I'm excited to announce that Tina So, the Interactive Marketing Leader for P&G North America's Health and Well-Being business (which includes Beinggirl.com) will be joining the Old School to New School panel at the Ypulse Tween Mashup. (Full disclosure: Beinggirl.com is sponsoring the Totally Wired Parent/Educator Tour.) I've actually been really fascinated by Beinggirl.com's blending of health information, community and entertainment as a way to build its feminine care brands with tween girls, and I think Tina will bring an interesting perspective to the online branded community discussion.

In other Tween Mashup speaker news, check out this interview with Joi Podgorny all about kids, tweens and online communities. Joi will be leading a session with Zoey's Room founder Erin Reilly called "Marketing to Tweens with Parental Consent Plus Age Verification that Works."

Finally, I want to thank all of our friends who are helping to get the word out, especially our newest friend, Cynopsis Kids, which is pretty much THE newsletter to get if you work in the kids/licensing/tv space. I also want to thank:

Ziff Davis/Digital Life
Digital Media Wired/The Millennials
The Experiential Marketing Forum
Youth Markets Alert
New Moon

The "early adopter" rate ends Saturday, so register now. Plus RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer sponsored by MyYearbook and NGT at Bongo if you haven't already (this is open to all Ypulse readers, not just Tween Mashup attendees).

Posted by anastasia at 05:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's funny to think about Pokemon being an "old school" brand, but the game has been around for over 10 years! Since its early days on the Game Boy, Pokemon has become a full blown media franchise with anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, movies and more. I'm excited to announce that Lawrence Neves, the editorial director for Pokemon.com will be joining the Old School To New School Panel at the Ypulse Tween Mashup. Just one more reason to take advantage of the "early adopter" rate and register today.

For Ypulse readers already registered or planning to register, we will be reprising our hugely successful "user generated" lunch discussions. This means you can suggest a topic related to tweens and technology and moderate a roundtable discussion at lunch. Sample topics could be:

The future of tween magazines
What is developmentally appropriate for 8-13 year olds online?
How to reach moms and tweens
How to leverage different platforms for your tween oriented characters
Tweens and video games - which games are popular and why

Feel free to grab one of these and offer to moderate! Just email me.

We also added a new sponsor! Yes, my conference is being sponsored by a 17-year-old superstar -- Whateverlife will be joining us as an exhibitor at the Tween Mashup.

Finally, don't forget to RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer at Bongo (sponsored by MyYearbook and Fleishman Hillard's NGT). It will be full soon!

Posted by anastasia at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tween girls love avatars. It's paper dolls gone virtual, and in the past year or so this space has exploded. While many of these sites cater to 13 and up (Meez, Zwinktopia, IMVU, Gaia), there are a handful that are kid-friendly and COPPA compliant, and Cartoon Doll Emporium is one of the larger sites (as is Stardoll, who will also be at the Tween Mashup). I did a quick interview with Evan Bailyn, the founder and CEO of Cartoon Doll Emporium, to find out more about their site and why they went the kid-friendly route.

Ypulse: What was the inspiration behind Cartoon Doll Emporium -- is this part of your "Peter Pan" complex ;-)?

Evan Bailyn Indeed, it is. Peter Pan Syndrome, to me, means living in your own world, apart from the societal mores that adults like to impose. I believe everyone has their own reality, and CDE is a reflection of that. Our site is going to be more and more a place where kids have control of their experience - a safe make-believe world.

YP: Why did you decide to make it tween friendly/COPPA compliant vs. going the 13 and up route?

EB: I wanted to include kids under 13 because kids imaginations are very fertile at younger ages and I think it is a super demographic to work with. Kids ages 6 - 14 are sophisticated in knowing what they like and don't like but when they find something that appeal to them, they can really fall in love with it. I've found that out from CDE's fan base.

YP: What's the most popular feature or game on your site? Why do you think it's so popular?

EB: Our superdolls are the most popular games on our site because they give kids hundreds of different clothing and accessory options. Kids come to CDE primarily because they love dress up games and we create more of them than any other site on the internet.

YP: Do you moderate your forums? How do you handle community management?

EB: We have six full-time moderators that cover the site 24/7. We also have over a dozen "junior police" - older kids that have earned moderating positions - that sweep the site on a granular level. We strive to be a leader in safety.

YP: What's new or coming soon on Cartoon Doll Emporium that you think Ypulse readers should know about?

