Business Plan & About
Problem: Parents worry the most about their children’s screen time and being over-scheduled. The more immersed in these two elements, the less interaction and engagement with others a child experiences. They are often more alone (or self-isolating) and there is little time for outdoor play, new friends and new experiences.
Solution: To stimulate creativity, self-awareness, problem-solving, confidence and curiosity, we need to nurture children’s imaginations during the optimal period of brain growth and development (approximately between the ages of 5 and 10 years). By doing so, lots of solo screen time and too little unstructured outdoor and ‘make-believe’ playtime becomes less alluring.
To do this, BGG focuses on the pairing of an adult ‘Reader’ (e.g., grandparents) with a ‘Listener’ (a child between the ages of 5 and 10 years old). BGG’s vision is for each Listener and Reader to engage in an ‘excellent adventure’ together. This adventure is grounded in old-fashioned story-telling, highlighted in a digital realm that expands that story into both real-time and virtual interactions with the book’s characters. The goal is to engage and involve Readers and Listeners beyond the page, beyond the digital realm and into a transformative, shared experience. This pathway inspires creativity, encourages activity, increases imagination and nurtures innovation, or out-of-the-box thinking and doing. With Readers as their partners and guides, BGG hopes to encourage the innovators, planners, and doers of tomorrow. We want to empower the ‘Changer’ in each child to not only see what is, but to imagine what could be and make it happen.
This focus on the ‘Creativity Quotient’ during this stage of childhood development is a win for all: 1) Children become more focused on engaging with the world around them and more
confident imagining its and their potentials and possibilities; 2) Readers rekindle their
adventuresome childhood spirit and cultivate a close relationship with their Listener through a magical shared experience; and 3) our community and planet can expect the emergence of
confident, individualistic, out-of-the-box thinkers who will take on the challenging quests of
tomorrow and find a creative pathway through.
Market: Of the 5 product categories currently driving the growth of this over $19 Billion sector of our economy, the most promising of the SBC categories is ‘kids’. This growth also comes from the fact that 90% of the younger demographic, specifically Gen Z shoppers, actively use subscription services. Millennials follow close behind at 70%, using an SBC daily. The steady rise in the number of new parents and grandparents is a positive sign for the viability of an SBC for kids.
Opportunity: Using just the example of Grandparents (“Grands”) as Readers, it is staggering that there are over 70 million grandparents in the United States. Over 75,000 individuals 45-69 years old join the grandparent club monthly. By 2050, grandparents will be by far the largest population segment. Furthermore, approximately 24% of US grandparents (or approximately 17 million) use video chat to connect with grandchildren and do so monthly. These Grands are ideal first customers. With 70 million grandparents interacting on similar platforms with their grandchildren, they are primed and motivated target customers for BGG’s subscription platform.
A BGG subscription priced at $16.70 per month is highly competitive. Most other Kid SBCs
monthly cost is between $10-$30, with many successful ‘boxes’ well above $30 per month, per
year. With ½ of 1% of those grandparent video-chatters subscribing to BGG (85k) for only one
grandchild, the gross would be $17,000,000.00 from this single source. Equal access to BGG’s
SBC is a core value, and BGG seeks partnerships with schools and libraries to ensure the
broadest possible demographic participation.
Business Strategy and Exit: BGG CreativeAdventure Studio plans to create the original content (books, digital realm and weekly interactions) and engage a sample group of Readers and Listeners to prove the efficacy of our plan, content and methodology. We will begin with a pilot group of up to 200 over the next thirty-six months. This group will include subscriptions to grandparents, parents and their children as well as pilot subscription programs to schools and children’s librarians to ensure it ‘works’ with and for children in varied settings. We believe that BGG can prove engagement, sustained interactions and participation, a low churn rate, loyalty and positive outcomes across multiple categories from this pilot program.
Armed with data and proof, we will seek a partner/acquirer to scale and grow a successful
franchise leveraging BGG’s proven intellectual property – a ready-made growth vehicle proven in both real-world and digital realms. Such a business could be another SBC or an
entertainment company looking for tested success of a new franchise that can engage both
adults and children.
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For more information and financials, contact Betsy Weaver, Ed.D.