Almost Naked Animals could be the next big toy licence
Every month we conduct exclusive research for Toy News – the leading publication for anyone working in the toy industry. In October we quizzed kids about their favourite TV shows and toys.
We wanted to see which current shows have the best toys and what shows children think could make great toys in the future. Who is going to be the next Spongebob?
Of all the shows the children were asked about, it transpired that CITV’s Almost Naked Animals was the show most kids wanted to see as a toy. The show scored highest in both show popularity and toy preference.
Of the shows that already have toys, Spongebob Squarepants was the most popular with 57 per cent of children watching the little yellow water dweller.
You can view the report online by visiting Toy News.
Bookseller Children’s Conference
On September 29th Dubit presented ”A story about storytelling – Books, cross-media and The Swiss Family Robinson” at the Children’s Book Conference, run by The Bookseller.
The Seminar combined new research with existing experiences to outline how young people want to consume stories. The Swiss Family Robinson, which turns 200 years-old next year, was chosen as a case study.
Our presentation used original research, focus groups, and knowledge learned through working with young people for over a decade. The result was a guide on how to take children’s stories online.
The video includes clips from our focus groups which are represented as screen-shots on Slideshare.
The presentation is available below as a slideshare and you can also watch the video on this page. If you want more information on how to take your stories online then get in touch. You can also subscribe to our YouTube and Slideshare profiles for future presentations.
Blockbuster toys
Every month we conduct exclusive research for Toy News – the leading publication for anyone working in the toy industry.
September saw us find out what children thought of this summer’s blockbuster movies. If you thought competition was tight in the film industry, you really need to look the fight to be biggest toy.
The most played with film toy was Harry Potter, which was played with by 19.12 per cent of children. This was followed by Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean who were separated by less than half a per cent.
If you want to know more and find out which comic books created the best toys and at what age children buy Transformers, see the full report on Toy News.
BBC News covers Dubit’s work with young people
Young people are central to our work at Dubit, whether it’s research, marketing or building virtual worlds. We were even set up by teenagers over ten years ago! Our work with them continues today and has been recognised by the BBC as they featured our investment in youth through our work with apprentices.
The video is below. For images from the day visit our Flickr page.
Youth Trends – Batmanning
Are you still planking? Get with the times! Nobody planks now, it’s all about Batmanning!
Definition – Batmanning: Hanging upside down from something by the strength of your feet and ankles.
Who’s doing it? Teens who grew board of planking, and wanted something edgier and more vertical.
What is it? Put simply, it’s vertical planking. Instead of lying flat like a plank, participants hang from bars and other random footholds – err just like a bat would. (Not to be confused with the “suddenly disappearing without a trace and then becoming unreachable” which, by the way, is another use for the verb Batmanning).
So who started it? The Lins Brothers from Milwaukee created the first Batmanning video which currently stands at 740,350 views on YouTube.
It’s a bit dangerous, isn’t it? Yep, falling right on the top of your head can do some damage. A quick search on YouTube will bring up plenty examples of failed Batmanning.
How hard can it be? Check out this video from three teenage girls and you will see how hard.
So they’re extreme sports guys? Not really; the rest of their videos pretty much just involve them miming to pop music while dancing around topless. They just seem to have got lucky with Batmanning.
Who should I watch? The Lins Brothers have really set the standard but the most popular Batmanning videos on YouTube are of Batmanning fails.
Will it last? It has a lot of competition. Following the rise of planking, we now have Owling (sitting on things like an owl), Leisure Diving (jumping in water while relaxing) and Horsemanning (pretending to be a separated body and head).
Carry on the debate on Twitter with the #dubittrends hashtag.
Youth Trends – Hauling
Teenage girls talking about their High Street bargains? No it isn’t the latest show to come to MTV, it’s a new youth trend taking over YouTube!
Definition - haul: In short: a shopping spree a vlog titled “Makeup Haul” or “(Store Name) Haul” is a video showing a shopping spree in that given area, showing products or clothing that will usually be featured in future How To, or tutorial videos. (Source Urban Dictionary)
Who’s doing it? –Teenage girls. It’s big in America and is a gaining momentum in the UK.
What is it? – The trend for teenage girls to show off their latest purchases through the medium of YouTube. Sometimes it’s bragging about bargains, reviewing clothes, or just showing the store bags they have and what’s inside.
So it’s an American thing? The biggest Haulers are American but it’s by no means unique to the US with UK teens getting involved too.
Are we talking about designer products? As most of the products are bought by the Haulers, it’s usually restricted to the High Street. Brands such as H&M and Forever 21 seem to attract most of the attention.
They’re being paid for this? No, not often: most just like to talk about their shopping. The fact that the girls are spending their own money adds to the charm.
