AMERIKIDS® SUBSIDIARY MARKETING
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THE BRAND WAGON |
AMERIKIDS®
BRAND TRADEMARK
FOR A SERIES OF
MEDIA, GAMES AND CONSUMER PRODUCTS:
This
is our world-wide subsidiary licensing and marketing strategy:
AMERIKIDS plans to create a "tornado" market; a product line that creates a massive purchasing binge. We believe that AMERIKIDS products can change the status quo. With a mass market adoption of the AMERIKIDS® trademark - a purchasing storm will ensue.
Our company believes that the underlying concepts of the AMERIKIDS® trademark is exciting to youngsters and their families. We have found that these concepts are attractive to all Americans and to countries interested in America, world wide. The focus here is on books, board games, and other products. We believe that after launching the CD-ROM game, that this is the time to manufacture subsidiary products. Our philosophy is that subsidiary products can be produced and distributed to take advantage of multiple marketing strategies.
We believe that the television and video subsidiary markets are powerful and should be pursued forcefully at this juncture.
 | AMERIKIDS is a five pronged interactive adventure product. |
| AMERIKIDS is a role playing, theme-based game series. |
| AMERIKIDS is action-packed true adventures. |
| AMERIKIDS empowers you by identifying with its real life heroes. |
| AMERIKIDS exposes you to history and social causes. |
| AMERIKIDS encourages you to contribute to society. |
HOW IS AMERIKIDS DIFFERENT?
| There is no product that tells history through the eyes of young people and diverse American cultures. |
| There is no product that empowers the player to get involved with social causes like this one. |
| There is no product that makes you identify with real adolescents quite this way. |
| There is no product that integrates multi-media and history as a cool, courageous, first person concept. |
BENEFITS OF AMERIKIDS:
| Motivates youth to get involved with society. |
| High learning and entertainment values. |
| Emphasis on personal development, self esteem, self-worth, empowerment. |
| Personalizes history allowing an identification that makes learning exciting. |
| Builds patriotism and respect for Law. |
| Effective educational tool
for both the home and schools. |
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I. AMERIKIDS CLUBON LINE SERVICES: |
Computers are everywhere- in the home and in schools. It is today's student who is re-mapping the requirements and locations for learning, and they are often interested in sharing this knowledge on a global scale.
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The producers of the AMERIKIDS Series realize that through the use of Internet On Line Services, BBS chat rooms, E-Mail, and the World Wide Web, many more users will have an outlet to converse and even down load games. By searching for opportunities on-line, players can share clues and even participate in contests to win prizes and trips to actual sites visited in the computer game. |
The AMERIKIDS CLUB On Line can be hyper-linked to include teenage resource directories on social movements, information communities, and an E-mail service for chat pals, all easily accessed by going on line through an interactive multimedia home page.
The student in the classroom is in an area that fits well with the AMERIKIDS® subsidiary licensing concept. This includes books, CD-ROM guides and on line services. Teachers who continually use curriculum guidelines when ordering new textbooks, may now be offered additional updated materials in the form of supplementary workbooks, teacher guides and student guides.
The wide range of characters in each Amerikids Series Title suggests that we can author a plethora of interesting biographical novelizations. For PONY EXPRESS RIDER, we utilize the personalities in the "Pony Express Biography List" including such famous names as Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, The Grimke Sisters, Sarah Winnemucca, William Wells Brown .
Personal identification with product trademarks encourages tie-in product purchases.
Every title proposed in the AMERIKIDS series has the potential to become a brand identifiable product in other mediums. Our studies show, through reference and guidelines, how multi-national companies take comparable children's themes and transpose them into differentiating packaged products. We hope to show through example, that if there is proven success in one medium - that there is comparable growth through ancillary and subsidiary merchandising in another. Even more so, we have found that ancillary merchandising serves to advertise and promote the primary product, creating increased momentum for the entire franchise.
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NOVELIZATIONS AND ACTIVITY BOOKS |
Books that can be cross
merchandised are one of the best sources for projecting the myriad ways in which the AMERIKIDS® trademark can be utilized. Books and board game products
can be produced for the eight year old and under, and also for those eight to twelve, and
even twelve to adult level.
Some examples:
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utilizing high quality artist renderings, some of the famous AMERIKIDS characters and themes can artfully be included in an edition specially prepared, edited, and bound for a specific age group. 2. A Companion Photographic AMERIKIDS Book: profusely highlighted with enlarged color stills from the CD- ROM version. Targeted for the child who appreciates more realism and authentic novelization. Ages 6-8 year olds. 3. An AMERIKIDS Picture Book: Sturdily bound for younger readers who should appreciate more simple and concise illustrations with text that appeals to this age group. Age 6-8 year olds. |
a relief map and geographic study which can be decorated with many reusable stickers, flags, animals, historical structures, and natural wonders.
