To celebrate the 75th anniversary of its popular children's book character Curious George, publishing company and global education provider Houghton Mifflin Harcourt launched a mobile cross country tour for kids this summer.
The tour, which was conceptualized by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and produced by LeadDog Marketing Group—and created in partnership with the Association of Children's Museums and the social movement Ultimate Block Party—kicked off at New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 26. The tour traveled to various events and landmarks in cities in California and Texas before making its final stop at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas on August 21.
During each of the stops, kids had the opportunity to experience six interactive and educational learning stations inspired by the curious brown monkey. The stations unfolded from the trailer of a "Little Blue Truck," which paid homage to the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt books of the same name written by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry. The truck, as well as the tents, bookshelves, activity tables, and signage, were provided by experiential marketing agency Turtle Transit.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's live events are usually education conferences, and this is the first time the company has thrown an experiential tour. "We wanted this tour to fall under the corporate social responsibility umbrella and to promote general brand awareness," said Andrew Russell, the company's director of corporate social responsibility. "We also wanted it to be a really rich experience for families and children, and something families would stick around and get something out of."
Bianca Olson, senior vice president of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, added: "Historically, we do thousands of live events on an annual basis that are more focused on teacher training and professional development. But more and more, we are focusing on serving parents and students at home, in addition to the classroom. It was important to target that consumer audience, which is focused more on the home than the classroom."
Russell also notes that the tour taking place during the summer reinforced the company's goal of having parents make their children aware of the connection between home and school education.
"Having a parent engaged at home is an important part of success for a child in school. The more we spread that message, the better," said Russell. "There are ways to have fun with your child that are also learning experiences for that child. We're trying to reinforce the enormous role that parents have in the success of their student."
The mobile event also spawned community initiatives including nine community murals and the donation of 75,000 books to numerous local nonprofit organizations in each market.
