Fisher-Price Shares Vision Of Parenting In The Future

TECHNOLOGY WILL EMPOWER PARENTS AND ENABLE EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT THROUGH IMMERSIVE, PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCES

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Mar 21, 2016, 09:30 ET

EAST AURORA, N.Y., March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The technology-enabled future looks bright for young families, according to a newly revealed video and vision entitled The Future of Parenting from Fisher-Price, one of the world's leading manufacturers of infant and preschool toys and subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., working with Continuum, a global innovation design consultancy.

The Future of Parenting represents one perspective on how seamlessly integrated technology will empower parents in the next decade in soothing, entertaining, learning and caring for young children, further enriching the lives of young families.

"During this research and development initiative, we used futurecasting to look 10 years ahead to understand the realities young families may encounter and how we can better serve our mission to enrich early childhood development," said Mark Zeller, Senior Vice President of Design and Research for Fisher-Price Global Brands. "We enhanced physical models with digital elements to visually depict our concepts in the video, and have also started prototyping actual tech-enabled products that will inspire multi-year innovation in our line that may be available to parents as soon as 2017."

With input from subject matter and trend experts, Fisher-Price and Continuum developed experiences based on technical themes to inspire future products and experiences rooted in solutions, play, learning, and development. The resulting video depicts a technology-layered day-to-day family experience that showcases a preserved human connection.

"We examined various industries and dug deep into cultural behavior to uncover the trajectory of tech's evolution, ensuring our concepts are grounded in a logical hypothesis," said Kevin Young, Senior Vice President of Product Experience for Continuum. "Our vision will inspire the creation of tools that can empower parents to create personalized developmental environments for their children to grow."

In addition to the video, Fisher-Price and Continuum also released a white paper under the same name that provides further explanation of the futuristic-product concepts and the insights behind how they came to be. Both the video and white paper can be viewed by visiting www.FutureofParenting.com.

The Future of Parenting video debuted at this month's South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival during the "Parenting without Pixels: The Tech Enabled Future" panel moderated by Continuum's Lee Moreau, featuring Dr. Michael Shore, Vice President of Foresights at Mattel, and MIT Faculty David Rose and Rosalind Picard.

"Technology is radically changing – and improving – the way children learn, play and develop," said Geoff Walker, Chief Strategic Technology Officer of Mattel. "By leveraging engaging technology platforms across our portfolio of brands and products, our goal is to create impactful play and learning experiences for children and parents around the world."

About Fisher-Price
In 1931, Herman Fisher and Irving Price embarked on a journey to change the toy industry. Their goal: creating playthings that inspire a child's development. More than 80 years later, Fisher-Price remains deeply rooted in the belief that play is the way children learn best. To this day, understanding the importance of play in building a child's skills is the fundamental principle, as the company strives to enrich the lives of families with young children around the globe. United by the passion for a child's safe care and development at each age and stage, the people of Fisher-Price work tirelessly to bring families the best toys and baby products in the world. Some of the company's best-known brands include Laugh & Learn®, Little People®, Power Wheels®, and Imaginext®, and it's also a leading developer of character-based toys for children's programming such as Thomas & Friends™, Dora and Friends: Into the City!, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates. For more information, visit www.fisher-price.com (U.S.) and www.fisher-price.ca (Canada) or connect with Fisher-Price on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

About Continuum:
Continuum, a global innovation design consultancy, creates products, services, and experiences that work for people and for the businesses that serve them. Based on in-depth consumer research, rigorous analysis of clients' business challenges, and inspired creativity, Continuum uncovers opportunities for innovation and makes them real. Since 1983, Continuum has worked with companies worldwide, including Allsteel, American Express, Audi, BBVA, Herman Miller, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Samsung, Sprint, and Staples. Continuum has offices in Boston, Los Angeles, Milan, Seoul and Shanghai. http://www.continuuminnovation.com