Are brands involved at all? Some brands (mostly US ones) have started to see the benefit of targeting Haulers: these include Urban Outfitters , Forever 21 and cosmetics brand ELF. Some simply send the Haulers free products, others host Hauling competitions.
Does this sound familiar? It does. They are the female equivalent of the men unboxing videos they record themselves opening their latest gear or gadget.
Who should I watch? The Queen of the Haulers is Blair Fowler, otherwise known as JuicyStar07. Her videos attract over half a million views and she has been nominated for a Teen Choice Award, which she explains at a frantic pace in this video. Most Haulers don’t get close to this level of fame but you might want to check out UK based Dollybowbow and HollyYMBB who have 35,986 and 8,822 subscribers respectively.
Will it last? As long as there are teenage girls who enjoy shopping and making videos then this trend has legs.
Carry on the debate on Twitter with the #dubittrends hashtag.
Ten things you didn’t know about Moshi Monsters
Since beginning in 2007 Moshi Monsters has risen to become an online game and children’s social network with over 50 million members worldwide. There is a good chance that if you have children they probably have a Moshi of their own, as half of the country’s six to twelve year-olds are members.
As Moshi Monsters gets tipped to become one of the must have toys for Christmas 2011 we present you with ten things you probably didn’t know about the Moshi phenomen.
Before it went social Moshi Monsters was facing bankruptcy
Mind Candy, the company behind Moshi Monsters, hasn’t always had it so good. Speaking to The Independent, Mind Candy CEO, Michael Acton Smith said: “The real tipping point came in 2009 when we allowed kids to connect with each other and gave them a forum to discuss things. Until then, it had been a solo experience and we were on the edge of bankruptcy. It was when we added the social element that membership really took off.”
Education was the focus
When the game was built in 2007 the focus was on educating children. Acton Smith claims that teachers and parents loved it but kids just rolled their eyes.
Low subscriber numbers isn’t an issue
Only a “single-digit percentage” of Moshi’s users are paying members. But that is not a problem says CEO Acton Smith “Because we’ve got a relatively low cost base, you only need a few percent to be insanely profitable.”
Built for homework
A player’s ability to earn Rox (the virtual currency in Moshi Monsters) lessens after fifteen minutes since the game is optimised for short-term play. Mind Candy says this is to encourage children to do homework and play in other ways.
Breathing life into print
The Moshi Monsters magazine is the UK’s highest-selling kids’ publication. Its first issue, published in February this year sold out, despite printing over 80,000 copies. As well as comic strips, competitions, gameplay tips and other fun stuff it also has unique codes that unlock virtual items and other cool Moshi content.
A game by any other name…
Moshi Monsters was going to be called Puzzle Monsters but changed to Moshi Monsters to make it more suitable for a global brand.
Bright Sparks
In June this year one of Mind Candy’s original investors, Spark Ventures, sold half its stake in the company for $200m – 14 times what they money it invested in 2004.
A quick fix
The average game session is only ten minutes.
Class of 2007
Moshi Monsters was tipped for success by the Guardian in 2007. It was included in a list of hit websites to watch out for in 2008, alongside Twitter and Etsy.
Must have toys
Moshi Monsters and their babies (Moshlings) have made Hamleys coverted top ten list of toys for Christmas 2011. They sit alongside blockbuster film figures like Transformers and Cars 2 as well as festive staples like Barbie and Lego.
For more info on social games visit the Dubit Platform blog or subscribe to Dubit’s This Week in Social Games newsletter.
Dubit through the eyes of a six-year-old
Despite working with young people on a daily basis there are still times when we are truly surprised by how their minds work. This was one of the reasons why we sponsored Jack Henderson to design a new Dubit logo for us.
Jack is a brave six-year-old boy who, along with his brothers Noah and Toby, has been looked after by Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital. To say thank you, Jack is raising money for them by drawing pictures in return for a donation. Want to see a drawing of a pig drinking beer or a sausage dog pooing in puddles? Then check out Jack’s blog. At first he set out to raise £100 but he is now chasing £20,000. Go Jack!
So, armed with only the description below, Jack and his crayons got busy and came up with the picture at the bottom of this page. Don’t worry, there is an explanation too. Needless to say we were intrigued with his approach and the thought that went into the design….
Thanks, Jack, and best of luck with your work.
Want Jack to draw something for you? Visit his blog.
Here’s what we gave him: Can you draw us a new logo? Our company is called Dubit, we’re a youth communications agency and we work with young people in research, marketing and games. We work a lot with young people and families so maybe you want to include that in your design.
d: is a walkie talkie to help people speak to each other
u: cup of coffee for when people take a break
B: pair of boobies as babies use these for milk
i: a cannon to shoot the baddies
t: the cross that Jesus Christ died on
Dubit CEO appointed to Advertising Association’s Children’s Panel
Dubit CEO, Ian Douthwaite, has been appointed by the Advertising Association (AA) to its new youth advertising industry panel.
