Reading in the latest copy of our Kidscan newsletter this week about Kellogg’s moves to reduce the amount of sugar in their breakfast cereals, particularly for those aimed squarely at kids, such as Coco Pops, got me thinking about an innovative product that tackled a similar issue in a completely different way.

Sipahh started in Australia in 2005, after founder Peter Baron took a fresh look at the flavoured milk market, and found it expensive, messy to make and way too high in sugar. Sipahh straws are wide plastic straws, filled with flavoured beads that gradually dissolve as the cold milk is sucked through the straw, adding flavour and colour to the milk. The flavours are somewhat less intense (read: less sugary) than pre-mixed flavoured milk, but kids still love it – not least of all because it’s FUN to watch the milk change colour and the beads dissolve.

What I love about his approach was that he didn’t just go for the obvious solution – making a cheaper, lower sugar version. Instead, he reframed the problem and thought about physically how the milk was flavoured, moving it from part of the production process firmly into the consumer experience.

Having now expanded into a number of countries worldwide, with regional flavour variants, Sipahh still seems to be going strong – tapping into the need for parents to get calcium into their growing kids, and the kids’ desire for fun food and drink.  In 2006 multinational big-boy Nestle launched a copycat product under their Nesquik brand… always a sign that a new product or category is significantly different, interesting and relevant, although sadly it will probably keep Sipahh out of the UK.

This is an example I intend to continue to use widely when talking about innovation, because it neatly shows how powerful the way you define your starting challenge and market can be in producing truly different and new ideas.

Staying in touch with the ever-changing kids market is one of the most difficult challenges facing marketers who have an interest in this audience. That why we’ve created a quarterly report called Kidscan which details what’s currently hot in the kids market, provides highlights of any recent research and summarises any relevant news features in the consumer and marketing media.

Today we have released our latest edition and anyone who is interested in receiving a copy should contact Dave Lawrence or call on +44 (0)1494 680999.

Recent research by Mum Poll highlighted the fact that having a child can be the cause of extreme emotions, both pleasurable and painful.

Whilst ‘most’ mothers acknowledge that having kids is the best thing that has happened to them, many also struggle to come to terms with their new identity, financial pressures and new found responsibilities. Fundamentally many mothers feel they lose a sense of personal identity as they become the ‘Mother of Sam’ rather than the individual they once were. Emotionally many can also be overwhelmed by the challenge of providing moral guidance, home security and nutritional meal times, made even more fraught by judgemental peers and mixed messages from the media and childcare specialists.

The Mum Poll study’s primary finding was that mothers are becoming increasingly competitive, with around 4 in 10% claiming that they cannot help but brag about their children’s achievements. Additionally there was a high incidence of mums who admit to being ultra competitive in dressing their children in the latest fashion attire, a dynamic that is being tapped into by high end trainer brand ‘Onitsuka Tiger’ which this week launched a pre-school range of footwear in Harrods and Selfridges (starting at £35 per pair).

Beyond this level of parental vanity, many brands are well aware that this can be such a difficult emotional phase and duly provide plenty of support and guidance via ’Mother & Baby Clubs’ delivering a constant stream of material through websites, email newsletters, direct mail, bounty packs and so forth. However whilst many brands tap into the angst and peer competitiveness of young mothers, there are far fewer that play to the emotional highs.

Of course it’s important to avoid the saccharin ‘Werther’s Original’ approach to brand communciations but at a time when parents are being placed under huge pressure from all quarters, it would be refreshing to see brands taking a more balanced approach to family marketing, acknowledging not only the pain but also the pleasures of parenting.