EB: A ton of things are coming in the next two months. We are referring to this upcoming fall as the CDE Renaissance due to all of the new features debuting. I don't want to reveal too much, but our fans can definitely expect brand-new profiles where they can display all kinds of personal creations and make-believe items. We are also coming out with artificially intelligent pets that learn from their past experiences and play uniquely with other pets. There are at least ten more new features, but again, I have to keep hush-hush about them for now.

The "early adopter discount" ends September 15th, so register today! And RSVP for the evening event at Bongo (it's an "intimate" venue so the list will be full soon).

Posted by anastasia at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm really excited to announce that our afternoon keynote interview at the Ypulse Tween Mashup will be with Edith Bellinghausen, Vice President of New Media at Kidz Bop. In many ways, Kidz Bop is the little compilation CD that could...and could and could. They're right behind Disney in tween music domination and have launched a kid-friendly video site to support the franchise. Just like the big Mashup in July, our very good friends at Gorilla Soapbox will be recording these sessions for our virtual attendees to watch later. Since I'll be interviewing Edith, if you have questions you think I should ask, send them my way. We may have one or two more speakers to announce, but the agenda is set. Register today and take and advantage of the "early adopter" rates.

And just like at the July Mashup, we plan to have "user-generated" lunch roundtable discussions. So if you're planning on attending and would like to lead one, email me! We'll be pinging registered attendees on this soon...

Finally, don't forget to RSVP for the Ypulse Mixer Friday evening from 5-7 p.m. at Bongo sponsored by MyYearbook and Fleishman Hillard's NGT. Space is filling up very fast. This event is open to Ypulse readers with Tween Mashup attendees getting first dibs.

Posted by anastasia at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There has been so much buzz about how kids are getting their first cell phones younger and younger inspiring the need for "parental controls." In fact AT&T just announced it is launching "Smart Limits," with options like limiting talk time, text messages, instant messages, and Web content and downloads. Of course, well before AT&T's announcement, kajeet was offering all of this to parents (plus tween friendly content). Daniel Neal will be presenting a case study (sponsored by Swivel) about kajeet at the Ypulse Tween Mashup on September 28th in NYC. Register now (for the "early adopter" discount) and learn more about what kajeet is doing in the tween mobile space.

Ypulse: Playing devil's advocate: Do tweens really need their own cell phones?

Daniel Neal: There's no denying that almost every tween wants a cell phone, but no, not all tweens need one. We don't advocate that. In our society, many factors make cell phones a useful and powerful tool for kids and families, one that can enhance convenience, connectedness and safety. Every family will decide for itself whether cell phones work for their kids. At kajeet, we've put a lot of thought and effort into making sure families and kids can customize their kajeet cell phone service to meet their particular needs, and to ensure that the content available on kajeet cell phones is appropriate for kids.

YP: How did you guys come up with your little alien-like characters?

DN: kajeet's six little dudes represent six different personalities in which almost all kids can see themselves. They are featured throughout our marketing campaigns and in our service itself, an ever-present reminder of who our company serves.

YP: How do you position kajeet against competitors like Disney Mobile?

DN: kajeet is different because it is a pay-as-you-go service with no long-term contracts, no need for mom or dad to switch their plan, and no activation or cancellation or other hidden fees. Our service plan and Wallet Manager enable families to help kids budget responsibly and for parents to always get through to their children. kajeet is the only cell phone service truly made from a kid's point of view. Our services, handsets and content are all about putting kids' needs and interests first, while always being thoughtful from a parent's perspective.

YP: What are the top three features parents say they want in a phone/plan? What about tweens?

DN: Parents - affordability, ease-of-use/simplicity, reliability

Tweens - cool-looking (and not babyish) handsets, lots of features (text messaging, IM, relevant games and ringtones, a camera, alarm clock), the ability to personalize their handset and service

YP: Tell me about your venture into Whyville (another Mashup speaker)...

DN: We partnered with Whyville because together we empower kids to communicate with each other in new and exciting ways. We consider our partnership, which is fairly new, a success -- within the first four weeks of opening, tens of thousands of Whyville citizens had visited the "kajeet Chat Factory" and discovered the fun and useful things they can do there.

YP: Anything else you think Ypulse readers should know?

DN: kajeet is much more than "just a cell phone company." We are all about providing kids and their families with mobile computing platforms that are always networked, and we do this in a way that always puts kids first and thoughtfully addresses the issue of children and technology.

