Tween Edutainment - CHRIS GROSSE - Cross Channel Brand Builder

WAM! 30-second Station ID and Branded Mic Cover

WAM! QuickSum Calculator Interactive Learning Toy

Branding, marketing, and programming efforts resulted in a 6-figure contract win for STARZ with the inclusion of WAM! Kidz Network to Time Warner’s programming lineup

WAM! Tween Edutainment | Build-up Buzz

WAM! What Adults are Missing! America’s Kidz Network for tweens was repositioned as a lifestyle role model and educational destination for kids. Re-energized educational and entertainment programming helped kids grow into their world. Kids named the network, so . . . what would happen if they ran the network? How would they envision their parents' business jargon?

Would the Chairman-of-the-Board be a skate boarder? Or a snow boarder? A paddler? What would a board meeting look like? Surfers hanging out? Would a conference call be FaceTime, or Zoom?

I created an accordion-fold brochure where team building exercises were human pyramids, conference calls were seventy-five kids IM-ing, and office politics looked a lot like "Queen Bees and Wannabees."

During the four weeks leading up to the conference, a copywriter and I collaborated on a print campaign with a series of weekly ads, each one highlighting the network’s unique selling points:

(1) Created for tweens
(2) Quality edutainment programming
(3) Parent-endorsed
(4) Commercial-free content

After a month of buzz and advertising build-up, the brochure was distributed via targeted room-drops at one of cable’s annual trade conferences. Cable systems were engaged and inspired; they invested in our kids by including WAM! in their programming lineup.

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Photography: Dan Sidor

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:30 Station ID + Branded Mic Cover

WAM! America’s Kidz Network for tweens was the first commercial-free network exclusively for the neglected group of ‘in-between kids,’ the 8-12 year-old tweens that found themselves stuck between Nickelodeon and MTV. Kids actually helped select tv shows. Tweens anchored and hosted the programs. And WAM! helped out in the classroom; it offered teachers subject-specific programs that had been cleared for classroom taping and viewing. WAM! Parents trust it. Kids love it.

ABOUT TWEENS. Younger tweens are 8-10 year-old grade schoolers, in third to fifth grades. Older tweens are 11-12 year-old middle schoolers, in sixth to eighth grades.

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Product Photo: Chris Grosse

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Count Your Coins! | Interactive Learning Toy

Created for 4 to 6 year-olds, and measuring no larger than a stick of gum, My concept, QuickSum, is an interactive learning toy. Its content focuses on learning math. Designing for the young reader,

I used familiar visual and audio clues. Young grade schoolers have fun adding and subtracting coins of a familiar currency. Prototype utilized Flash and ActionScript: • Variables • User-triggered Actions • Adding + Subtracting Integers • Button-triggered Sound Effects • Dynamic Text Fields.

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Product concept + prototype are trademarked | Product Photo: Chris Grosse

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Stuck Between Piggybanks & Parents’ Big Banks | ActionScripted Banking Kiosk

Kids and young tweens, ages 6 through 10, were the genesis for my kid-sized bank ATM.

ATTRACT LOOP draws in the child with its flying flexi-logos and amplified audio track. Weight-sensing floor mats – or proximity sensors – initiate and terminate users’ banking sessions. For the prototype, I used boohbah.com to compose the kiosk’s syncopated sound EFX.
LOG IN SCREEN utilizes fingerprint recognition. Safe and secure, eliminating the need for ATM cards. And, eliminating the search for lost ATM cards
PRE-LOADER ANIMATION serves up rotating messages from the Chairman of the Board. Chairman of the Snowboard, that is!
TRANSACTION SCREEN really is smarter than a fifth grader. Unique password maps to child’s most frequently-used action, displaying a pre-populated savings or debit screen. Print Receipt button is accessible on all transaction screens, providing non-linear control.
LOG OUT SCREEN is automatic and secure. Proximity sensors trigger an automatic termination as soon as the child steps away from the kiosk. Child receives multiple cues (audio and visual) indicating termination.

Prototype utilizes Flash and ActionScript functionality such as

Scenes
User-triggered Actions
Variables
Adding + Subtracting Integers
Button-triggered Sound Effects
Dynamic Text Fields
Multiple Account Passwords with Different Starting Values
Print Functionality Provides a Physical Receipt

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Product concept + prototype are trademarked | Stock Photography