Could Creative Marketing Concept Click With Kids?

I'm a recently retired marketing guy who understands the concerns many older collectors have that too few young folk are attracted to stamping. Well, maybe stamping needs to act more like it's the digital age rather than the gilded age

Question:
Would it be possible to make today's pre-teen kids more interested in stamps if they also had opportunities to make international friends they could text and communicate with, or even visit or travel with?

How about the Internet Buddy Stamp Club sponsored by APS and Apple (or other hot techie brand)?

> Target audience: pre-teen Kids receiving an iPAD or iPHONE (or Samsung Android phone)
> Offer from Apple/Samsung: sign up free to join and access online members-only Internet Buddy Stamp Club where they can "meet/friend" other kids from around the nation and the world. Kids can share texting contacts with others who enjoy sharing and swapping scans of their collections, and actual stamp swapping via postal deliveries.
> Stamp collecting webinars, or videos can be hosted and delivered by a team of cool older teens who are buddies from US, UK, India, Nigeria, or South Korea.
> Club trips to major stamp shows can be offered with adult collectors as chaperons.
> Internet Buddy Stamp Club Package deals can be negotiated with dealers and manufacturers and be offered on the website.
> Awards could be offered for real enthusiasts.

Great example from the past:
I recently found a little stamp collecting booklet in a mixed box of US items I purchased at an estate sale. I've since learned this mini "album" published in 1934 by H.E. Harris & Company grew into a stamp club that engaged millions of American kids.

Here's a terrific article that explains much about The IVORY Stamp Club with Captain Tim which evidently was the brain child of the founder of the H.E. Harris stamp company.

http://articles.mcall.com/2008-03-2...s-ivory-soap

Another article indicated two very interesting things about Captain Tim Healy --
1) that he had been an Australian military officer (I'm still unsure if his stamp/Ivory character was mostly fictional acting);
2) and he served as president of the New York Public Library prior to his death at age 69.

Seems to me that our hobby could benefit today from another jolt of creative marketing similar to the inventiveness that Mr Harris exhibited in the mid-1930's.

What say ye

Dan,
I agree. But the younger generation expects, no demands, real time and free access to information. If they cannot instantly access and find information they seek then they simply move to something else. So a stamp great app or online resource is exactly what is needed to capture the younger demographic.

The trouble is that our hobby is deeply invested in limiting access to information. We paid for catalogs, we paid for memberships that gave us more access to info, we paid for hard to find reference books, we paid for going to shows. This is also a hobby where it pays if you know more than the next guy. Sad truth is that there have been many philatelists who took life long headful of knowledge to the grave with them.

All of this works hard against anyone investing in a 'killer app' or other online resource which makes info freely available. A company like Amos could have easily done this years ago but it meant changing how they do business. They would have had to take a chance by freely offering the basic catalog info online but then profiting on traffic and add-in sales from enhanced products.

Good news is that there is more and more free info available online (albeit disparate sources). Unfortunately much of the information is not vetted. This can lead to a lot of misinformed folks who are mistaking the identification and/or value of their holdings.

As far as I can tell both Amos and APS would market sushi as 'raw fish!'. They are stuck with their legacy profit model and simply sought a online presence instead of making an online commitment.

I agree with your post, but finding someone who is willing to make a substantial investment commitment for a great app or other online resource seems to be the primary obstacle.
Don

Edit: Developing an online resource that is targeting kids carries with it some very real liabilities. You have to jump through quite a few security hoops to ensure it is a safe environment for kids to be in. There is also some expensive insurance that may be desired.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I would think that stamp collecting would naturally appeal to kids with an interest in things like history, geography and foreign cultures, etc, as that's what drew me in as a youngster. I liked that I could "tour the world" through postage stamps without leaving my home in small-town Iowa. It just occurred to me, however, that if I were a kid today, stamps might not have that same allure. Reason being is that I could satisfy that same curiosity by Googling something and reading all about it. I suppose I still would have liked to have a tangible piece of those times and places, but I'm not so sure the curiosity factor would have been as big of a driver behind my collecting.

