• by John Gaffney , February 6, 2003

Scholastic is adding a cross-media twist to custom publishing. Adding to the standard practice of creating magazine products for specific clients, the company’s Parent & Child Magazine, has created Scholastic Parent & Child “6 & Under” Custom Marketing.

The new venture capitalizes on relationships already forged with McDonald’s, Ford and Fisher-Price. According to Fran Reilly, Vice President of Business Development for Scholastic Magazines and Publisher of Parent & Child, the Custom division will aim at a lot more than developing publishing products. It will attempt to get advertisers into environments that are closer to parents and kids.

“Our ultimate aim as a media property is to promote literacy,” Reilly said. “I some cases that can be done without creating new magazines. It can be done through posters, books or other materials teachers can use.”

For Fisher-Price, Scholastic created a multiuse learning kit that used clay, an important F-P product. For McDonald’s it created a corner display unit that contained Scholastic Books called “Ronald’s Reading Corner.” Scholastic markets the products through its network of schools, developed through the magazine. Parent & Child Magazine goes to 7.6 million readers nationwide (*a 22% increase in readers from Fall 2001-2002).

Marketing to and in the classroom has earned its share of critics. Reilly says she hasn’t run into to any stiff resistance to that issue yet. She claims Scholastic is discerning about the advertisers it will consider for its in-school programs. “Any program has to be approved by our VP of early childhood education,” she said. “It is possible to sell McDonald’s through these progrs, but first it has to be educationally effective.”

The programs have received high marks particularly in areas that lack proper resources for books and lesson materials. “We try to sell these when we see a need,” Reilly said. “Sometimes we’ll come up with an idea that can serve an underprivileged area, and we’ll approach clients to underwrite it.”