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When I became pregnant with my first child a few years back, it wasn't enough that I had to give up Budweiser and roller-blading through the streets of Manhattan to make sure my baby would be born healthy. Various magazines and mothers also informed me that I could do a lot to improve my baby's intelligence and creative instincts. Exposing a newborn infant to the soft strains of Mozart or the sonnets of Shakespeare would produce a higher form of being than one subjected to, say, Michael Jackson specials or WWE SmackDown!
Like many paranoid first-time parents, I welcomed videos and CDs with words like "Genius" and "So Smart" in the title. The most popular, by far, was a quirky little series under the label of Baby Einstein. Launched in 1997 by an Atlanta mother named Julie Aigner-Clark, the videos were amateurish yet clearly addictive. Even cranky babies would sit transfixed, watching, say, a plastic toy being pulled across the screen as someone counted to 20 in Hebrew or played a bit of Beethoven.
By then, my attitude was, who cares if researchers dispute the notion that such exposure enhances a baby's mind? It could keep him quiet long enough for me to take a much-needed shower.
TEETHERS AND BOUNCERS. Ever on the outlook for new lines of revenue, nobody was more smitten with Aigner-Clark's homespun offerings than the folks at Walt Disney (DIS
). Since buying Baby Einstein Co. for an undisclosed sum (which some sources put at roughly $25 million) in late 2001, Disney has extended the line into dozens of books, flash cards, and new videos.
On Feb. 17, Disney announced it would even jump into the $6 billion "juvenile products" line, with Baby Einstein rattles, teethers, bouncers, and other baby items that will go on sale this May. It also announced plans that day to introduce a line of infant/preschool and plush toys next year, with Equity Marketing as the master North America licensee.
That will give Disney more than 70 different products under the Baby Einstein brand, including such variations as Baby Van Gogh, Baby Newton, Baby Mozart, and a new video/DVD called Baby Neptune that focuses on different forms of water. On top of this, Disney plans to launch the line in 20 more markets by the end of next year, including China, Chile, Mexico, and France. It already sells in the U.S., Canada, Israel, Spain, Japan, and New Zealand.
GROW WITH 'EM. The most ambitious venture involves establishing a new TV series and line of products to keep kids enamoured with the brand until they're four or five. It's something that every brand from Barbie to Big Bird has tried to do: Come up with different permutations and story lines to extend the product life span of your growing and changing customers. Few brands grab them younger than Baby Einstein. The question is how it'll manage to keep kids hooked much past the age of three.
For Disney, the answer is to create some distance from the Baby moniker with a new Little Einstein TV series. Baby Einstein spokeswoman Rashmi Turner, who also heads video production, says the series "will be different in that it will be storyline- and character-based." Preschoolers clearly need more than a few puppets dancing to classical music to hold their attention. Still, the series will play on the Baby Einstein themes of music, art, language, science, poetry, and nature. It's set to launch worldwide in 2004 on the Disney Channel.
Disney is aware that children's programming is already a heavily saturated market. Whether Little Einstein can compete with popular series like Blue's Clues, Jay Jay, or Clifford: The Big Red Dog remains to be seen. Some might also wonder whether parents in other parts of the world will be as taken with the whole improve-your-baby aura that permeates the Einstein line.
GETTING SLICK. Turner, of course, is optimistic. She says the Baby Einstein book series started in 2001 was the most successful launch of branded baby books ever, with more than 1.5 million units distributed. And she cites research indicating that 90% of the infant videos sold last year in the U.S. were part of the Baby Einstein line. That explains why Baby Einstein is getting so much attention from its new owner: Disney launched a multimillion-dollar print ad campaign last fall and will embark on another one this spring.
While Aigner-Clark remains a consultant to Disney and the author of many of its new books, Baby Einstein is clearly going the way of Mickey Mouse. Gone are the somewhat primitive puppets with people's arms showing and quirky shots of Aigner-Clark's kids. Baby Einstein is becoming more slick and high-profile with each passing day.
And that, Disney hopes, is a smart way to boost the bottom line. As for sleep-deprived, ambitious parents looking to improve their offspring's future, as long as the products can hold the attention of kids so young, Disney might just be onto something.
Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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