The panel will provide industry leadership on the way in which advertising and marketing communications engage with children and young people. Its first task will be to address the specific concerns outlined in the Bailey Review including ‘sexual imagery’ on billboards, the use of brand ambassadors and peer-to-peer techniques, the harmonisation of the age of a child and improving industry and regulatory understanding of parental concerns.
Ian’s appointment follows Dubit’s work with the Advertising Association on the development of the Check website – a toolkit for anyone whose business involves marketing and communication with children.
Following his appointment Ian said: “As highlighted in the Bailey Review, the digital age presents new challenges for the marketing industry and rightly places greater responsibility on the shoulders of those communicating with children. As ethical marketers we must ensure that we meet these challenges and face the responsibilities. I’m looking forward to continuing Dubit’s work with the Advertising Association and advancing ethical practices.”
The panel will comprise of a small number of senior practitioners drawn from relevant companies across advertisers, social media, mobile, internet, youth marketing agencies and the internet. Advice will also be sought from independent academics and children’s and parenting groups. Douthwaite will join Andria Vilder of EMI on the panel, which is being chaired by Mark Lund, former Chief Executive of the COI and co-founder of the Now agency.
Location services failing to grab teens’ attention
Research carried out by Dubit shows that location based social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook’s Places have failed to engage young people, with many seeing little point in the applications and almost half worried about sharing their location.
The research was carried out using our Direct to Youth Omnibus which surveyed 1,000 teens aged between 11-18 years of age with an equal balance between gender and age. The Dubit Youth Informer panel is the largest of its kind in the UK.
Awareness
Awareness of location applications was low throughout the sample, with 48 per cent of those surveyed claiming to have never heard of Places, Foursquare or the less popular Gowalla and SCVNGR. Unsurprisingly Facebook’s Places was recognised more than any other service with 44 per cent being aware of it compared to 27 per cent having heard of Foursquare. Despite losing out to Facebook, it’s an impressive result for Foursquare when it’s considered that the service hasn’t benefited from the initial install base that aided the launch of Facebook’s product. Awareness of Gowalla and SCVNGR is at 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
Awareness of all services increased with age with Foursquare seeing the biggest difference. 20 per cent of 11-14 year olds were aware of Foursquare compared to 38% of 17-18 year olds. Places saw an increase of 12 per cent across the same age ranges.
Usage
Despite Foursquare’s relatively high awareness, its usage is poor. Of the teens that are aware of the products, five per cent use Foursquare, compared to 30 per cent who use Places. Once again, Gowalla and SCVNGR both barely registered with only 1 per cent and 0 per cent of the teens using either.
A significant 67 per cent of the sample didn’t use any of the services with girls being less interested than boys with 76 per cent not using any location application. This is compared to 60 per cent of boys who despite being aware of location services didn’t use them.
Reasons against
Over half (58 per cent) of respondents said they don’t use location services, citing that they ‘didn’t see the point’. Despite teens being seen as careless with their online privacy, 45 per cent are avoiding location services as they consider them unsafe. Other reasons given included 28 per cent believing their phones couldn’t run the software and 16 per cent saying they don’t use them as their friends don’t either.
Indifference
Young people’s indifference to location services was highlighted when asked to score the services they are aware of out of five (‘one’ being pointless and’ five’ attributed to them loving it). Across all four services a score of three was the most frequent, indicating that they neither loved nor hated the products.
At the lower end of the spectrum a score of one or two was awarded by 40 per cent of respondents to Places, 47 per cent to Foursquare, 33 per cent to Gowalla, and 48 per cent to SCVNGR. These scores were only given by respondents who were aware of the named service.
Reasons for adoption
The most popular reasons for the adoption of location services were that users found them fun (48 per cent) and like their friends to know where they are (45 per cent).
For teens, boasting about their location and social standing is much more important than the other benefits of the services, with special offers (14 per cent), getting tips (12 per cent), and points and mayorships (12 per cent) coming far down users list of priorities.
Peter Robinson, head of research at Dubit says: “When Places launched much of the criticism was focused at its lack of gamification – it just didn’t look fun. As we can now see, this doesn’t matter to teens who would rather boast about where they are and who they are with; all benefits that come from being on the largest social network.
“Ultimately teens just don’t see the point of these offerings. Perhaps when Facebook’s Deals product gains momentum this will change things and young people may be driven by discounts but at the moment the brands who are using these platforms, and the platform owners need to be telling teens why they should be using them and how they can do so safely.”
