Newspapers for Kids: Talk to Kids Every Day to Reach New Subscribers and to Improve Retention
Talking to readers in their 20s is too late. Reading habits have formed. It is at a much younger age that newspapers need to establish a relationship with readers. A challenge that The Miami Herald is attempting to achieve with three daily newspapers for kids ages 5 to 13 years old.
Establishing a relationship between a newspaper brand and the young readers of a community is the first target and long-term strategy of Daily 7, Daily 10 and Daily 13. Three age-specific daily newspapers that have been launched by The Miami Herald and the children’s publisher, Play Bac Presse, on Monday, April 4, 2005. Improving retention and acquiring new subscribers is the second target that should provide short-term results.
These newspapers are inserted free-of-charge into The Miami Herald home-delivered Monday through Friday in a test zone of 14,000 households. This test continues for five months in the Kendale Lakes area of Miami-Dade county. The goal is to evaluate the improvement in retention.
In addition, 25,000 copies are distributed to schools Monday through Friday to all kids in the test zone. They will be receiving them until the end of the school year. Parents will have to subscribe to The Miami Herald in order to continue receiving the newspapers for their kids. The goal is to acquire new subscribers.
Daily 7 is for readers ages 5 to 7, Daily 10 for ages 8 to 10 and Daily 13 for ages 11 to 13. In a tabloid format and full-color, they deliver news customized for each age group. “Kids have different centers of interest based on their age. It’s why we need separate newspapers.” explains Francois Dufour, Editor-in-chief of Play Bac Presse and of the French and American publications. The language and vocabulary are adapted to their reading levels. The difficult words are explained.
Play Bac Presse is an expert in reaching young audiences. It has been publishing four daily newspapers for kids for ten years in France. They have 200,000 subscribers. The company is also the co-inventor of Brain Quest, an educational trivia game in the US, that has sold around 25 million copies.
“Play Bac Presse has shown that once children in France get the paper, the parents keep buying it because they do not want to disappoint their children,” declared Tom Fiedler, The Miami Herald Executive Editor in the ASNE (American Society for News Editors) Reporter in Friday, April 15’s issue.
“If news organizations talk to kids, parents will develop a stronger relationship with their brand” confirms Jeff Mignon, CEO of 5W Mignon-Media, a New York-based media consultancy, that helped to create and launch the French kids’ newspapers and now the American ones. “Readers expect their newspapers to help make them smarter. Don’t you think that they are going to love you if you help to make their kids smarter? And don’t you think that newspaper brands are then going to benefit from this service?”.
The idea is to create a family community around news. “You have provided an excellent tool for family discussion at the dinner table and the format is excellent”, explains a mother in an email to The Miami Herald. Kids are interested in having a newspaper of their own written for them. The French success shows it. “All the articles caught my eye, and I couldn't help myself from reading almost all of them” comments a 13-year-old girl in another email to The Herald.
Parents feel the need to have help for their children. “My girls ages 7 and 9 really love having a section of the newspaper just for them. The articles are just the right length to be useful for school activities but short enough to keep them interested. Good way to reach out to kids and make reading fun!” said a mother in her email to the Florida newspaper.
Educators also are interested in supporting kids’ learning, reading and understanding of the world. “We have read the Daily 10 and Daily 7 during the last four days. It has told us many things happening in the world this week. It teaches us information like new vocabulary words that are highlighted like we highlight in our Reading class.” , witnesses a third grade teacher at an Elementary School in Miami.
In addition to free insertion to newspaper subscribers and school sampling, there are three other ways to use these daily newspapers for kids. First, marketing can offer them as a separate subscription. Second, marketing can also use them as a tool to transform single copy buyers or non-subscribers into 7-day subscribers through newsstand sampling and traditional direct marketing. Third, advertising can use these newspapers as a vehicle for local or regional advertising.
