years ago has grown into the third-largest spirits company in the world with an enviable portfolio of iconic spirits including GREY GOOSE vodka, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin, DEWAR’S Blended Scotch whisky, MARTINI vermouth, ERISTOFF vodka and CAZADORES 100% blue agave tequila.”
Parties, Parties, Parties!
BACARDI 150th birthday parties around the world will feature award-winning musical talent, top celebrities and other movers and shakers who, alongside consumers, will wish BACARDI happy birthday. Germany hosts the first BACARDI 150th party on January 28, followed by Canada starting February 1, and the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East starting February 4. On February 4, Rolling Stone® magazine will honor BACARDI in Indianapolis the day before “the big game,” the most anticipated American football game in the U.S., with a “super” birthday party. In addition, Bacardi is thrilled to be partnering with celebrities and trendsetters in cities around the world who will throw their own events to wish BACARDI rum happy birthday.
Consumer Promotions
By visiting the BACARDI Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BACARDI), with more than two million fans, consumers of legal drinking age in select markets can vie for BACARDI 150th birthday party tickets and BACARDI party kits filled with all ingredients to host their own unforgettable gathering. In select markets, consumers will also be able to win or purchase commemorative BACARDI glassware, specialty packs and apparel featuring vintage brand advertisements and/or designs by artists of Cuban heritage.
http://hispanicad.com/cgi-bin/news/newsarticle.cgi?article_id=33605
Campaign to create ‘Beautiful and Bald Barbie’ heats up on social networking sites
Over the years, Mattel’s iconic Barbie doll has had every hairstyle imaginable, including a bubble beehive, a ‘60s flip and even multi-colored hair extensions. But she’s never been bald.
That may change if the women behind the Facebook page, “Beautiful and Bald Barbie” influence executives at the world’s largest toy company.
“We would like to see a Beautiful and Bald Barbie made to help young girls who suffer from hair loss due to cancer treatments, alopecia or trichotillomania,” reads Jane Bingham and Beckie Sypin’s Facebook page, which has almost 40,000 “likes.” “Many children have some difficulty accepting their mother, sister, aunt, grandparent or friend going from a long haired to a bald.”
The Facebook page was created after the two friends heard about a four-year-girl from Mineola, Long Island, who had lost her hair after treatment for cancer.
Little Genesis Reyes, who missed having her “princess” hair, inspired the parent of another patient in the hospital to ask the CEO of Mattel, who happened to be a personal friend, to create a special bald Barbie doll for Genesis.
“When I read the article about Mattel making a one-of-a-kind bald Barbie for Genesis, I though how wonderful that would be, with so many other children dealing with hair-loss,” Bingham told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. “I thought we could raise awareness for these conditions. Raise awareness that children get cancer too… It would be a win all around.”
Bingham, who lost her own hair after chemotherapy treatments for an incurable form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was moved by the reaction of her young daughter to her newly bald head.
“It takes an emotional toll on the child,” Bingham explained. “I had very long blond hair… She would mimic me and she would try and wrap scarves on her head too.”
So far, Mattel hasn’t publicly responded to the growing popularity of Bingham and Sypin’s Facebook page, except to say in a form letter that the company “doesn’t accept ideas from outside sources.”
LosTween.com Launches blog and media company
To aid parents of diverse backgrounds navigate the fun, yet challenging responsibility of raising multicultural children ages 7-12, Latino marketing and PR expert Cristy Clavijo-Kish has joined forces with business partners to launch a new resource blog and media company, Los Tweens & Teens <http://www.LosTweens.com>.
Together with Katherine Doble-Cannata, a non-profit and immigration communications pro and Adrian Acosta a technology manager, Los Tweens was created to fill a void online– culturally relevant parenting advice focused on the developmentally important “Tween” years. The owner/publishing team at Los Tweens is creating an environment encouraging parents to hone their parenting skills by sharing the joys, tips, questions and headaches of raising children during these key years, while fostering opportunities for parents and tweens to interact online in a safe environment. 6
“My daughter inspired me with an essay test answer that specifically called out the importance of understanding other cultures,” recalls Clavijo-Kish. “As a Latina mom I always strive to retain our cultural roots while raising confident, proud, patriotic kids in the US. I became aware that if I didn’t focus on culture now as part of their development, I will have missed my opportunity as the teen years would be a late start,” she adds.
In addition to featuring content from parents, upcoming plans for the bilingual family community blog include:
o Expert content – Contributions from pediatricians, mental health experts, counselors, teachers, chefs, fitness coaches and other experts, like this post by Dr. Lydia Kalsner-Silver, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of children and families, discussing the warning signs of bullying in the tween years.
o Tweenversations – Hosted online chats with parents and kids that directly relate to their current issues and situations.
o Officially launching MyLosTweens.com where kids will be able to share ideas, photos, book reviews and more content alongside their parents.
o Local live events, including support for initiatives that provide opportunities for pre-teens to volunteer and pay-it-forward.
o Additional content partnerships that link specialized posts like Building a Tween’s Cuisine from Latino Foodie and news/data from non-profit organizations helping parents and kids develop skills and services.
A full Editorial calendar is available with posts ranging from developmental changes to driving volunteerism and reviewing age-appropriate books, music, movies and more. Readers soon will start to see content in Spanish and other languages. Important issues as immigration and education readiness that impact preteens in Latino and recently arrived immigrant families also will be a focus and special series. While the term “los” drives a fun, Latino flavor- the site openly welcomes contributions from varying cultures and will soon feature posts from Japanese, Haitian and parents of varying cultural backgrounds and beliefs.
http://nglc.biz/2012/01/17/lostween-com-launches/
P&G to raise $5m for youth sports programmes
Procter & Gamble (P&G) has revealed plans to raise $5m (£3.3m) this year to establish and sustain youth sports programmes around the world, from donations and a portion of sales of its leading brands, including Pampers, Tide, Gillette and Pantene.
P&G is partnering with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) to give children the opportunity to practise sports by supplying facilities and training.
The activity will feed into P&G’s ‘Thank You Mum’ campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Games, aiming to improve the everyday lives of mums. The campaign also offers athletes’ mothers the opportunity to see their children compete at the Games.
P&G is an IOC TOP partner, and, through its brands, is sponsoring more than 150 athletes, who will be featured in advertising and retail marketing to generate sales and donations to support youth sports.
P&G has already named 11 British athletes, including Jessica Ennis, Paula Radcliffe and Ben Rushgrove as brand ambassadors for a range of its products.
Marc Pritchard, P&G global marketing and brand building officer, said: “P&G is in the business of helping moms. Through our ‘Thank You Mom’ program, we will support not just the moms of Olympic athletes, but every mom who does whatever it takes to make her child’s life the best it can be.”
Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC, said: “Through its support of mothers of Olympians, P&G is helping athletes. With its support of youth sports, the company is supporting families and is helping to develop athletes every day. It aligns perfectly with the Olympic values.”
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1112079/P-G-raise-5m-youth-sports-programmes/