Posted by anastasia at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a quick post to remind Ypulse readers to register now for the Ypulse Tween Mashup happening on September 28th in NYC. We just confirmed Evan Bailyn, the CEO of Cartoon Doll Emporium (a tween site that boasts 4 million unique visitors, 90 million page views, and 2 billion hits each month!) for the New School panel. You can read more about Evan at his personal site here.

I'm also excited to announce Pay Jr. as an exhibitor and break sponsor. I'm also excited to announce that we will be doing a post Tween Mashup Ypulse happy hour at a location TBD on the west side. MyYearbook has signed up to sponsor drinks and food (Yay!). This event will be open to any Ypulse readers, but conference attendees will get priority on the RSVP list if it fills up. Look for an official announcement on this next week.

Posted by anastasia at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Ypulse Tween Mashup lineup just keeps getting better and better. Late last week we confirmed two more speakers for the Old School To New School panel. Mark William Hansen is a director at the LEGO group who has been leading the development of their new Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) called LEGO Universe. Joining Mark on the panel is Molly Chase, who is an executive producer at Cartoon Network in the new media group where she oversees the creation of interactive and emerging media entertainment offerings based on Cartoon Network characters and properties, including mobile content, online gaming, broadband video and popular Internet sites including CartoonNetwork.com. Both Mark and Molly are joining Bryon Cahill, who is the editor of Weekly Reader's READ Magazine. The panel is being moderated by Jupiter Research's David Card. The idea behind this diverse panel is to talk to established "old school" brands (television, games, magazines) and find out how they are leveraging technology to reach totally wired tweens.

The Ypulse Tween Mashup is the first b-to-b event to specifically focus on how 8-13 year olds are using technology and what media, marketers and .orgs are doing to reach them. If your company is focused on reaching tweens digitally, and you would like to deliver a sponsored case study or exhibit at the event, please email Charles Pelton. Register now for the "early adopter" discount.

Posted by anastasia at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Ypulse Tween Mashup program is really beginning to come together. I'm really excited to announce that we just confirmed Kyra E. Reppen from Nick/Neopets as our morning keynote. We're still working on filling out our panels and confirming our afternoon keynote (Note to self: August is the worst month ever to try to confirm speakers). Here's more about Kyra from her bio:

Kyra leads and manages all day-to-day operations, creative direction and business strategy for Neopets. With more than 40 million global memberships registered, Neopets is the largest global youth-focused virtual world. Prior to Neopets, Kyra was Vice President and General Manager of Nickjr.com, where she oversaw strategy, creative and editorial. Kyra repositioned Nickjr.com from a television promotional site to the number one parenting website for parents of young children. In addition, Kyra created and launched Nick Jr. ParentsTV, made-for-the-web broadband video for parents; produced the first-ever 3D online games for preschoolers and led the networks' preschool introduction to wireless, interactive TV and innovative online gaming experiences.

In other speaker news: New School panelist Stardoll is launching "StarPlaza," an interactive shopping galleria where real fashion labels will be able to roll out virtual collections for members to buy and dress up their virtual avatars. They didn't mention any fashion brands yet in their email, but I have a feeling they won't have any trouble attracting them. I can think of no better upsell than being able to dress your avatar in couture.

Fellow New School panelist Whyville just received $440,000 in grants from the Texas Workforce Commission to build Whyville Biotech and the Whyville Advanced Manufacturing Center. Wow.

More good reasons to register now for the early adopter rate. And, don't forget, we're offering a special package with our friends from Digital Media Wire where you can attend both The Millennials conference and the Tween Mashup. Finally, when you attend the Tween Mashup, you also get a V.I.P. tour of the Digital Life floor where all the latest gear and gadgetry will be displayed.

Posted by anastasia at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been hard at work building our program for the next Ypulse Tween Mashup. I wanted to thank everyone who has been suggesting speakers and just clarify how we're defining tweens since the age range is a bit of a moving target in the media. Since we're focusing on technology, we decided to narrow the age range to 8-13 and limit the web sites that are speaking to those that are COPPA compliant. My thinking is that even though sites that are 13 and up may attract the "tween" demographic, I wanted the focus here to be really clear. These are sites specifically designed for this age group, not that happen to also attract them. We are keeping all of the speaker requests coming in for future events including next year's big Mashup in July.

