Cartoon and ConAgra cook up a tasty new on-line promo

New advertising partners Cartoon Network and ConAgra Foods already have a follow-up promo effort to October’s ‘Cartoon Food Bash’ sweepstakes heating in the oven. Launching in January, ‘Super Power vs. Brain Power’ is a four-month initiative culminating in an on-line cartoon cook-off pitting The Powerpuff Girls against Dexter. Five million Kid Cuisine packages will feature Dexter and Powerpuff Girls on-pack games and activities that drive kids to www.cartoonnetwork.com to vote on which toon team will win the culinary contest. Kid Cuisine is also creating eight special frozen meals, and these products will feature on-pack codes that kids can use to collect exclusive C-Toon digital trading cards. Scholastic Books’ newest storybook Samurai Jack will tout the promo when it hits shelves in January, and Kid Cuisine will support the book release with a 20-million-home FSI drop in February.

Bottled water named young teens’ fave summertime drink

If you’re looking for a beverage partner for your next teen-targeted summer promo, you should know that bottled water outranks soft drinks as the favorite summer thirst-quencher of 12- to 14-year-olds by quite a margin. According to a recent study conducted by Princeton, New Jersey-based Opinion Research, 30% of kids in that demo put bottled water at the top of the beverage barometer, with soft drinks coming in a distant second (22%) and sports drinks rounding out the top three (20%).

YM and Moviso cement a cell phone content hook-up

Teen girl bible YM magazine is getting into the cell phone game with Vivendi Universal-owned mobile service company Moviso. Via an exclusive partnership, the two companies have dialed up a new service called YMobile that will let YM’s nine million subscribers access custom graphics and ring tones from hot music talent like Britney Spears, Nelly and Linkin Park. The first wave of cell features are available now at www.ym.com/ymobile for US$1.99 apiece. The initiative also opens up a new marketing channel for entertainment companies that want to talk directly to teens. Analysts have projected that roughly 25% of all consumers ages 13 to 21 plan to buy a cell phone in the next three years.