LOS ANGELES - A Sesame Place executive at the Mobile Marketing Forum said that mobile is a key piece of its multichannel initiatives to further educate children, especially underserved kids around the world.

The nonprofit that started 41 years ago from an educational base is using mobile content such as applications, a mobile site and podcasts to continue its initiative to educate children and parents. As smartphones advance, the company is looking at ways that they can further incorporate mobile into its multichannel efforts.

?We really look at it from an educational view,? said Anita Stewart, senior vice president of corporate partnerships at Sesame Workshop, New York. ?It?s our model and the way that we develop everything that we do.

?We are looking at content that?s really addressing moms,? she said. ?They?re certainly looking at TV and on mobile ? we have podcasts, apps and our mobile site.

Millennial Media?s Mack McKelvey interviewed Ms. Stewart during the ?Engaging youth and their parents through and with mobile? session.

Mobile place
In 2005, Sesame Place did some research where they gave mobile devices to moms from lower income families.

When the moms watched the show, one of the characters Maria gave them instructions on how they can learn more about the alphabet and Elmo announced different letters everyday.
The company saw an increase in moms wanting to know more about the alphabet and furthering their knowledge of it.

?We believe in using all media,? Ms. Stewart said. ?Certainly we started with television.?

Elmo loves mobile
Users can access Sesame Place?s mobile site by typing http://www.sesamestreet.org on their mobile device.

Parents and children can play games, watch news and classic clips, visit their favorite muppets, learn more about the show, as well as the workshop.

The company also has 13 iPhone applications in the App Store, including Elmo?s Monster Maker, Grover?s Number Special, Bert?s Bag and Count TV.

Each application, similar to Sesame Place?s mobile site, helps educate children ? whether it?s by numbers or learning the alphabet of the day.

Ms. Stewart said that the most accessed content that kids access is video.

?That?s where smartphones come in,? Ms. Stewart said. ?We looking at voice and how it connects with possibly print.

?Those are the kinds of things that we?re look at,? she said. ?Those are our challenges ? how do we use some of the existing platforms.

?One of the big issues is production ? we produce for lots of different platforms across the board. We find from an educational view that apps work.?

Ms. Stewart said that it?s important to get mobile to underserved children globally.

?Imagine what we can do with mobile to be able to educate children ? it?ll be a [mobile] classroom,? Ms. Stewart said. ?We?re look at how we can get our content on there and develop programs for these children around the world.

?I?d like to challenge you to work together and see how we can get basic education there because these kids need a good start,? she said. ?With mobile, we asked if children can really work from apps.

?We also talked to parents and how they feel about using mobile devices ? a lot of it was getting used to it and having the right content and right approach.?

Final Take