Little Ears magazine, helping children read

I have been fortunate to see a copy of Little Ears magazine which launches September 3 through newsagencies. This is a unique title which deserves promotion in a high traffic area where mums are likely to shop. While sales volume will not be high, promoting Little Ears demonstrates our social responsibility – it positions us as helping children learn to read. I can see excellect display opportunities around this community focused pitch.

While Little Ears will work in the children’s section, it could also get lost in the colour and noise. This is why a promotion next to women’s weeklies or some other high-traffic area will help the title gain traction. Another option would be to create a promotional story around the title supported by other activity products such as books and craft packages – the timing could be good with school holidays soon.

I doubt we will see this title in any retail outlet other than newsagencies – this is another reason to get behind the launch. Here is some background information kindly provided by the publisher:

Little Ears is a first-of-its-kind Australian storytelling magazine that showcases Australian writers of children’s stories, poetry and plays. Its aim is to help busy parents and childcare workers stimulate the imaginations of children aged three years and over and inspire in them a life-long love of reading.

The magazine will offer a wonderfully diverse range of stories from Australian writers in an easy-to-read format every two months. These stories are suitable to be read aloud to young children in bed, on the sofa, in a tree house or on a faraway treasure island?!

Each issue Little Ears will offer twelve or more beautifully illustrated stories providing a readily accessible, constant source of quality stories at a much cheaper price than a storybook. In addition, the magazine contains about eight pages of information-based articles, book reviews and family activities. Articles on parenting feature information will also be included with a focus though on literacy education as one of our magazines objectives is to help raise the poor literacy levels in our country.

Some newsagents will be concerned at the push for direct subscriptions. They are a matter of life with any magazine. For my part, we will pitch Little Ears with a put away offer as this is the kind of title which customers will want kept aside for them each issue.