Subcat Marketing

There’s no doubt who Kia was targeting with its first-ever Super Bowl ad—young families!

The commercial features a cast of familiar kid-friendly characters (including Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba, sock puppet and Blabla’s Mr X) embarking on a joyride that takes them to Vegas, a tattoo parlor and a bowling alley. Throughout their adventures, the characters are grooving to “How You Like Me Now?” by indie band The Heavy.

The creative strategy and execution perfectly speaks to Kia’s primary target audience for the new 2011 Sorenta. According to Michael Sprague, VP of marketing for Kia, “we call them contemporary parents: they are people who have active lifestyles before they have kids, and still want to continue that lifestyle.” Sprague talks in detail about Kia’s parent marketing strategy in a recent interview with Media Post.

So my take on Kia’s “Joyride?”

• Cool indie music: Check
• Hip kiddie characters: Check
• Slightly retro feel: Check
• Tattoo reference: Check
• Road trip to Vegas: Check

Kudos to the team at Kia.

We’ve just launched a little Twitter experiment. It’s called the Tweet for College Scholarship and as far as I can tell, it’s the credit union industry’s first scholarship driven entirely by Twitter. Here’s some background on the scholarship and our promotion strategy.

A different kind of scholarship.

Subcat Marketing established a scholarship fund for credit unions that participate in our Elements of Money teen program. The scholarship is open to all high school seniors who belong to their credit union’s Elements of Money program.

Applicants must submit an essay to qualify. But unlike the typical 500+ word essays required by most organizations offering scholarships, this essay must be submitted via Twitter—and we’re holding applicants to the site’s 140 character limit.

That’s right. A college scholarship essay contest in140 characters or less.

We’re asking high school seniors to tell us in 140 characters or less, “how do credit unions make a positive difference in people’s lives?” We’ll pick one winner each month for three months (January, February, March), then pick an overall scholarship winner in April 2010.

Testing the Twitter waters.

Many youth marketers (myself included) remain somewhat ambivalent toward Twitter’s impact on the teen segment. On the one hand, Twitter experienced a slower than normal adoption rate by teens (which is rare for a tech-driven innovation).

On the other hand, teen’s usage of Twitter is slowly increasing, thanks in part to musicians, athletes and other celebrities who are actively tweeting. While still not at the levels to match the hype, we believe Twitter has at least reached a point where it’s a viable delivery channel for a certain segment of the teen market. I guess we’ll soon see if this is indeed the case as our Twitter scholarship takes flight.

The goal of this experiment if pretty simple. Besides wanting to give away a scholarship (which we’ve really wanted to do for quite a while), we want to see if teens will follow a credit union program on Twitter. And if so, what do they have to say?

Our goal isn’t to amass 1,000 followers made up of credit union insiders and other social media watchers. Instead, we want to find those few young members who have something to say, and who are interested in what we’re doing with the Elements program.

Taking an integrated approach.

Each of our credit union partners are taking the reins in promoting the scholarship (there are currently 23 credit unions across the country participating). Although the scholarship is driven by social media, we’ve recommended that traditional, as well as non-traditional marketing tools be utilized.

We’ve provided credit unions with flyers to distribute to members, a memo outlining the program to staff, and web buttons/banners to include on their general member website. Credit unions are also promoting the scholarship through their Twitter and Facebook accounts. In addition, we included an article in the January 2010 issue of the Elements Newsletter, which many of our credit unions send to their teen members.

On our end, we’ve developed a microsite for the scholarship (www.TweetForCollege.org), which provides details on the program. We’re also promoting the scholarship through each credit union’s Elements of Money website, as well as through Elements social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. A short YouTube video is also in the works [update: it's done. You can view it here] . All-in-all, multiple channels are being utilized to promote the scholarship. (sidenote: we’re doing all of this at no additional cost to our clients. Subcat is providing all the marketing material, microsite, and scholarship funding, as part of the annual subscription fee.)

Waiting for the results.

As the first ever credit union Twitter scholarship, we’re not sure what to expect. We’ve already received a few entries, which we’ll retweet every so often. It’s actually pretty cool to read the positive things teens say about credit unions. As the program progresses, I’ll keep you posted on how our experiment is going. In the meantime, you can follow ElementsofMoney at Twitter.com/ElementsofMoney.

