The Next Kids' Superbrand?

By Maryanne Murray Buechner

Except for the researchers taking notes, a Nickelodeon focus group looks like story time at a preschool. In one recent New York City session, four 4- and 5-year-olds heard a story from a future episode of the cable network's hit show Go, Diego, Go!, in which a boy enlists a falcon to recover a magic flute. "The snake sings, 'Yuka, yuka, yik yik ...'" the storyteller reads. Kids giggle, observers scribble, and Nickelodeon finds another way into kids' imaginations--and their parents' wallets.

Diego, whose show is a spin-off of the wildly popular Dora the Explorer (he's Dora's animal-rescuing cousin), is about to go from TV star to retail brand. About 1.8 million kids tune in to Diego every weekday, and Nickelodeon is counting on them to make his merchandise--Diego toys by Fisher-Price will be out in June; clothes and books by fall--just as popular. "He's bilingual, and he has a sense of adventure," says Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami. Nickelodeon is a master at milking hot properties. Retail sales of Nick-related products--from Dora backpacks to SpongeBob Band-Aids--topped $5 billion last year. Will Diego be the next big thing in kiddie cool? Nickelodeon hopes it runs in the family.