Nat Geo kids mag opens the door to ads

Marketers looking for a new kid-targeted print medium for spreading the word should check out National Geographic World Magazine, a 10-times-yearly publication that will start accepting ads in October, when it also plans to change its name to National Geographic Kids.

The new advertising policy replaces one which limited marketers to sponsoring a four-page section wrapped around the outside front and back covers of the mag. Aimed at kids ages eight to 14, National Geographic World Magazine’s international circulation base is hovering around the 700,000 mark.

Fazoli’s taps retro edu-cool with Schoolhouse Rock promo

Scholastic Entertainment and Fazoli’s, a chain of more than 400 quick-service Italian family restaurants operating in the U.S., have hooked up to revive interest in classic learning series Schoolhouse Rock. The six-week kids meal promotion, running from late August to October, will see one of four different activity packs based on characters and themes from the 27-year-old property given away in each meal. The premiums include a ‘Conjunction Junction’ Sticker Station, a ‘Multiplication Rock’ Activity Case and an ‘I’m Just a Bill’ Winding Story Scroller.

Since launching on ABC in 1973 as a series of three-minute animated vignettes featuring catchy song lyrics about math, grammar, history and science, Schoolhouse Rock has won four Emmys, sold more than 20 million home videos and morphed into a series of educational CD-ROMs produced by software studio Creative Wonders.

Instant-win contest sweetens licensed cookie dough promo

In an attempt to scare up market interest in a pair of character-branded Halloween cookie products, Classic Media and General Mills are planning a grocery store instant-win sweepstakes that will run from September to October. On each package of Casper the Friendly Ghost and Wendy the Good Little Witch Pillsbury Shape Refrigerated Cookies, consumers will get a free trick-or-treat bag that includes a mail-in coupon for US$1 off the Casper & Wendy’s Ghostly Adventures home video.

Each 18-oz package of the slice-and-bake cookie dough featuring either a ghost image (Casper) or a pumpkin image (Wendy) will also come with glow-in-the-dark Halloween stickers, and the promo will be supported by in-store POS materials.

It’s a win-win for DC’s sweeps prize sponsors

Prize sponsorship is at the heart of the second annual DC Comics Extreme Summer Sweepstakes, a teen-targeted in-book promo running until the end of August. In exchange for an annual ad commitment, DC lets one advertiser associate itself with a particular contest category. For example, Right Guard Extreme will sponsor the Extreme Sports prize pack, which includes a one-year subscription to Transworld magazines, an X-Games BMX bike, skateboard, T-shirt and hat, and a year’s supply of deodorant.

Rounding out the sponsorship lineup are Nabisco Cornnuts (Music), Lorillard Smoke Prevention (Movies), Nintendo (Video Gaming), Magic: The Gathering–Wizards of the Coast (On-line Gaming), Got Milk? (Theme Parks) and Cartoon Network’s Toonami block (Comics).