If visitors to your Web site are having fun while they're learning about your company, does it still count as education? Edutainment sites offer the PR department an opportunity to build relationships
and reputation by disguising information users need in a format that's fun.
Disney Online, for example, wanted to communicate to kids the importance of playing it safe on the Web. The PR team recognized the value of cementing Disney's position as a leader in kids safety with
the public and developed the idea for Surf Swell Island, a new Web site where kids play games with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald that teach them about smart surfing. In the No Privacy Beach game,
Minnie Mouse gives out too much information about her vacation plans to strangers online. Once she's on the beach, kids have to click on the strangers who pop up to win points and find tips about what
not to disclose on the Web. "They don't even realize they're learning something," says Rebekah Salgado, communications manager for Disney Online.
Messages like safety that offer target audiences need-to-know information and simultaneously position your company as a leader in educating those audiences are perfect for the edutainment format. Four
years ago, Sunkist Growers wanted to bolster sales of its oranges by targeting kids on the Internet. The company approached Manning Selvage & Lee's California Global Technology Practice, which helped
to develop the concept for http://www.ScurvyBoy.com. The edutainment site offers kids games and activities like Scurvy Boy TV, which features facts on nutrition
disguised in MTV-style dialogue. "It's difficult to get kids to reach for an orange instead of sugar," says Bonnie Quintanilla, managing director for Manning. "We wanted to focus on nutrition - and tell
[kids] if they're choosing fruit to choose an orange."
Credutainment
Because the Sunkist branding message was secondary to the nutrition message and the comic appeal of the Scurvy Boy character, the site had more credibility than a hard-sell, brochure-ware approach.
Parents approved of the site, kids enjoyed it, and it generated 1.5 million unique users during its first two years, according to Webtrends tracking. Not only was Sunkist pleased with the number of hits
to the site, but the company got kudos from the industry and the public for talking to kids in their language about nutrition, Quintanilla says.
PR plays a crucial role not only in the ideation phase of edutainment sites, but often in developing content and recruiting third parties for contributions. The team producing content for the site
must incorporate information and sources users trust. Otherwise, the site comes off as pure branding.
"You have to keep in mind what your overall goals are," says Quintanilla. "How is the Web site going to help you truly hit your objective, and how are you going to do it so it's not advertising?"
Avoiding overt advertising was particularly important for BASF, which develops pharmaceuticals, when the company launched its Fresh Starts Web site. The site provides kids, parents and teachers
information on natural sources for vitamins. Because parents and kids would often be surfing the site together, BASF had to create content that was acceptable to parents and engaging to kids. "With
children, an outside endorsement is better," says Jason Teitler, SVP and global interactive practice leader for Porter Novelli. The agency procured the endorsement of the National Education Association,
and teachers helped write copy and brainstorm activities.
Evan Kraus, VP and director of technology services at APCO Associates, recommends creating a pilot user community while still in the development phase to find out what those first users want from the
site. When APCO worked with the Aviation Safety Alliance to create an edutainment site targeted at journalists, they compiled a group of reporters covering the aviation beat to find out what information
they needed. "What the media want and find credible is drastically different from what the consumer wants. [Media] want access to experts, stats and source material," Kraus says. Those early focus
groups allowed the ASA to build a panel of experts available through the Web site, which met journalists' needs and delivered on the ASA's goal of becoming a top-of-mind source for media inquiries on
aviation.
Edutainment Integration
Pilot users also can play a key role in promoting the site post-launch. "A Web site is a passive vehicle," Teitler says. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to separate an edutainment site
from your overall PR strategy. Edutainment sites should be incorporated into offline promotions, registered with appropriate portals and search engines. Disney created a media event campaign to promote
Surf Swell Island, with kids and Disney characters celebrating the launch on a real beach. Now Salgado is integrating the safe surfing message into her offline media relations strategy by pitching Disney
and the Surf Swell Island site to media reporting on back-to-school. "The site is a tool and resource," she says. "It's an ongoing leadership role."
(APCO: Evan Kraus, 202/778-2015; Disney: Rebekah Salgado, 818/623-3766; Manning, Selvage & Lee: Bonnie Quintanilla, 805/230-8212; Porter Novelli: Jason Teitler, 212/601-
8307)
Are You Compliant?
Jupiter Communications predicts there will be 14 million kids and 13 million teens online by the end of 2000. Their entertainment-oriented surfing habits make them a perfect
audience for edutainment sites.
But targeting kids online can be risky business if you aren't protecting their privacy. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which took effect this April,
mandates that any site that caters to children under the age of 13 obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from those kids.
To meet safety standards:
- Form a checklist from the COPPA guidelines and go through step-by-step with your legal counsel and technology team while building your site: Is the privacy policy in the
right place? Are you ready and able to send notices to parents? Do you have procedures in place to field parent inquiries? - Make sure you understand how you collect and use information from your site.
- Limit the information you collect. The simplest way to comply with the law is to avoid requiring kids to enter information at your site.
- Don't forget the end user. Clear, kid-friendly language says to kids and parents that you're protecting their safety and not hiding behind jargon.
For more information on COPPA, see http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/coppa.htm.