Every month, our research department publishes a report on emerging marketing and media trends. I thought my blog readers might find this month's Trend Report interesting:

                           Trend Center

 

June 2006

 

Technology

 

 

·         The first offering from Yahoo Media Group is here: Yahoo Tech, an interactive site for technology needs and entertainment.  Just introduced to the site is “Hook Me Up,” an online reality series with weekly episodes starring unsophisticated consumers in need of a technology makeover.  Yahoo Tech also features links to magazines like Consumer Reports, blogs (each focused on a specific audience such as “moms” or “working guys”), user generated product reviews and a “MyTech” bar that can be personalized to remember favorites, the products you’ve checked out and/or purchased.  Visit Yahoo Tech at: http://tech.yahoo.com/

·         Music, videos, TV shows—here’s what’s next for your iPod:

o        Podfitness.com lets you train with 50 of the world’s best trainers and fitness experts.  Workouts are customized based on your goals, type of exercise and musical preference then downloaded on your MP3 player or iTunes library. 

o        Churches are also joining the craze.  Companies like Olive Tree Bible Software and FaithMobile offer Scripture, Bible verses and sermons for BlackBerrys, MP3 players, iPods and cell phones.  

·         Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. announced plans to start an online social network similar to MySpace.com, but aimed at adult women.  The network would appeal to women aged 25 to 45, and allow members to share photographs, scrapbooks, recipes and similar projects with each other and home design experts.  The community is tentatively scheduled to launch in the second half of 2007 and will debut as part of the marthastewart.com Website.

 

 

Media Tidbits

 

 

• Good Housekeeping editor-in-chief Ellen Levine, who helped launch O: The Oprah Magazine, is ascending to the newly created post of editorial director at Hearst Magazines.  Rosemary Ellis, the editorial director of Prevention, has been named as her replacement.
• Meredith Corp. has announced it will pull Child from newsstands and move it primarily to the Web.
• Bundle, the year old New York-based magazine for "pregnant women and moms with babies and toddlers,” has published its last issue.
• Former Rolling Stone publisher, Steven DeLuca, who left Wenner Media after a spat with Jann Wenner, has returned as Associate Publisher at Maxim.
• News Corp.'s London-based newspaper The Times will introduce a U.S. edition on June 6^th.  The new edition will be available in New York and New Jersey by subscription and at area newsstands for a $1.
• Hearst Magazines has acknowledged a key business opportunity in a celebration known as “quinceanera,” in which Hispanic teen girls celebrate their 15^th birthdays.  Already familiar with the prom-magazine genre, Hearst has planned a 16-page removable section called "Mis Quince" for inclusion in October subscriber copies of CosmoGirl! and Seventeen, as well as the fall newsstand issue of Teen.

 

 

Fashion & Retail

 

·         In conjunction with Hollywood boutique Intuition, Target is launching a new, higher- end collection featuring the chain store’s signature bullseye logo.  The “Targèt Couture” collection includes handbags by Intuition owner Jaye Hersh, denim by J & Company, fine jewelry by Lizzie Scheck Jewelry, accessories by Madeline Beth, t-shirts by Doe, and cashmere by Raw-7.  Pieces in the collection, ranging in price from $25 to $3,000, incorporate each designer's interpretation of the bullseye.  The goods can currently be found exclusively at Intuition, but will roll out to other specialty boutiques in the fall.

·         After successful collaborations with Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney, H&M will once again feature a designer capsule collection.   Set to launch in November, the fast-fashion chain will this time feature the designs of Paris-based duo Viktor & Rolf.

·         Apple and Nike have unveiled the Nike+iPod Sports Kit, the first product coming out of a new partnership between the two companies.  The wireless kit lets Nike's new Air Zoom Moire shoes ($100) send fitness data to your iPod Nano ($149), via a sensor you tuck inside the running shoe and a small receiver that attaches to the Nano.  As you run, the sensor records your distance, time, pace and calories burned in real time and displays data on the Nano.  At the push of a button, audio feedback is delivered through the Nano's earbuds.  The $29 kit will be available two months from now at Apple stores and shops where Nike footwear is sold.  Six other iPod-ready Nike shoe models are also in development.

 

Healthcare

 

·         There’s a new retail approach to routine medical care catching on at Wal-Mart, CVS, and other chain stores across the country.  Walk-in health clinics are springing up as alternatives to the inconvenience and expense of full service doctors’ offices or emergency rooms.  For a flu shot, treatment for an ear infection, or other routine services, patients can visit nurse practitioners in the independently operated clinics (e.g. RediClinic, MinuteClinic) set up within the chain stores, whose own pharmacies can fill prescriptions.  The licensed nurse practitioners typically have advanced training and referral arrangements with local doctors for cases beyond the clinic’s scope.  About 100 of these clinics, which typically lease space from the host stores, are now operating around the nation.

 

 

Television

 

 

• Mid-May saw the launch of a first-of-its-kind TV channel designed specifically for babies, BabyFirstTV.  The new, round-the-clock channel is only available by satellite through DirecTV for $9.99 a month, but will later be available through cable TV providers as well.  TV offerings already abound for older toddlers and there are a number of baby-oriented videos already on the market, but until now, there was no ongoing TV programming aimed at infants.  The channel is marketed as a way for parents and infants to interact in a completely safe, commercial-free environment in which a baby’s development can be enriched by appropriate content. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 43% of children under 2 watch TV every day. The report also said 19% of babies under a year old have a TV in their bedrooms.

 

 

Music

 

 

·         MTV Networks Inc. has introduced a new online music service, Urge.  The service comes integrated into the newest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player; current Microsoft's Windows users will receive the player as an upgrade, but before that, it will be available for download at the Urge and Microsoft websites.  Urge will have more than 2 million tracks, which can be purchased individually for 99 cents.

 

 

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