Computer discount educational

As more parents purchase home computers, inspired mainly by the needs of their children, the market for educational software is starting to mature beyond the evergreen Reader Rabbit and Carmen Sandiego basics.

In recent months, special interest titles have flooded the market, among them Message in a Fossil from Brighter Child. Developed, along with its sister title Go West, in conjunction with the Plano (Texas) School District, Message in a Fossil introduces kids to the world of archeology by allowing them to go along on a real hunt for fossilized dinosaur bones.

According to national director of sales Mark Sherman, the company's strategy is to "give moms another reason to use the computer other than drill and kill. But it's very tough to get to those moms - and they make the buying decisions."

Offering unique and curriculum-rich product is the key, he said, as well as augmenting the channel with imaginative marketing, like infomercials and other one-to-one approaches.

According to Dr. Stevanne Auerbach - better known as Dr. Toy for her syndicated writings, annual Top 100 list and advisory home page on the Internet - "kids need a lot of kinds of skills. There are so many reading and math titles out there, it's tough to choose. But there is very little that's really unique and gets away from the `now we're learning' syndrome.

"Interactive media just has so much promise, but it's missing a major opportunity," she added. "Video games could be teaching a child how to repair a car while they're playing a game not too different from Pac Man. There are just so many subjects, including the environment or learning about the world or outer space, that lend themselves to interactive learning more than to books or video."

Publishers realize what's going on, but the search for as yet unexploited niches bears its own set of problems. Retailers, to date, have been reluctant to support more than the basic reading and math titles, and educational titles take significant word of mouth to build up momentum. Wal-Mart, Brighter Child's Sherman noted, is doing "a respectable business" appealing to moms, but those moms are unlikely to shop at most computer and consumer electronics chains "Most stores are not set up for the new age of technology," concurred Auerbach. "It's very frustrating for parents who want to try something out before they buy."

CompUSA has responded with its CompKids section, which allows kids to try out up to 200 different titles, and Toys "R" Us has attempted a similar, if less ambitious, strategy, with short demos of several featured educational titles available on an in-shelf fixture.

Despite the difficulties at retail, publishers are developing more and more titles meant to appeal to the family educational market, and they continue to look for ways to speak directly to both parents arid kids. Cloud 9 Interactive, for instance, recently introduced two highly entertaining and educational titles, Wanna Be a Dino Finder and How to Draw the Marvel Way. To promote them to the core family audience, the company is tying in with Polaroid's instant Encouragement and Instant Party activity kits, which are expected to appeal to the same young family shopper who Cloud 9 hopes to attract.

The company also plans to include a 65 million-year-old fossil in packaging for Dino Finder, and an original Marvel comic in the drawing program to build demand among kids.

"The real difficulty is getting the mom to calm down enough [at store level] to really see your product," said Cloud 9 vp, marketing Todd Greene. "We're trying to reach her before she ever goes to the store." The company has licensed its characters to the Glendale Bank in California, meaning that more than 1 million consumers will see a Cloud 9 product every time they go to an ATM, and more than 100,000 demos of its products will reach consumers and teachers over the next few months. "We want to talk directly to the consumer where we can," Greene said.

Identifying new and unserved niches is the trick, according to Interplay vp, marketing Trish Wright. "There's a lot of me-too product out there," she noted. "We're concentrating on identifying real consumer needs, then addressing them."

The mainly game-oriented company has moved into edutainment products, under the Brainstorm brand name, including the new Drawing Discoveries, which like the Marvel title actually teaches kids the basic elements of drawing techniques. "We have several more products like that on the way - the kind of products that address obvious niches - that will have people saying, Why didn't I think of that.'

"The good news is that Disney has proven that there are 600,000 parents who will buy a software product in a very short period of time," she said. The bad news, of course, is that with so many products on the market, only a name like Disney can cut through the clutter. "Retailers aren't willing to wait for word of mouth to build," Wright said. "You have to take your proposition directly to the consumer by developing a brand name, merchandising well and maximizing your titles. It's awfully tough to get your endcap dollars back on one title, but we can amortize that $45,000 across five titles and deliver sales."

Thinking similarly is Ringling Multimedia, which in the past six months has released four related titles based on their Flash the Firefly character - all aimed at the mass market. According to Ringling's Frank Countryman, Ringling is developing clear niches with its Playground series (exploring outer space, learning new cultures and languages, traveling into the past and learning about the environment), while building alternative methods of distribution.

Volume Two in the series recently became the first educational title available to users in Time Warner's interactive television test in Orlando, Fla. "About 10% of test households have children in our target age range," Countryman said. "Of those, we had 100% penetration, and 60% `rented' the title on multiple occasions."

One brand name that's almost certain to cut through the clutter is Wishbone, the PBS powerhouse pup that walks youngsters through literary classics. Palladium Interactive has an exclusive license to develop Wishbone titles, and the first, Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey, has just reached the market.

"We're really trying to engage the kids with these titles," said Palladium president Ed Bernstein. "And the `Odyssey' is like the Mother of Mortal Kombat. Kids will get familiar with this classic, but they'll mainly think of it as fighting the Cyclops."

Palladium also recently released Bears at Work, which not only teaches kids about bears, but allows them to try on any of 26 careers, learning what a juggler or baker or firefighter actually does in his or her daily life. The game also includes puzzles and a music studio where kids can compose and play back music or rearrange the CD's background music.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Adventure in Tinker Town, from MGM Interactive, introduces kids to the world of fixer-uppers. To solve the problems in Tinker Town, children have to find missing parts and appropriate tools, then make necessary repairs. "But we tried to keep away from making it a `tinker' title," said vp, development Fred Skoler. "We approach it as helping others and solving problems. It's meant for both boys and girls, but if you get too much into the tinkering end of it, it ends up being a boys-only title."

One of the most interesting approaches to educational software comes from The Learning Company with its Logic Quest title, aimed at an older preteen market. The game allows kids to build their own computer games, learning along the way thinking skills like spatial awareness, planning, design and strategy.

Another promising product comes from the previously obscure Fujitsu Interactive. Its Finn on Teo, The Magic Planet is an entirely original approach to education, featuring advanced artificial life technology. Fin-Fin, something of a cross between a dolphin and a bird, "lives" in the computer. A sensor unit allows the user to communicate with Fin-Fin, which is on the whole a shy and reclusive creature. Treat him kindly and he'll visit often and maybe even perform a trick or two. Treat him harshly and he will fly away, perhaps not returning for a week.

Fin-Fin knows what time it is (he sleeps at night and will grow lonely if the user doesn't talk to him regularly) and has to be fed regularly to remain healthy.

"Fin-Fin teaches kids empathy, kindness and caring," noted spokesman Mark Smotroff of Access Communications. "And with a whole set of related titles coming to market, we see the educational possibilities from this technology growing continually."

Added Fujitsu Interactive senior vp Yoshi Matsumoto, "We aim to redefine and transform the computing experience away from the common point-and-click interface to new experiential forms of entertainment and education."