I'm not sure either but I'm going to find out soon with the class starting up next month

I don't think anyone of us currently has a clear answer to the key question here:
"What could/might/would make more kids plug into stamps?"

But my marketing guy gut feeling is that the stamp collecting hobbyist industry should
do some market research to determine what -- if anything -- might appeal to a larger segment of
youth than we currently see engaged in our traditional paths that include APS membership/stamp show attendance/stamp exhibits. The old Ivory Soap Stamp Club filled a need in a very interesting creative way, and tied it directly to stamps.

So, maybe a good place to start would be to determine what bodies or organizations might have enough motivation to financially support a) determining what would appeal to the youth market?; and b) what could be done to deliver that appeal to a significant number of kids?

Outside of the APS I assume there are other national and/or international stamp organizations. Is there an industry association that brings together dealers and manufacturers (Amos and Palo and Gibbons, etc.)?

My little concept suggests a sponsorship underwriter with deep marketing pockets that highly values building a brand bridge to tweens and teens. This could be a phone or tablet devices maker, a game marketer, Coke. In marketing, always think BIG first!

Still, is the stamp world so anciently traditional and fragmented that we have no leading candidate(s) that might act as the industry catalyst?

I must admit the industry doesn't inspire great confidence; just look at the Amos or Gibbons websites! Also I have not found one company or resource that represents a full array of products other than their own; a couple dealers offer several brands. But I don't believe there is a Amazon.com of philatelic products.

Okay... I'm game. I own an Internet Provider Service (ISP) with available bandwidth to share. We also do website design and hosting. We also register domain names.......Sooooooo..... if anyone (or a lot of you) are interested in trying something like the above..... I can provide the I-space, etc. You all just have to come up with the name, and management, etc. All for free....

Oldguy...What a great offer! You may be the spark that ignites this idea!

Now, that I'm also in the Old Guy Club, having retired in October, I have the time and would be excited to work with others to help develop the concept, develop a marketing plan, and create web content (I'm a copywriter and art director by training).

Anyone who is also game to help out in any way, please share your ideas and also share this thread with your friends. This could be a good idea. But it will become better and more viable with the benefit of a strong village behind it.

Do you have personal contacts at any company that highly values branding messages to kids?

Do you know folks at any of the larger stamp biz companies?

I would be happy to discuss ideas regarding how to make this concept exciting for kids, and appealing to commercial sponsors. I'll also get the word out to some of my contacts in this Forum as we plan how best to pitch our idea to some prospective commercial partners.

The ultimate would be a smartphone app that immediately ID's a stamp and shows some basic information about it (year of issue, country, subject matter, etc), and provides links to more detailed info - both for the stamp itself and for the subject matter. Set kids loose with a pile of stamps and an app like that and I think they'd get sucked right in. That would take some doing, and I think today's generation of kids will be adults before we see an app like that.

APS does have a fine beginning stamp program. Perhaps this is the place to get started.

artful, your idea gets a lot of support from the collectors who are already web-savvy.
That would be an IT development project way above my technical pay grade.

If I may put your app solution aside for the moment, what I'm envisioning is more of a stamping community for kids, rather than a reference tool. Why? Because my assumption is that very few kids are introduced to stamps like we were; few have friends who stamp; few see anyone "cool" interested in the hobby; most kids see only old folks collecting stamps...like Grandpa.

oldguy has offered to help us build and host an online stamp portal dedicated for kids.
I'd like to discuss how much appeal there might be for kids if they could "join" a global networking community of other kids who are interested in hooking up with new friends from other states and countries.

I'm not saying your app idea isn't great. It is! But if kids can plug into their own stamp world and get exposed to stamp topicals that interest them, make friends in other lands, and maybe travel to another state or country, they might experience what we enjoy within StampCommunity.org.

I am positive at some point one of the brilliant IT gurus in this Community may very well create
the magic stamp phone app -- but that app won't provide interaction and fun with new friends. I think the key obstacle to creating such an app (besides the development costs) is the need for a great stamp data base. The folks who have a good stamp data base have a huge investment; not sure if any would make their DB available to a universe of kids with limited resources. Just look at how jealously guarded Amos is.