I had the pleasure to once again work with Jeffry Pilcher at The Financial Brand. Jeffry asked if I would like to write a review of ING Direct’s revamped kid’s website, Planet Orange. How could I resist? Here’s an excerpt of the review:

When it comes to engaging kids, the greatest challenge facing any financial institution is sustaining interest. With Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney pumping out children’s programming 24 hours a day, the competition for the attention of a 10-year old is fierce. It’s this fact that makes ING Direct’s newly redesigned kids educational website, Planet Orange, all the more impressive.

Derived from ING Direct’s “Orange” brand, Planet Orange provides learning activities and games designed to teach kids (grades one to six) financial responsibility. Although not quite as entertaining as Spongebob or Ben 10, Planet Orange nevertheless succeeds in delivering much-needed financial literacy in an interesting package — suitable for today’s media-saturated kids.

You can read the entire review here.

With the end of 2009 only a few days away, I thought I’d create my own “best of” list. No, I’m not going to play music critic, movie buff or literary snob. Instead, I thought I’d concentrate on a topic that I can claim at least a hint of expertise in: restaurant menus for kids! After all, with a 3-year old daughter living in the house (not to mention a couple of busy parents) I’ve had more than my share of experience with kids menus of all shapes, sizes and colors.

So what are the parameters for making my list? I’ll admit it’s a pretty simple formula: first and foremost, a kids’ menu must be more entertaining than flicking a straw or tossing sugar packets across the table. If it can’t accomplish this simple goal, than it’s going to be a long, difficult meal. After that, it’s pretty subjective: I simply like menus that are unique and leverage a restaurant’s brand. So with that, here’s my list for the Top Five kids’ menus based on my fine dining experiences in the past year:

Number Five: The Slidebar Rock ‘N Roll Cafe

With a kids menu designed by a local tattoo parlor, it’s easy to see why the Slidebar (located in Fullerton, CA) is a favorite of hipster parents in the O.C. Talk about nailing the brand with a kids menu!  My only recommendation: I’d really like to see some kids activities on the back page.

Number Four: California Pizza Kitchen

One of my pet peeves with kids menus is small type and  puzzles that are dwarfed by your average crayon stroke. The CPKids menu does it right with eight colorful pages filled with large graphics, big fonts and fun puzzles made for big crayons.

Number Three: Ruby’s Diner

Ask for a kids menu at Ruby’s Diner and you’ll be given a large piece of cardboard with instructions for building a toy plane. Although a little intimidating at first, the plane wasn’t too difficult to put together. The best part: the whole family was involved in the process.

Number Two: Corner Bakery

The “neighborhood” theme of this menu made me nostalgic for old school shows like Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. It’s a great lesson in community and goes a long way in helping extend the Corner Bakery brand as community-minded. The menu is filled with age appropriate puzzles and a graphic style that sure to appeal to kids. This is simply kid-friendly design done very well.

Number One: Claim Jumper

Who says eating out can’t be educational? The Claim Jumper menu is loaded with historical facts and puzzles that teach kids about life as a prospector in the 1800s. Featuring eight pages of kid-friendly content, this menu goes a long way in keeping kids entertained at the dinner table.  It’s just one of the many reasons this restaurant was named one of the 10 Best Family Restaurant Chains by Parents Magazine.

And that’s it for the First Annual Kids Menu Top Five. If you know of a restaurant with a unique kids menu, let me know, or better yet, send it to the Subcat office. I’ll be sure to consider it in next year’s roundup.

Happy New Year!

(And just for the record, I didn’t receive any comped meals or other type of compensation at these restaurants. They’re just places I visited because I was hungry.)

PlastyC has thrown its hat into the Gen Y banking arena with iBankUp, an online bank anchored by a prepaid debit card. PlastyC is definitely positioning the product as a way for younger, web-savvy consumers to combat overdraft fees and credit card debt. According to the PlastyC press release:

“The recent overdraft fee curbs by Chase and Bank of America don’t go far enough. Whether you are in school or in the workforce, you deserve efficient, affordable services for handling your finances without getting hit by onerous fees,” said Patrice Peyret, CEO of Plastyc. “iBankUP, a pioneer in its category, satisfies your need to be informed and in control. And unlike conventional bank accounts, iBankUP doesn’t require a high minimum balance or charge interest or overdraft fees.”

The iBankUp website includes a comparison with its competitors, including Russell Simmon’s Rush Card and WalMart’s Money Card:

As well as a comparison of having a checking account vs. not having a traditional checking account (notice the Facebook mention):

It looks like PlastyC is really using the current mood of today’s fee- and debt-weary consumer as a branding platform. I think this is a smart and relevant way to approach banking with this audience. This is in contrast to the many anti-bank campaigns I’ve seen launched in the past few months. Instead of taking a dark, negative tone toward banks, iBankUp is addressing the challenges Gen Y faces and provides an easy and practical solution. I prefer this approach to the mud-slinging campaigns I’ve seen recently. It’s much more uplifting and positive, and should play out well with Gen Y’s generally optimistic outlook.

