In this session, Ms. Goodstein will present a case study of the Ad Council’s tooth brushing app/game Toothsavers, which launched this past January (http://2min2x.org/toothsavers/). The game is part of the Ad Council’s Children’s Oral Health campaign which targets parents of young children with the goal of getting kids to brush twice a day for two minutes. The case study will cover:
- Considerations for non-profits or social good campaigns when considering app development including cost to build, marketing and evaluation
- Best practices in designing an app for young children (and their parents)
- Lessons learned from our experience – what’s working and what’s not
7. Children’s oral health
16million
Children suffer from untreated
tooth decay
Disproportionately impacts low income
and minority children & families
Unhealthy mouth can be associated
with obesity, diabetes & heart disease
Impacts a child’s ability to learn,
develop self esteem & speak properly
15. From 48% to 55%
report brushing at least 2x/day
From 60% to 64%
report brushing 2 minutes each time
Campaign Results
$57M
Donated media
53%aware of campaign
messages
16. 16
Why Develop a Game/App for Preschoolers?
- From 2011 to 2013 the percentage of children with
smartphones or tablets has increased from 52 percent
to 75 percent (Common Sense Media)
- 72 percent of children age 8 and under have used a
mobile device for some type of media activity such as
playing games, watching videos, or using apps, up
from 38% in 2011 (Common Sense Media)
- Families at all income levels own touch screen
devices, although families with higher incomes tend to
own a greater number of devices (Michael Cohen
Group, 2013)
18. Great for our 4 year old and even our 2 year old.
They weren’t interested in brushing that much
before, now they do it for the full 2 minutes and
follow instructions well. They love when new
characters unlock.
18
Downloads of the app since
January
115K
Average time per session
(minutes)
3.00
Online & mobile game
Toothsavers
19. - Finding the right
developer is crucial
- Preschoolers can’t read!
- Keep it simple, yet fun
- Games take time
- Test with your target
formally and informally
- Budget almost as much
for promotion
- Parents sections don’t
really work
19
What We Learned
20. - Formal usability
research and
evaluation work to
inform a new
release in 2015
- New characters to
unlock!
- Distributing stickers
at dentist’s offices
20
What’s Next
Challenge
From: Dental care in my home is “good enough” and I’m not worried about it
To: Dental care in my home is a priority.
Main Message
Your child’s good oral health is insurance from pain
Call to Action
Make sure your kids brush their teeth two times a day for two minutes
Creative Concept was qualitative tested among moms and caregivers:
Central idea that it is easy and quick to take care of teeth resonates with respondents
Concept is highly relevant to parents’ day to day experience (Time is not my friend)
The idea of brushing for 2 min twice a day is clear, credible, motivating and memorable
Parent understood the importance of the message – brush for 2min 2x to avoid oral pain
Parents related to the silly/fun things kids do throughout the day
Mobile, partnerships and then show PSAs.
Knowing that parents are incredibly busy, we wanted to make sure we were providing them with resources to make this ask a little bit easier on them
We developed an engaging website in English and Spanish, and mobile – that features 2 minute videos from partners such as Sesame, Cartoon Network and My Kazoo!
The site also includes helpful information about the fundamental of oral care – brushing, flossing and visiting a dentist.
We also created an online toolkit for the 40+ sponsors and their constituents.
Partnered with DreamWorks and Sesame to launch PSAs featuring characters from recent animated film Rise of the Guardians and Sesame’s Brushy Brush video.
Also secured 2 minute content from Sesame, Cartoon Network, MyKazoo! and LazyTown for parents to play for their kids while brushing.
On air and online, the characters kids trust make oral health fun
Scholastic - Poster, Teacher guide, activities, family fact sheet, microsites, email promotion, web banners
23.4MM teachers and families reached
Toothsavers Mobile Game - In developing the game, set out specific goals and objectives for the app
Engage target audience in the campaign message in fun co-viewing/co-playing opportunity
Ultimately, get kids to brush two min, twice a day
Ensure reaching target audience
Lower income African American and Hispanic families
Developmentally appropriate and appealing to 3-5year olds
Toothsavers is comprised of the 3 key features:
A virtual brushing game that uses finger gestures to brush the teeth of an in-game character
A brushing companion that plays a 2-minute fun and instructional video while the child brushes in real life. It also charts the number of days in a row the child has brushed.
