Are You Cereal?

When I lived in San Diego, my uncle would request boxes of French Toast Crunch cereal since the grocery stores in the Bay Area had stopped stocking it. Of course, this was back when it was originally shaped like little pieces of french toast; now they just look like your typical sugary cereal. You'd think that with so much other good food at my disposal, he would have requested things like California burritos or fish tacos.

Lucky for us, San Diego (more specifically, La Jolla) is also the home of some healthy eats. Kashi, a company that is known for its "seven whole grain" foods, was founded there back in 1985. 50 products later, they are a key part of many hiking trips, breakfasts and afternoon snacks across the country. Their next project is a bold venture into the social networking space. Jeff Johnson, Senior Brand Manager, said that the company acknowledged the growing need for consumers to share health information/tips online.

Functionality on the site includes participation in daily health challenges, such as taking 30-minute walks or skipping coffee, all based on user-interaction with each other. There is also more robust content available to visitors, such as articles and recipes. While many brands have failed at adding similar tools to their sites, Kashi can capitalize on the huge segment of users researching health information online.

I highly doubt that there will be any French Toast Crunch networks built anytime in the near future, but I sure would enjoy anything based around waffles (anyone remember Waffle Crisp?).

Shoppin' All Over the World

The last time I went shopping at Banana Republic, I scored the trench coat I had been lusting after for a while. I slung it over my arm while I continued to peruse the racks of jersey wrap dresses and cotton chinos when suddenly a woman stopped me dead in my tracks.

Crazy lady: "WHERE did you find that trench coat???!!"
Scared Lindsay: "Up by the front...by the main entrance..."

I'm not sure she even heard the last part of what I said because apparently the glossiness of the black buttons on the coat took over her and whisked her away. It's a known fact that we all like to check out what other people are buying. Whether it's at the grocery store (I particularly enjoy the people that buy diet soda and piles of frozen TV dinners) or a fancy little boutique, watching real-time purchases around us could ultimately impact on our decisions as well.

ThisNext.com, a "social shopping site," recognizes this consumer pattern and has tapped into it with their ThisWorld shopping activity map. Based on registered users (and visitors!) and their browsing patterns on ThisNext, bubbles will pop up in real-time, showing what people are shopping for in certain areas. Genius. Following somewhat in Twitter's footsteps, who paved the path for micro-blogging, ThisWorld is an interesting peek into popular products around the globe.

Now, I'm just waiting for it to get chilly enough to wear my trench coat.

Beanie Baby 2.0

I hadn't talked to my mom in a while, so I decided to give her a ring. My little brother (10 years old) picked up the phone and the conversation went as follows:

Tyler: Hello?
Me: Hi! What are you doing?
Tyler: Oh nothing, playing on the computer...
*Mom picks up and interrupts*
Me: Hi Mom!
Mom: Hi! Are you at work?
Me: Yes...so, why isn't Tyler playing Wii right now?
Mom: Oh, because he just bought a Webkin.
Me: A what?!
Mom: Yeah, a Webkin. You haven't heard of Webkinz?
Me: No, but I'm going to look them up right now.

Little did I know, I was getting schooled by my 10 year old brother again. Anything that took precedence over the Wii was important in my book. My brother teaches me all kinds of useful media information, including: 1) ClubPenguin.com is all the rage; 2) Tamagotchi is cool again; and 3) even elementary school kids "love being online". It's really no surprise, actually, since sites like Disney and NickJr. are constantly improving their offerings to appeal to this audience. What is surprising, however, is how sophisticated they really are.

Webkinz, I found, are stuffed animals that come with unique codes. The codes are entered on the main site, which also marks the "adoption" of the virtual version. This animated pet avatar comes with its own room on the site, a food item, furniture, and currency known as "Kinzcash". Most gaming and activities allow users to earn more Kinzcash for their pets. Needless to say, stores can't keep them in stock. At a fairly low price point (averaging around $10), parents view them as affordable, and kids don't need to do weeks of chores to save up their money either.

This successful bridge between offline and online worlds opens many doors for manufacturers as well as advertisers. An example of this would be themed Webkinz (Disney characters, etc.) that also live in special branded environments on Webkinz.com. What concerns parents is the amount of time and attention that kids are investing to take care of their pets. They also feel that it keeps their kids glued to the computer when they should be outdoors.

Ultimately, Webkinz are a combination of Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, MySpace and Neopets. I'm not sure what my brother will teach me about next, but I'm pretty sure I need to schedule regular conference calls with him...just to find out what the latest craze is.