Monthly Archives: July 2008

Hispanic Kids Go Green

 

Kids Show It's Easy Being Green

Kids Show It's Easy Being Green

According to Kids and and Tweens in the U.S., a new study from Packaged Facts, kids and their parents have become increasingly interested in protecting the environment. As a result, eco-friendly products are beginning to make headway among children ages 3 to 11. And companies that produce and market products to these kids and their parents are starting to take heed.

Kids ages 3-11 in the U.S. have personal incomes totaling $19 billion, the study found, and is expected to reach $21 billion by 2012. Parental spending on food, clothing, personal care items, entertainment and reading materials reached $123 billion.

Marketers that promote eco-friendly products may find success in tapping that spending. Based on data from Simmons Market Research Bureau, the study found that a significant majority of kids 6-11 express concern for environmental issues. Nearly three-quarters believe people should recycle; 40% say you should buy recycled paper products.

More than half of kids 6-8 encourage their parents to buy green products. Hispanic kids are far more likely than kids in other population segments to push their parents to buy green products. This underlying demographic characteristic may explain why kids living in the Pacific region—which has a relatively large Latino population—have a higher likelihood of trying to get their parents to go green.

Perhaps we should be inviting these kids to our NLCCC briefing in New York. After all, the goal of educating Hispanics about the importance of Global Warming is to help insure that our kids and all future generations can enjoy this planet as we have.

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Filed under Green Marketing, Hispanic marketing, Multicultural Marketing

Are Newspapers Blogger Friendly?

 

Newspaper killer

Newspaper killer

I recently came across this story in the unfortunately named Buttermilk & Molasses blog about the relationship (or lack thereof) between local newspapers and the blogging community. Newspapers are in a tough spot. While their content is still valued, the value of their portability as a news aggregating device has been almost totally lost and is being replaced by handheld phones and organizers (I’m an iPhone fan). Unlike newspapers, these devices allow users to access much more news and information, not to mention links, multimedia content, etc. than any newspaper ever could. I received an offer from the Wall Street Journal last week for a year of internet access AND daily delivery of the newspaper all for $99. A great deal for sure, but I was thinking to myself: Why would I want the newspaper?

Given the harsh realities of the newspaper business, it would seem to make sense for daily papers to bolster their resources by adding feeds from bloggers to their content. Traditionalists may be shocked at the suggestion, giving excuses such as: the accuracy of these posts cannot be confirmed, these people don’t have the right training, how will we manage this animal once we let it out of the cage, etc.

But the truth is that newspapers need bloggers in order to help them become relevant in the “net-media age” and bloggers (being the shy bunch we are) would love the exposure. So why not work together?

UPDATE:  Apparently media buyers think it’s a great idea for newspapers to be more aggressive online by partnering with or buying niche web sites.  My bet is that newspapers will follow the money.

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Filed under Blogging, Public Relations