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While my 6 year-old daughter Grace didn’t write my Creative Review for SesameStreet.org, she definitely was the entire focus group for the writing assignment.  Apparently, the entire site (including strategy, focus groups, usability experts, content creation, design, development, and production) cost $14 million.  Fellow eROI blogger, Dylan Boyd, shared this fact with me and we were both stunned at the price tag.  However, the following weekend, Grace and my youngest daughter Emma proved the money for SesameStreet.org was worth it, as it was exactly what kids wanted (not for adults who think they are big kids).

Here is my Creative Review published in iMedia Connection a few days ago:

“The tough task of writing a review for the iconic brand of Sesame Street’s new website melted away when I included my six-year-old daughter Grace to put the site to the test. The site’s primary target audience is clearly focused on young kids, so watching Grace interact with the site was much more informative than my initial attempts to be a big kid on the site. Here is what I learned: Sesame Street did its homework. When it comes to good content, kids are far more patient than adults. Grace watched the first two minutes of the homepage Flash animation of Bert introducing the elements of the site. She and her three-year-old sister Emma began talking back to the screen and getting very animated about all the recognizable characters. Where do you think Grace clicked first? Games, of course. Kids love games and smartly, SesameStreet.org has “Games” as the intuitive first choice in the top navigation.”

Grace played three games for 10 minutes before her younger sister finally won the battle of moving on to see a video of Elmo. Hearing “Elmo, Elmo, Elmo” for 10 minutes can be persuasive. As a parent and interactive marketer, I always interact with sites in a focused way between myself and the computer. With SesameStreet.org, I really appreciated the ways that it helped me bond with my girls. In each of the games, the site features a “Parent Tip” with great questions to ask your child while they’re playing the game. In Snuffy’s Safari game, I was reminded to ask Grace which ocean animals had scales. Other questions led to great discoveries throughout the game. Very few websites can capture the attention of three people gathered around a laptop at the same time for a solid 45 minutes. Talk about some amazing metrics for engagement!  Alright, it’s a sunny Sunday, and we’ve all been sucked into video upon video of great content and games that just won’t stop. I need to take Sesame Street’s advice and get my kids out of their pajamas and outside!
– Ryan Buchanan, CEO, eROI