A 2-player virtual brushing game that lets friends or family brush each other’s virtual teeth
Results after one month –
Total:
12,928 users
34,281 sessions
6.82 screens per session
4:10 avg. session duration
62.3% returning user
US/Canada only:
3,001 users
11,992 sessions
6.10 screens per session
3:48 avg. session duration
75.9% returning users
-some of the strongest survey results we’ve seen.
Since the campaign launch, there have been more than 1.6 million visitors to the campaign website, 2min2x.org,
Smartphones and tablets are now part of the media mix when reaching young children and their parents – even at lower income levels (our target).
Toothsavers – downloaded over 115, 715 times from iTunes
Downloaded 2,617 times from Google Play
5.8 screens per session
Average time on watch and brush 1:26, Average time on brushing game play 1:13
Luckily, my background in youth marketing means I still have extensive contacts in this space. I was able to reach out and ask folks who they would recommend.
I also went to events like the Sandbox Summit at M.I.T. and the Digital Kids conference at last year’s Toy Fair and did a lot of research online. Review sites like the Children’s Technology Review and Common Sense Media are a great place to look for developers.
We were lucky enough to receive five substantive proposals from studios who were all immersed in building apps for young children. In the end, we chose Toboggan Studio in Montreal. They proposed building two games and one brushing companion in one app for both iOS and Android as well as a desktop version.
Record audio for instruction or make it so intuitive they will just get it – Toca Boca is great at this. Skip the words.
Keep it simple. Our app originally required kids to brush morning and night consecutively for several days in order to unlock new characters. We had magic apples parents could use in case a day was skipped. In the end, it became too complicated, and we just allowed unlocking based on the number of sessions.
App promotion requires traditional PR, blogger outreach, paid or in our case donated media on mobile ad networks, Facebook (app install ads) and through Google Grants – and even then there is no guarantee you will break through.
We had some nice initial PR hits including a wire story and a Common Sense Media review
There is also a growing body of knowledge specifically around app marketing that ties into measuring engagement beyond just downloads, having push alerts (we have brush reminders) and the ability to share through social media.
Reviews and ratings also matter, as does app store search optimization and having a video trailer — basically a whole new world of tactics
Luckily, my background in youth marketing means I still have extensive contacts in this space. I was able to reach out and ask folks who they would recommend.
I also went to events like the Sandbox Summit at M.I.T. and the Digital Kids conference at last year’s Toy Fair and did a lot of research online. Review sites like the Children’s Technology Review and Common Sense Media are a great place to look for developers.
We were lucky enough to receive five substantive proposals from studios who were all immersed in building apps for young children. In the end, we chose Toboggan Studio in Montreal. They proposed building two games and one brushing companion in one app for both iOS and Android as well as a desktop version.
Record audio for instruction or make it so intuitive they will just get it – Toca Boca is great at this. Skip the words.
Keep it simple. Our app originally required kids to brush morning and night consecutively for several days in order to unlock new characters. We had magic apples parents could use in case a day was skipped. In the end, it became too complicated, and we just allowed unlocking based on the number of sessions.
App promotion requires traditional PR, blogger outreach, paid or in our case donated media on mobile ad networks, Facebook (app install ads) and through Google Grants – and even then there is no guarantee you will break through.
We had some nice initial PR hits including a wire story and a Common Sense Media review
There is also a growing body of knowledge specifically around app marketing that ties into measuring engagement beyond just downloads, having push alerts (we have brush reminders) and the ability to share through social media.
Reviews and ratings also matter, as does app store search optimization and having a video trailer — basically a whole new world of tactics