Want to join the test? Newspapers are free until the end of August 2005. Easy: Play Bac Presse USA will send you electronic files (PDF) ready for printing on your press. For more information: contact Nancy Wang 212-621-6965 or nwang@mignon-media.com / n.wang@playbac.fr.
Establishing a relationship between a newspaper brand and the young readers of a community is the first target and long-term strategy of Daily 7, Daily 10 and Daily 13. Three age-specific daily newspapers that have been launched by The Miami Herald and the children’s publisher, Play Bac Presse, on Monday, April 4, 2005. Improving retention and acquiring new subscribers is the second target that should provide short-term results.
These newspapers are inserted free-of-charge into The Miami Herald home-delivered Monday through Friday in a test zone of 14,000 households. This test continues for five months in the Kendale Lakes area of Miami-Dade county. The goal is to evaluate the improvement in retention.
In addition, 25,000 copies are distributed to schools Monday through Friday to all kids in the test zone. They will be receiving them until the end of the school year. Parents will have to subscribe to The Miami Herald in order to continue receiving the newspapers for their kids. The goal is to acquire new subscribers.
Daily 7 is for readers ages 5 to 7, Daily 10 for ages 8 to 10 and Daily 13 for ages 11 to 13. In a tabloid format and full-color, they deliver news customized for each age group. “Kids have different centers of interest based on their age. It’s why we need separate newspapers.” explains Francois Dufour, Editor-in-chief of Play Bac Presse and of the French and American publications. The language and vocabulary are adapted to their reading levels. The difficult words are explained.
Play Bac Presse is an expert in reaching young audiences. It has been publishing four daily newspapers for kids for ten years in France. They have 200,000 subscribers. The company is also the co-inventor of Brain Quest, an educational trivia game in the US, that has sold around 25 million copies.
“Play Bac Presse has shown that once children in France get the paper, the parents keep buying it because they do not want to disappoint their children,” declared Tom Fiedler, The Miami Herald Executive Editor in the ASNE (American Society for News Editors) Reporter in Friday, April 15’s issue.
“If news organizations talk to kids, parents will develop a stronger relationship with their brand” confirms Jeff Mignon, CEO of 5W Mignon-Media, a New York-based media consultancy, that helped to create and launch the French kids’ newspapers and now the American ones. “Readers expect their newspapers to help make them smarter. Don’t you think that they are going to love you if you help to make their kids smarter? And don’t you think that newspaper brands are then going to benefit from this service?”.
The idea is to create a family community around news. “You have provided an excellent tool for family discussion at the dinner table and the format is excellent”, explains a mother in an email to The Miami Herald. Kids are interested in having a newspaper of their own written for them. The French success shows it. “All the articles caught my eye, and I couldn't help myself from reading almost all of them” comments a 13-year-old girl in another email to The Herald.
Parents feel the need to have help for their children. “My girls ages 7 and 9 really love having a section of the newspaper just for them. The articles are just the right length to be useful for school activities but short enough to keep them interested. Good way to reach out to kids and make reading fun!” said a mother in her email to the Florida newspaper.
Educators also are interested in supporting kids’ learning, reading and understanding of the world. “We have read the Daily 10 and Daily 7 during the last four days. It has told us many things happening in the world this week. It teaches us information like new vocabulary words that are highlighted like we highlight in our Reading class.” , witnesses a third grade teacher at an Elementary School in Miami.
In addition to free insertion to newspaper subscribers and school sampling, there are three other ways to use these daily newspapers for kids. First, marketing can offer them as a separate subscription. Second, marketing can also use them as a tool to transform single copy buyers or non-subscribers into 7-day subscribers through newsstand sampling and traditional direct marketing. Third, advertising can use these newspapers as a vehicle for local or regional advertising.
Want to join the test? Newspapers are free until the end of August 2005. Easy: Play Bac Presse USA will send you electronic files (PDF) ready for printing on your press. For more information: contact Nancy Wang 212-621-6965 or nwang@mignon-media.com / n.wang@playbac.fr.
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