Media Insight - PRNEWS

Babycenter.com

539 Bryant St.

Suite 200

San Francisco, Calif. 94107

This site launched two years ago, but it's still in the gestation phase and continues to evolve (a new design premieres at the end of this month). It's content-rich but proving your pitch prowess will require that you suggest a story with an educational, versus commercial, angle. Stay mindful, however, that these online journalists are skeptical of PR. An editorial staff of about 12 generates most of the content in-house, relying very little on freelancers or force-fed press releases. (Unique Web visits: close to 300,000 a month)

SECTIONS: NEWS

Many of the meatier articles are tied to medical research and new reports, but editors predict content will become more news-oriented in the future. Overall, content has a strong features tone, and the issues that are explored are geared toward dads as much as moms (a feature now online gives fathers the low-down on diapering infants).

EDITORS/LEAD TIME: Managing Editor, J.D. Lasica

Lead Time: Several weeks

METHODS: Because content isn't going up every hour or every day (unlike the majority of online content sites), snail mail is best. Refrain from calling or faxing, unless it's requested by someone with whom you speak.

COMMENTS: We recommend you track this site closely because we think this business model will be mirrored by other zealots as news content on the Web continues to be bankrolled by those other than traditional media/publishers. (Note: this site showcases the epitome of the sponsorship/co-branding business mentality. Babycenter.com plugs features "brought" to users by major companies; for example, "A Safer Ride" is courtesy of General Motors and "Life Insurance Decision Tools" is doled out by Charles Schwab.)

SECTIONS: BABY CENTER STORE

There's a plethora of saleable stuff, from strollers and toys to backpacks and maternity items, racking up more than their fair share of virtual promotional space. Some of the goods even touch on the kitschy - for example, the $49.99 "Millennium Conception Kit" to help parents target a 1/1/2000 birthdate for their newborns.

EDITORS/LEAD TIME: Direct of Merchandising, Lori Collier

E-mail: [email protected]

Lead Time: Several weeks to one month

METHODS: E-mail, unless you're providing a product for review. (If you send a product sample, it won't be returned.) Out of the hundreds of products sent every week to be considered for the BabyCenter Store, about 25 percent survive the weeding-out process.

COMMENTS: Editor-in-Chief Clare Ellis warns that it's difficult to pitch these editors since they are so reticent about creating original content and balk against promotional pieces (pitchable ideas do include the hot topic of activities geared for parents and babies). And the store/products area proves just as tough to woo: A team of about five merchants reviews the products to make sure they "make sense, have a [utilitarian] use and a moderate price point," says Collier. Professional copywriters put together product descriptions, breaking them out with age applicability, from preconception to 3-years-old.