With less than 24 hours since iBankUp’s launch, it’s much too soon to tell if this approach will work. At the very minimum, it gives us a new model to explore and discuss.

The big news in the publishing world this week was the shutting down of four Conde Nast magazines, including one of my favorites, Cookie Magazine.

The magazine was launched in 2005, a few months before my wife became pregnant with our first child. As most new parents, when we found out about the pregnancy we registered for baby showers and soon our mailbox was flooded with marketing material, including promotional copies of magazines such as Baby and Parenting. Both are fine magazines, but neither really resonated with our vision of parenthood. They seemed a bit dated (like something my mom would read) and even a bit alarmist with articles like “10 Household Toxins that Can Kill Your Child.”

Then I stumbled upon Cookie Magazine.

What first struck me about Cookie was unlike other parenting magazines, the editors understood that my wife and I were indeed new parents, but we also had interests other than learning what to do with a colicky baby. It was designed beautifully and the content was relevant to not only my wife and I, but our friends who were also experiencing the joys of new parenthood.

As a family marketing professional, I admired their ability to speak to today’s new generation of parents. As a dad of two young girls, I enjoyed reading their music and DVD reviews. I immediately began sharing my new find with friends, and soon Cookie was a source of inspiration around the Subcat Marketing offices. Whenever we discussed editorial content for our Gen X mom newsletter, “Family Money,” someone would ultimately say, “What would Cookie do?” It definitely inspired our columns, “Indie Rock Mom” and “Grow-Daddy-O.”

Now if Cookie Magazine was so great and ground-breaking, what went wrong? Here’s my two cents:

1. Conde Nast didn’t understand the true audience for Cookie. I believe they saw Cookie’s audience as upscale parents with an eye for fashion and cool music.

Reality: Cookie’s potential audience ran deeper than an upscale niche market. It was an entirely new generation of moms—mostly Gen Xers—the first generation of moms who grew up with MTV. As a result, today’s mom is cool, has an eye for fashion and LOVES music. Oh, and thirty-two percent of Gen X moms have tattoos.*

Conde Nast’s focus was too narrow. They should have expanded their reach to more aggressively target mainstream parent magazines such as “Baby,” “Parents” and “Parenting.” Unless these magazines begin altering their approach to appeal to Gen Xers (and eventually Gen Yers), they will fall to a variety of mommy blogs and online publications such as babble.com that “get it.”

2. Fashion doesn’t have to be expensive. By focusing on upscale parents, Cookie frequently featured clothes, accessories and furnishing that weren’t exactly budget-conscious (i.e. $230 Silver Ponlina ballerina shoes, $450 Eric Moto jacket and the $288 Juicy Couture double-breasted peacoat).

Reality: While it’s true that fashion plays a big part of today’s Gen X mom’s sensibility, few parents today can afford the extravaganzas Cookie often featured. Don’t get me wrong, it may be cute to see kids dressed in designer outfits—and maybe it’s even aspirational—but it’s just isn’t realistic in today’s economy. It seemed like Cookie was slowly realizing this, recently highlighting affordable clothing options from H&M and Gap Kids alongside their typical high-end designers. They even featured a great article in their June 2009 issued titled, “The $um of All Fears,” in which four moms shared their families’ money issues.

3. Being cool doesn’t have to be pretentious. Cookie nailed the Books, Music and DVD/TV review sections of their magazine. By highlighting hip kid artists like Secret Agent 23 and The Sippy Cups, as well as showcasing kid-appropriate music from The Beastie Boys, The Clash and Mates of States, Cookie established indie cred. This, more than anything else, really resonated with Gen Xers who don’t think parenting and being cool is mutually exclusive of each other.

However, there was a common complaint from many of Cookie’s critics that the magazine was simply too pretentious. They wore their “coolness” on their sleeves. Instead of being inclusive, it seemed at times the magazine was exclusive. Some articles at times could come off a little heavy-handed and self-important.

