"Children are better equipped than we are" Mhairi Campbell, Executive Editor, BBC Learning, United Kingdom "Making materials for children and young people is perhaps one of the hardest things for any adult to do," says Ms Campbell, whose department produces online learning materials, games, broadcasts and radio for young people in the UK. To overcome this problem, the BBC tests all its youth products with the people who are going to use them. From script to final production, the materials are tested with children. "Children are better equipped than we are," she says. "They are faced with a bewildering array of technology -- their own TV sets and DVD players, computers and the internet, their own mobile phone. But they navigate with impressive confidence, talking about their favorite web sites, their choice of TV channels, the adverts they enjoy, and the brands that make up their purchase repertoire." As a major, publicly funded media company, the BBC has the resources to extensively test its interactive games, broadcasts and other products in schools and focus groups. Others may not have the resources, but they can still ask young people for their input. "A lot of what we do need not be expensive," she says. "If you are publishing a young person’s newspaper online, it’s not difficult to code in a questionnaire or even add a message board. But you need to let the kids see that their comments are acted on." "It’s not a one-way street," she says. "We come away from every encounter with the audience with a problem solved. We always go out with a double viewpoint: What’s in it for them? What’s in it for us? Testing products with kids cannot be allowed to be just an abstract occupation." Young readers: are they really all that important? Paul Farrell, Group Marketing Manager, Irish Times Group "Brands that try too hard to appeal or entice the younger market may end up doing more longer term damage," says Mr Farrell, who advises newspapers to carefully assess the marketing costs of pursuing fickle youngsters. As a newspaper marketing director, and the former marketing director of a mobile phone group, Mr Farrell has a unique perspective on trying to appeal to the youth market. "Age is becoming less and less relevant as a primary segmentation tool," he says. "Understanding the core needs of customers and developing meaningful propositions and experiences that meet those needs and the overall business objectives are more important starting points." Mr Farrell provided his insights into attracting the youth market. Among them:  Don’t try to buy the market. "The common trend in offering rich promotions or discounts to entice new young customers is potentially doing more harm than good to the long term value of the brand and profitability of the business. Younger customers in particular will see through promotional initiatives or buy into them solely on the basis of the deal as opposed to any long term affinity or relationship." But they can’t read yet! Anja Pasquay, German Newspaper Publishers Association, Germany Some German newspapers aim their Newspapers in Education programs at 15-year olds. Some aim them at 9- and 10-year olds, hoping to instill the reading habit early. But nobody gets them earlier than Recklinghäuer Zeitung, a regional newspaper that is offered to pre-schoolers. "Believe me, at first they didn’t have an easy time of it -- the editors didn’t give the idea much value and made a lot of fun of it," says Ms Pasquay. "We all thought, ’but they can’t read yet!’ What would these poor pre-schoolers want to do with a paper? A normal, everyday adult newspaper, I would like to stress." As it turned out, there were plenty of things they wanted to do; search for interesting pictures and invented stories about them; identifying letters and searching for them; and forecasting the weather by identifying the symbols for "sun" and "rain". "The kids even invented their own papers. There were games too, and making things out of newsprint with lots and lots of glue." The 67,000 circulation daily offered free copies for three weeks to 1,500 children in schools, and free, three-week, subscriptions to their parents at home. If supported the offer with Newspapers in Education materials and it printed stories to be read to the children by their parents, invited teachers and parents to tour the publishing house, had editors visit the classrooms, and printed children’s comments in a daily column entitled, "Small People Today." Blogging for kids Vincent Partal, Director, Vilaweb, Spain Newspapers that are thinking of using blogs to attract young people would do well to look at Vilaweb, the main electronic newspaper in the Catalan region of Spain which has successful integrated a blog project into its Newspapers in Education program. "Blogs are a very interesting tool as they provide children with the feeling of what it means to write and publish a story," says Vincent Partal, Director of Vilaweb. "However, it only makes sense if blogging is integrated in a broader project that teaches pupils how to deal with news, creating them, reading them and understanding them." Mr Vila’s presentation focused on a program that teaches students about journalism and the world around them using three platforms: blogs, where children can create their own content and participate in discussions about the day’s events; lessons to help them understand journalism; and a weekly roundup of news, provided through a dedicated web site and adapted for the young readership. Children as young as six are contributing to the blogs, and the materials are tailored for both primary and secondary school levels. The news stories are written by a Vilaweb journalist who has a background in teaching, with the support of the entire newsroom. The children work on the blogs at school with their teachers, but can also reach them from home. Mr Vila says the project is not without problems -- primarily the difficulty for the schools to find sufficient time to participate. "It also happens that kids know better how to deal with internet than teachers and some teachers are ashamed of it," he says. MySpace.com in print: social networks can generate content Kirsty Robinson, Co-Editor, Marmalade, United Kingdom If you want high-quality youth content, go to the social network MySpace.com and invite contributions. That’s the idea behind an initiative undertaken by the UK-based magazine Marmalade, whose core audience of creative 16- to 24-year olds are part of the "do it yourself" generation -- they are interested in producing as well as consuming content. "MySpace has revolutionized the way we put the magazine together, " says Ms Robinson. Marmalade, which has a strong presence in MySpace, issued a call for contributions in December. Here are some of the lessons learned:  Young, talented contributors aren’t going to be attracted merely by the opportunity to see their work in print -- they want to be paid. Marmalade treated them as they would any of their professional contributors.  Estimate how long editing will take, and double it.  Do some pro-active scouting for talent on MySpace, in addition to calling for contributions. Young readers are lifetime readers Anders Goliger, Assistant News Editor, Gôtebogs-Posten, Sweden In Sweden, young people are fast to pick up new behaviours -- especially when it comes to media choices. Nine of 10 children between nine and 17-years old have internet access at home, and 40 percent have a computer in their own room. Three-quarters of them have a cell phone. Mr Goliger showed how the Gôteborgs-Posten went about capturing this audience of the newspaper. "Goteborgs-Posten has a strategy for young readers, dating ten years back," he says. "We have four youth editors. They recruit and train more than 20 youth reporters every year. The basic principle is to let young people write in the newspaper, and on our youth sites -- with professional coaches backing them up." The strategy works: Forty-five percent of 15- to 24-year olds read Göteborgs-Posten frequently. Here are two of his tips for attracting young readers:  Having your name in the newspaper is cool. Young readers are more likely to come to your website if what they do there might end up in print.  The youth perspective should not be limited to your youth section online or in print. To attract young readers, the rest of the newspaper must follow.