The brainchild of a mother of 4, Margo MacDonald Redfern, Flattenme has developed a line of storybooks that can be personalized with a child's photo, making them part of the story. In addition to their photo, a child's name is also incorporated in the text and illustrations, creating a highly personalized product that children seem to love.
How it works? Customers simply upload their child's (or pet's) photo to flattenme.com, indicate their name and gender, and select a book. Flattenme does the rest, using high-quality digital printing, and the book is delivered 10-14 business days later. Personalized books are saved in the company's database for simple reordering. Flattenme has released four titles since it launched in August: Tuesday Mushroom King (about wood sprites), Here There Be Pirates (for aspiring Johnny Depps), The Potty Dance (for those who refuse to go) and My Little Monster. The latter can feature pets as well as children.
Books are hard cover and full-colour, and sell for USD 33. Flattenme currently only ships within the US and Canada, but international shipping is in the works. French, German and Italian versions are available, with more languages to follow soon.
We've featured dozens of business concepts that use personalization, from bank cards to passenger jets, but this is definitely one of the cutest. Giving customized publishing a gravanity* twist and targeting parents, grandparents and other gift-givers is a smart move. One to bring to other parts of the world?
Website: www.flattenme.com
Contact: hi@flattenme.com
Spotted by Bjarke Svendsen
* Gravanity is what our sister-site trendwatching.com dubbed the enduring trend of catering to consumers who want to leave 'something' behind in print, audio or imagery. It's a goldmine of inspiration for entrepreneurs and marketers.
I'm tired of all these buzzwords you use. Prosumer? Gravanity?
Please. Stop trying to rewrite the English language. Other than that, I like this site, I really do. But I'm tired of reading an article and having to cringe at least twice.
I was 4 years too early and about $600 too light in capital:
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~twelvepmclients/
Pitched it to everyone from Amazon to lulu.com.
Nice to see someone actually did it!
Cheers,
Paul Murray
This exists in the UK it's called It's Your Story and run by a lady called Holly. Seems to be a similar offering, your child is the main character in the story. We are currently featuring it on the Media Mums & Dads website.
Based in Montreal, Canada, there's a similar company, www.alphakid.com. The children's story books are all in French. You can choose the hair & skin colour, eyes, glasses, etc. as well as the names of the characters in the books. I've given quite a few to friends and their children love them!
My brother had a book exactly like that when he was 6 ... he is now 40, hardly a new idea.
Alphakid's books are also available in English but under the Printakid brand. Go to Printakid.com to find them. I have bought a few books for my kids and I have also purchased quite a few more for other children's birthday. It's an original gift that is sure to make an impression.
I enjoy buzz words - - they are a form of creativity. After all, language is all made up.
http://www.blue-eyedmuse.com