Reality: There were definitely parts of the magazine that appealed more to me than others. I’m not totally convinced Cookie was pretentious, but I understand the argument. If Cookie wanted to appeal to a larger audience, they could have stepped back from the “New Yorker” tone of some of it’s articles and embraced a warmer, more everyday execution. Also, Cookie placed a heavy emphasis on urban lifestyle, which prevented it from connecting with a suburban audience—the traditional readers of parenting magazines.

There you have it. My quick observations as to why I think my favorite parenting magazine didn’t make it. I’m sure there’s way more to the magazine’s failure than I’ve been able to capture in my initial thoughts. If anyone else has any theories, I’d love to hear them.

I really hope Cookie will be able to maintain an online presence, however, I having a feeling we’ll also see that fade away. For those of you fiending for a Cookie-esque approach to parenting, try babble.com.

* Source: Marketing to the New Super Consumer Mom & Kid; Coffey, Siegel, Livingston.

Kid’s music is getting really cool, thanks in part to Gen X parents who demand more than the usual Raffi sing-alongs their Boomer parents shared with them. Leading the pack is Secret Agent 23 Skidoo who mixes traditional funk, reggae and blues with classic golden age hip hop beats. The result has more in common with Beck than Barney. His latest video is a brilliant example of the way today’s parents share their love of music with their kids. Here’s his latest video:

Check out 23 Skidoo’s website for more info.

Bank of America may be facing a public relations nightmare … again. Nine ex-employees are going public with BofA’s sales strategy to cross-sell Spanish-speaking customers  multiple checking accounts, cash advance services and high-interest rate credit cards—even when the customer didn’t understand the products.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, employees were instructed to use their Latino heritage and Spanish-speaking skills to open accounts and upsell products.

Bank of America is denying the claims, tying the controversy to an attempt to unionize their workforce (the employees are being backed by Service Employees International Union which is trying to organize BofA).

Regardless of who’s telling the truth, this may put a thorn in BofA’s bold plan to dominate the Latino market. In a 2003 interview with Fortune Magazine, then CEO Ken Lewis was quoted:

“We expect to get no less than 80% of our future growth in retail banking from the Hispanic market.”

Now this isn’t the kind of press you want when you’re betting 80% of your future on the Hispanic market. The LA Times article continues:

[Gabby] Ornelas and three other former BofA tellers, all Latina women, said they and their co-workers were repeatedly instructed to seek potential new Spanish-speaking customers outside the bank. Some were instructed to go to embassies where recent emigres often wait in queue for visa and passport services.

Other tellers were asked to go to neighborhood stores, clinics and child welfare centers, and several were asked to recruit customers at a religiously oriented Mother’s Day celebration, they said.

The ex-employees (and Service Employees International Union) are launching a public campaign  this week and are scheduled to meet with members of Congress. Their goal? Push through legislation that would make it easier for union members to organize.

This is going to get interesting.

With the economy affecting  households of every income bracket, the topic of money is definitely on the minds of moms and dads across the country. Whether it’s dealing with a layoff or cutting family expenses, at some point, parents will need to explain to their kids about the changes occurring around them.

Child development experts agree that being honest about money woes—without telling kids more than they need to know—will help foster a healthy home.

So how do parents feel about this? A recent study conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion suggests that parents see this as just more added stress. According to the study:

For nearly six in ten Americans, talking to kids about money increases family anxiety while 28% say it alleviates it.

The study also found that younger parents (under 45 years old) were more likely  than older parents to be stressed out about talking to their kids about money issues.

For our number-loving friends, here are a couple of tables:

Talking to Children About Money Adds or Reduces Family Stress?

Good Age to Talk to Children About Money?

So what is the opportunity here for youth marketers and educators? Help mom and dad alleviate the stress. Provide age-appropriate tools to help them talk to their kids about money. Games, puzzles and stories that bring financial literacy into the home can go a long way in developing meaningful relationships with parents and your brand.

Here’s something for credit union youth marketing folks (or anyone interested in youth financial literacy):

ABC is airing a special tonight (May 29, 2009, 9p.m. ET) called Un-Broke. The special takes “an unconventional look at the fundamentals of everyday finance with all the facts about credit cards, mortgages, stocks and bonds, investing and 401k’s, in a fresh new format combining information and humor.”

The special features a great lineup of  celebrities, including the Jonas Brothers, Rosario Dawson, Will Smith, Cedric the Entertainer, Seth Green and Samuel L. Jackson, just to name a few. Here’s a clip:

Come on … the Jonas Brothers talking about money? Is there any doubt that interest in personal finance is at an all-time high? This should be exciting news for anyone involved with youth financial literacy. Tune in tonight and let me know what you think.