Just placed a couple of games for Jetix on Freeloader (Jimmy Two-Shows and Kid v’s Kat) and got me thinking of the various ways clients can get kids content out there. Trying to get ‘more bang for your buck’ has always been the mantra at small, nimble digital agencies, and with budgets being squeezed, it’s never more true… or needed. There are still the big ‘full service’ giants that go into auto-pilot and fill their media buying spreadsheet with banners and basic media creative placements.

There’s definitely a sliding scale when it comes to being clever and it seems to go something like this.

Brief: Our kids website has everything on it but we need more hits. Help!

Here are a few solution (in order of cleverness)

1) Run a competition to win a Playstation on the site (of course, only the audience already there will see it)
[PRICE 3/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 2/10]

2) Run a basic banner campaign wherever a quick Nielsen report says your audience are. That’s Yahoo, MSN Today, Google, Disney and the BBC Homepage (and we all know how many 8 year olds use MSN Today)
[PRICE 4/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 3/10]

3) Run a basic banner campaign where your audience actually are. That’s Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Miniclip and CiTV (better, but on these content rich sites, can be hard for banners to stand out)
[PRICE 4/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 4/10]

4) Run ‘in banner games’, probably in MPU formats where your audience actually are. See above. (Much better result on the media placement than a standard banner. As long as the “play game” message is clear)
[PRICE 5/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 6/10]

5) Run an integrated promotion on highly trafficked a site that actually engages your audience. Support it with tools and content that makes their lives better. Maybe an upgrade to an existing avatar maker or a chance to be famous. (Giving your audience tools to enhance the experience they already value is the key point)
[PRICE 6/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 6/10]

6) Rip the good games from your client’s site and get them placed on highly trafficked (and mostly free) game sites. Freeloader, Addicting Games, Shockwave etc. (every kid likes games. These sites may be crowded, but they are popular. Hard to target a certain age or country though)
[PRICE 3/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 7/10]

7) Create a bespoke game a put it on Miniclip (known for high quality content and trusted. Not cheap to place a game but the numbers usually stack up. Sometimes double figure click-throughs and engagement times of over 10 minutes)
[PRICE 9/10] [EFFECTIVENESS 9/10]

Some take a fair while to build momentum. Some (banners) will die as soon as they stop running. Some, like Miniclip come on instantly with big numbers, so you’d better be ready to deal with them.

However it’s done, main point is to be certain of your end goal (or “what success looks like”) and to know EXACTLY who your audience is. Don’t assume it’s kids when it may well be parents that decide for them you need to reach. Use stats. Know what the new formats are. Know what the innovative new ‘cool things’ are. Know what the various creative delivery platforms are launching next. Know what partner sites want to achieve and try and help them achieve it, they may give you more promotion. And lastly, know where your audience actually is. I despair at Nielsen ratings and Net Promoter scores. They are wildly inaccurate for the kids market as they seem to include a fair amount of their parent’s activity too, so need to be backed up with a pinch of common sense.

Over the next few months, we (Digital Outlook) has a few varied and cunning marketing strategies in the kids space, so it’s a good chance to see how they perform against each other. Always keen to find new ways… as long as they hit target head-on. Will keep you posted.