We just added Addie Swartz, CEO, of B*tween Productions, to our new school panel -- Addie will be joining Jim Bower and Mattias Miksche to talk about how these new school brands are using technology to reach tweens. Beacon Street Girls has been an indie success story in the book publishing business and is expanding their online community in a big way. More about Addie:

B*tween Productions is the home of the Beacon Street Girls award-winning book series and Web site for preteen girls. Addie created the Beacon Street Girls in 2002 to provide positive role models and healthy messages for tween girls, whatever their challenges. Today, there are 10 Beacon Street Girls books with more than 500,000 copies in print. There are "super-fans" in 95 countries and BSG related products are sold at more than 850 independent gift shops and through the COPPA-compliant Beacon Street Girl website. Addie founded BrightIdeas in 1992. The company sold educational software to parents and teachers and was acquired by Addison Wesley in 1996.

We also added Bryon Cahill, the editor of Weekly Reader's Read Magazine, to the Old School to New School panel. Weekly Reader is a pretty old school magazine brand, and I have been impressed with how they have dedicated themselves to their new blog "WORD." I don't have his "professional" bio yet, but his WORD bio is pretty funny:

Bryon is the editor of READ Magazine. His whole life has been devoted to reading. In fact, he started reading before he was even born! Back in the middle ages, when Bryon was nothing more than well... nothing... he would read constantly. OK, that's an impossible lie. You got me. Wait a minute. Are we live? Turn off the camera! Turn it off!

We have confirmed that a very senior exec from Nickelodeon will deliver our opening keynote and are working hard to confirm an afternoon keynote from Disney. And...superstar Jupiter analyst David Card will moderate the Old School to New School Panel while kid/tween community guru Izzy Neis will moderate the New School panel.

I'm also happy to announce that Swivel has signed on once again as a sponsor of the event, which includes a case study slot. I was really excited when they told us they wanted to give their case study slot to Kajeet. If you've been watching the evolving tween mobile space, Kajeet has emerged as one of the leaders. They did a recent partnership with Whyville and also launched dudemail, which is powered by 2007 Mashup exhibitor Oddcast. Kajeet's CEO Daniel Neal will deliver the case study.

There are three sponsored case studies available, so if your agency or brand wants "15 minutes of fame" to talk about how you successfully engage tweens with technology, please get in touch with Charles Pelton at Modern Media. We're also looking for a "happy hour" sponsor -- the Javits isn't exactly the most hip environment to network, so we'd like to go somewhere cool in Chelsea after the event to keep the conversation going and the drinks flowing.

I also want to let you know about a special deal we have with Digital Media Wire. They are putting on their Millennials Conference in Manhattan right before the Tween Mashup. If you look at our agendas, you'll see there is almost no overlap -- the exception is Stardoll, but I think seeing Mattias demo Stardoll at Millennials will be very different than seeing him in conversation with other New Schoolers and YOU about under 13s specifically. There is no overlap by design because we want to encourage you to go to both events and are offering a discount to anyone attending the Millennials event. Of course, they are also offering a discount to anyone who wants to attend the Tween Mashup. We also are offering a discounted non-profit rate. The early adopter discount ends September 15. So register today!

Posted by anastasia at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been busy confirming speakers for the Tween Mashup in New York and wanted to start sharing a few with you. For the The New School panel, we have confirmed Dr. Jim Bower from Whyville. I met Jim at the San Francisco Mashup in person and was impressed. He's a computer scientist who has created a kid-safe site and who is not afraid of working with brands. Remember, Whyville was the first world to integrate flying Scions into its world.

We also just confirmed Mattias Miksche, the founder of Stardoll, one of the fastest growing virtual paper doll sites that is open to kids under 13. You can read the Ypulse interview with Mattias here.

Izzy Neis, community guru from Star Farm Productions will be moderating that discussion. We will have more panelists to announce soon.

We have also confirmed former Star Farm vet Joi Pogorny and Zoey's Room founder Erin Reilly for the jointly led session:

Marketing to Tweens with Parental Consent Plus Age Verification that Works

* How to market to tweens and be COPPA compliant
* How to keep kids in - and adults out

Joi is a COPPA expert and Erin has teamed with another company to provide age verification on Zoey's Room that works.

We have loads of invites out and will keep you posted on more confirmations as they roll in. Take advantage of the early adopter discount and register today.

Posted by anastasia at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)