For anyone interested in developing a kid-friendly stamp experience, I will outline my initial thoughts in a concept brief and post here for discussion. I'm excited that oldguy made his wonderful offer to help establish a kid-oriented stamping website. I'm sure this Community can help develop something very special.

sdtom, your point is a perfect starting point.

Does anyone in our Community have a personal relationship with leadership folks at APS?

Once this concept is more defined as to its benefits for the target audience, and its benefits for the supportive sponsors, we should reach out to industry leaders to seek their support. Would the APS or ASDA support something they don't directly control? Would Don Sundman, or John Apfelbaum lend support? I don't know these organizations, but I'm perfectly happy to help pitch the idea once it's shaped into a business plan proposal.

Just focus on how the old Ivory Soap with Captain Tim Healy worked.

If kids found out that some cool people collect stamps, they might be interested themselves. I recall FDR being a collector...but today's kids don't consider a political leader cooler than Beyonce.

In this concept, I'd like to identify a pro basketball/footbal/tennis star, or a movie actress...an animator at Disney studios...or a musician or singer/songwriter in a recorded band...an artist...a nurse...a zoologist...you get the picture (stamp collecting appeals to many types of interesting fun folks)

Yes I do. She is aware of our forum, a plus. I will get into contact with her. You can count me in on this venture.

I would love to help out, too.

There are existing young philatelists web sites. APS has had a substantial one in place for some time (http://stamps.org/Young-Philatelists ) but I do not know if it has been effective. "The Young Stamp Collectors of America (YSCA) is a division of the American Philatelic Society created to promote the hobby to young stamp collectors (under age 18) on the internet." This is a broad target, it is not easy to design a web site which will appeal to a 7 year old and a 17 year old.

There are also several other web sites. Have you contacted them to see what kind of traffic they get? I would also inquiry as to which pages and features seem to work the best. If you have this info then you will be better able to calculate the justification. You will probably also need to be prepared to describe what makes this new site different/better than the existing ones. (I am assuming that you want to 'sell' this idea to some entity which will provide support.)

My opinion is that you need something different, this is why some of us mentioned an 'app' instead of just a standard online presence in the form of another web site. But you may have web site ideas or features which haven't been done. You also need to consider security and liability. You wouldn't want to, for example, to suggest sources for kids to purchase stamps (they may run out, make a purchase, and get the parents upset). For obvious reasons you would want to avoid saying anything about checking for watermarks unless you stick to non-toxic watermark fluid.

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but think there is value in understanding these issues and having a plan before starting down the road.
Don

studebaker -- you begin to scratch the surface of several major components for any such plan.

Here are further thoughts:

1. Personally, I have zero experience or knowledge about any existing youth stamping efforts, programs, organizations. I need to become familiar with all youth stamp programs, promotions or groups. Please share what you are aware of.

2. I am hoping more experienced collectors like you will provide details and contacts to help formulate something that is better than the current youth stamping efforts. This is based on my assumption that very few youngsters are active in stamping. Needs verification.

3. Because I think tying kids' interests to stamps is a key to success, this concept should be limited to "tweens" -- younger kids let's say 8 years old to 12 years old. Teens 15-19 years old are often more interested in romance, sex, parties, and dating than previous hobbies. The younger kids are more likely to find interest in stamp topics that match their interests: sports, wildlife, military, music, movie stars, entertainers. If we can involve more young kids in stamp world, some will stick with it, and many will come back to it later in life.

4. This concept needs time to be developed. Don't think of it as just another website. Is Starbucks just another gas station counter that has hot coffee? No. Starbucks is a community gathering spot where friends meet and share time. Kids like to "hang out". But is there a cool place for kids to meetup, become friends and learn about the world through stamps? If there isn't, we should build one.

sdtom, great if you can contact APS.
I suggest setting up a fact finding meeting so we can ask questions and share our enthusiasm for involving kids in stamping. I would urge you not to yet discuss our concept (it's too premature). Rather than indicate our interest includes building a website, please find out if they would welcome a discussion with our team in order for us to better understand what the APS Young Stamp Collectors of America initiative functions.