Toys R Us successfully converted its television advertising budget into an education resource for mothers and fathers of babies and toddlers. Issy Zimmerman, director of the company, says its core values are family centred. "There's no time in a conventional 30 second television ad to pass on the kind of information that families would find beneficial in terms of meeting the physical and emotional health needs of both the parents and the children.
"We felt, therefore, that instead of using our advertising budget to punt our products, we would put those funds at the educational disposal of parents by enabling them to see how other families are coping with pregnancy and parenting issues.
"One has to be very careful to ensure that an AFP actually does offer the viewer real, useful content and isn't just a vehicle for the sponsor to show his logo," says Anne Myers, producer and director of the series. "Viewers are content-savvy and they can smell advertising disguised as information a mile away. If the content is not credible, viewer response is to reach for the channel-change button on their remote.
"So, with the show, we've focused on packing each episode with information that pregnant mothers and the parents of babies and toddlers really wouldn't be able to find as easily or as quickly anywhere else. Seeing real parents trying to manage real parenting concerns in their own homes helps viewers realise not only that they're not the only ones with problems but that the problems can be resolved, often very easily once you know how."
The show, aired on Saturday mornings from 08.30am to 9am, has given life to a long-cherished desire by well-known child expert, Sister Lilian, to provide mothers and fathers with easily accessible information about the issues surrounding the raising of their children.
"Having the television programmes backed up with the website and Sister Lilian's national network of workshops and advisers, expands the flow of content and information even further. We couldn't find a better way to use our advertising funds," said Zimmerman.
As back-up to the 24-minute television episodes, which were shot in a range of homes and involved a number of different families, the Sister Lilian website enables parents to request more detailed and specific material for the subject covered in all nine individual episodes.
