Holiday Inn and Discovery partner

for summer promo

The Discovery Channel is launching a promotion called ‘Explore Your World’ that it hopes will enlighten vacationing kids with little-known facts about exotic animals. Upon checking into one of 1,000 participating Holiday Inns in the U.S. and Canada, children will receive an animal bean bag toy, crayons and an activity booklet. Families who pay their hotel bill with a Visa card will receive discount coupons for zoos across the U.S., long-distance coupons from MCI, special offers from Northwest Airlines, U.S. Airways, Hertz, Alamo, Crayola Kids magazine, Little Golden Books and Motophoto. In Holiday Inn restaurants, kids will receive an activity placemat, as well as a souvenir Coca-Cola cup. The promotion will run from now until September 7.

Magic School Bus gassing up for more promos

Gearing up for the move to Fox Kids Network this fall, Scholastic Entertainment has announced a major marketing and licensing initiative for Scholastic’s The Magic School Bus. Educational Insights has jumped on board to produce bulletin board sets and other teaching aids featuring the show to be sold directly to educational dealers, catalogues and parent/teacher stores. The live show based on the television series, Scholastic’s The Magic School Bus-Live!, will hit the road this summer and fall on a tour of major malls and arts centers in the U.S. Howard Johnson Hotels started a second ‘Kids Go Ho-Jo’ program in May that ties into a college sweepstakes, and Colgate-Palmolive will launch a major back-to-school promotion.

Power Wheels’ power banking promotion

To support its line of toy cars and trucks at the retail level, Fisher-Price is running its U.S. Savings Bond campaign again from October 1 to November 1, 1998. The promotion gives consumers the opportunity to receive a free US$50 Savings Bond when they buy any Power Wheels product over US$100. Last year, when the toy company gave away 40,000 bonds worth US$2 million, sales jumped by 70 percent. This is the second time this year that Fisher-Price is running the promotion.

Nickelodeon and Campbell Soup sign a hearty deal

Beginning in August, more than 18 million cans of Campbell’s Alphabet Soup will feature the character Blue from Nickelodeon’s hit preschool television series Blue’s Clues on the front of the can. Under the label, there will be one of six Blue’s Clues games that use invisible ink technology. Campbell’s will support the promotion with front-label communication, a national free-standing insert and in-store point-of-sale materials, and is also sponsoring the premiere issue of Blue’s Clues Magazine. Later this year, the soup giant will introduce a new promotional product called Campbell’s Rugrats Pasta with Chicken and Broth that features pasta shaped like the Rugrats characters.

Fox Kids helps kids cope

Fox Kids Network is producing a public-service campaign consisting of a 10-part series of messages designed to help preteens deal with mounting anxiety, stress, anger and peer pressure. The campaign, entitled ‘Check Yourself,’ will run through July and features an ensemble of six diverse kids who depict relevant problems in combination with an original contemporary music score. To support the campaign, printed messages will appear in Totally Fox Kids magazine and the series music will play on the Fox Kids Countdown radio show. Dr. Donna Mitroff, vice president of educational policies and program practices at Fox Kids Network, developed the idea through consultation with Dr. William Damon, director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence; Dr. Catherine Fuller, clinical psychologist; and Deborah Constance, founder and executive director of A Place Called Home for at-risk kids in South Central Los Angeles.

Kellogg promotes brand on Club K

Kellogg has launched Kellogg’s Club K

(http://freezone.com/kelloggs} in Curiocity’s FreeZone, an on-line community site for kids age eight to 12. Kellogg claims that this is the first time a consumer packaged-goods company has sponsored an on-line community site. This initiative allows the cereal company to capture the attention of a younger audience with interactive games. Kellogg will sponsor the site until the end of the year. Themed chats, on-line games starring Tony the Tiger and nutrition information will be included in the regular site fare.