local guide of kids activities

[googooplanet]

Hi everyone,

I am in the midst of developing an annual publication to be distributed to parents free via your child?s school bag. Its main focus would be local area activities for kids - a one stop solution that would include organized listings of gymnastics, martial arts, etc. classes and times in your area. When you need to find an activity for junior, you would be able to see what?s available and where. All contact information would be included.

While there are other sources of this type of information is available, they tend to focus on breadth of area rather than depth. If you live in one town, do you really care what martial arts programs are available in another town 10 miles away?

My question(s) are, what do people think of this idea? What other types of information would you like to see in such a publication? Many thanks in advance.

My experience (as an advertiser and a parent) is that there are already lots of publications such as you describe and all (except for Primary Times) cover small localised areas.

The best are Raring2Go, Kids Direct and an independant one that covers one town and its peripharies.

I advertise within a 10 mile radius of our activity and find that most parents will travel 5 miles easily and up to 10 for something more specialised.

I think it is a great idea and one for which there is a definite demand. I tried doing one in my local area a few years ago. The snag - it proved impossible to sell enough advertising to cover the production costs. I know it works well in other areas though, it depends really on whether local businesses are willing to buy enough ads. And you had better really enjoy selling them, because that is what you will spend most of your time doing.