4. An AMERIKIDS Book of Characters: presenting some of the major characters in each AMERIKIDS Series Title. The launching product being the Pony Express, where we plan to focus on Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Black Kettle. These books focus in on the traits and personalities that made each character legendary and unique. These characters are presented with a problem or issue of their day that they must solve with characteristic resolution. They face the unknown mysteries of their era with a mixture of courage and personality.
5. The AMERIKIDS PONY EXPRESS Nature Guide: explore nature and discover the answer to questions about trees, leaves, flowers, birds, and insects. For the first title, we feature nature, circa 1861, in the Pony Express Territories. 6. The AMERIKIDS Movable Art Book: a sturdy tab book with movable art, such as push and pull activities for younger readers. Here we give the reader a figurative horse that moves through the landmarks and towns of the Pony Express Trail.
7. The AMERIKIDS, Coloring Book: selected scenes from each series make for a delightful crayon experience activity. For the younger child, ages 4-8 year olds.
8. An AMERIKIDS, Native American Book and Western Crafts Kit: designs and patterns for creating original beadwork, like bracelets, headbands, pouches; that you may find some Native American characters are wearing in the stories, or are presented in information encounters. Other ideas may also include discovery type activities offering Native American artifacts and games that children can interact with by following an instruction book.
9. AMERIKIDS Lyric Book and Audio Cassettes: original music from well known composers and musicians. We can find publishing outlets via a songbook; that might also include a few recordings by celebrity artists. Other imaginative inventions might include a book plus a sound keyboard you press to hear specific sound effects.
:10. The AMERIKIDS Story Line Cards an activity that teaches kids to draw figures of their own with crayons on special erasable cards, including an instruction booklet on how to draw, with crayons, and official stickers. Here the reader can create garments utilizing images from each title. Pony Express, for example, offers the reader horse Riding tack and gear in which the activity centers on dressing up as Pony Express Riders.
11. AMERIKIDS Interactive Crafts Involvement: prepared materials such as fabric, patches, and T-shirt paints, socks to make frontier puppets, and even chalk for drawing. Some other projects might also include lanyards, braids and bows, all included with an AMERIKIDS instruction booklet.
13.
AMERIKIDS Book Building Kit: a self
contained book of stories and illustrations that can be embellished with an assortment of
rubber stamps; including stamp pad, colored pencils, sponges, and labels. Here the first
title supplies cancellation stamps from Pony Express stations across the route from St.
Joseph, Missouri to San Francisco,Ca. You can create your own historical letter on tissue
paper and your own 19th century pen and envelope from materials available at that time.
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14. AMERIKIDS PONY EXPRESS Maze Book: challenging historical story mazes loaded
with interesting details, dead ends, obstacles, and pitfalls that are fun and engaging
when woven together thematically. 15. AMERIKIDS, PONY EXPRESS Historical Puzzles: a basic timeline with illustrations and dates that you must match up in a traditional jigsaw puzzle style. |
16. AMERIKIDS Cookie Making: easy to prepare historical based recipes and molds for kids, complete with a simple to read cookbook.
17. AMERIKIDS, Special Crafts for Girls: activity books that girls may enjoy, including birthday cards to cut out, color, and decorate with glamorous glittery trimmings, with envelope patterns and images of horses from the Pony Express.
18. AMERIKIDS Activity Guidebooks: special books for boys and girls that include country and western oriented projects, including materials that real Pony Express Riders used on the range. Building a station, a fort, a corral, the Comestock Lode panning process, or a newspaper of the time. Making a miniature mochila or a rider's saddle.
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19.
AMERIKIDS, Action Sets: Three dimensional historical locations of the series with figurative characters depicted in action, some with movable parts, and a full color location "diorama". |
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CHILDREN'S BOARD GAMESAs the Producers of the AMERIKIDS Series, we have designed the : |
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Each player uses a different color horse as his character piece on the board. The board game is in the territory of Wyoming and goes from Fort Laramie to Fort Bridger. As the player throws the dice they land on various Pony Express stations experiencing territorial, weather, and terrain conditions. The player must collect cards that both test their knowledge and experience. This represents safe arrival at each station. |
There are plans to build in three dimensional aspects. Further tests are needed to determine the scale of investment and the look and feel of the prototype.
| Test results have shown that it is both historically instructional and fun to play this unique and interesting board game. |
| Surveys show that action toys are still the most profitable sector of the market. The idea is to involve kids as much as possible with as much hands on interaction. |
| Through merchandising and licensing deals, subsidiary enterprises are giving way to a new term known as "entertoyment." |
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Merging entertoyment and edutainement is the new marketing strategy of the AMERIKIDS® trademark. |
We look forward to your comments!
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JUMP ON THE BRAND WAGON sponsor |
Copyright 1998 by AMERIKIDS USA. All United States and International Copyrights and Trademarks apply. No webpage or intellectual concept, herein, may be reproduced, downloaded, or disseminated into any medium without the explicit prior written consent of AMERIKIDS USA.
Contact AMERIKIDS® 
E-mail
us at sales@amerikids.com