Cartoon stardom for every child

Children can now watch themselves interact with their favourite cartoon characters, thanks to Kideo‘s personalized videos. How it works? Customers either upload a photo of their child to kideo.com, or go to a Lucidiom retail photo kiosk and scan or upload it there. The photo is cropped down to a head shot, which is then attached to a cartoon body. A few days later, a DVD is mailed to the customer’s house, with an animated movie that shows the child alongside popular cartoon icons like Dora the Explorer, Spiderman and the Care Bears. Besides featuring a child’s image, his or her first name is spoken by the characters throughout the video and also appears on the packaging. Though the DVD’s static head shots lack a level of realism that would make them appealing to older kids, most small children will be delighted to see themselves on screen and to hear their name spoken by the cartoon characters. Kideo isn’t the only company providing personalized media for children, of course. In December, we told you about Flattenme, which produces lushly illustrated, personalized books. Kideo’s videos, priced around USD 39.95, are currently only available in English. Localized versions to follow? Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen