Yummy Yummy: Wiggles’ 7 Best Business Lessons

May 18, 2022 0 Comments

At Macquarie University in the early 1990s, three Australian early childhood education students, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Anthony Field, decided they had an urge to dress in brightly colored suits, red, yellow and blue (respectively). that look like the uniforms from the original “Star Trek” series. It wasn’t long before Anthony Field’s bandmate in The Cockroaches, Jeff Fatt, was convinced to don a purple shirt and start entertaining at birthday parties as they danced and sang about fruit salad and kangaroos.

If you’re a parent of a young child, you probably know this Australian quartet as The Wiggles, which is the Beatles, Monkees or ‘N Sync from the boy group. They are the highest paid artists in Australia, ahead of Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman.

When you watch their DVDs and videos (which you’ll watch, at least 200 times each) and their four times a day TV show on Playhouse Disney, you know these guys are definitely not an American creation. Gone are Mister Rogers, Mister Dressup, and Bozo the Clown, and no modern American grown man would dress up in funny costumes and entertain children with songs about “fruit salad, yummy!”

His lost. The Wiggles, who earn $14 million a year, are the latest kid sensation, and what they can teach us about success and finding passion in life will inspire corporate America to play guitar and dance with the Wiggles’ friends. , Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, Dorothy the Friendly Dinosaur, and Captain Feathersword the Friendly Pirate, who acts with a light-hearted, adventurous bravado that would make Johnny Depp want to slit his pirate throat.

1. Do what’s good for your audience without reading.

The Wiggles don’t use the special After School messages. Do you want to know about the value of a healthy diet? Have some fruit salad! working out? Let’s get up and “Romp Bomp a Stomp”, or dance and play, with Dorothy! Let’s do the pirate dance with Captain Feathersword and chase after the Wiggles in his big red car. Songs do what songs, dance, and theater were originally designed to do: pass on knowledge. They do it in a fun, smart, colorful and eye-catching way. The three Wiggles (Murray, Jeff and Greg) who have ECE degrees and their own children know that children can understand what is good for them without being spoon-fed. And Jeff… well, sleepy Jeff shows everyone the value of a good nap.

2. Find a way to include everyone and you will reap the rewards.

Jeff, who doesn’t have an ECE degree, was shy about getting involved with kids, according to a Knight-Ridder article, “If You Have Little Kids, Get Ready to Wiggle” by Rod Harmon. Greg, Anthony, and Murray used Jeff’s constant dreaming and constant gag of asking children in the videos and TV show to yell “Wake up, Jeff!” as their motto. This has become so popular that there is actually a Wiggles video, “Wake up Jeff!” From the first Wiggles video to the current videos, you can see Jeff getting more and more involved with the kids, singing, dancing, and playing games, although he is quieter than the other three. Kids are always drawn to someone who’s a little different, and Jeff stands out even when he dances with a big green dinosaur that recites poetry and a purple octopus that dances. The other three Wiggles seem to encourage his uniqueness. Of all the videos, CDs, and Jeff dolls they’re selling, the approach works! When Wiggles goes on a stunt tour of America, Jeff will be stalked by kids too young to go crazy over Justin Timberlake.

3) Keep it alive and stay in touch.

The Wiggles could get away with making DVDs, TV shows and albums for their fans for the rest of their lives. But all of them are used to interacting. Murray, Greg and Anthony hoped to be teachers. Jeff and Anthony played to crowds as members of the Cucarachas. They include real-life children, including members of their own families (as seen in their video and DVD credits), in their videos and talk to them. In a scene from “Hoop Dee Doo! It’s a Wiggly Party”, several children make emu skirts while one of the Wiggles talks to them. To be sure, Wiggles’ live shows are no different, including versions in Asia that will feature local native speakers as Wiggles clones (“The Wide World of Wiggles,” Feb. 6, Newsweek Web Exclusive). Even Dorothy has her own dance party on tour. Whether you’re sending a giant green dinosaur in a white hat or introducing yourself, don’t underestimate the value of making contact and getting involved. It’s also fun to run and jump with the kids (no wonder Anthony, who is always eating, stays skinny!)

4) Do not follow the crowd or the market.

Most non-Disney/Nick Jr/PBS American children’s shows seem designed as 22-minute commercials for action figures or dolls, as well as ways to keep kids passively entertained. The traditional wisdom has been: kids will be bored if there’s no slam-bang action and no way to make money doing something that’s good for them. The Wiggles have proven this to be false. The kids dance and sing along with Jeff, Murray, Greg, Anthony, and their friends, instead of sitting down to eat the sugary meal of the day and mindlessly stare at a strange green monster who is eliminated only to reappear in the next episode. With an epidemic of diabetes mellitus and obesity in American children, Wiggles’ approach is not only positive, it continues to deliver success for the four multicolored.

The Wiggles themselves doubted that there would be an audience to help children learn through music and dance. A booking agent told them there would be no money, but they stuck to it and became very popular in Australia. The United States was next and the Wiggles are now a solid hit at Playhouse Disney, with sold-out tours; they have even had to add a second and third show in many cities.

5) Being international or multicultural is not that difficult.

The Wiggles don’t need a multicultural sensitivity training class. After all, when your friends are a singing dog, a rose-eating dinosaur, and an octopus with a submarine band, you don’t have a problem with diversity. They regularly include Australian, Irish, Spanish and other songs in their act. The franchise is expanding to Asia. If you think this TV show doesn’t sound like a likely hit in Japan, you’ve never seen “Pokemon” or anime, or the old classic “Ultraman.”

6) Stay true to your roots.

There’s no question that Murray, Jeff, Greg and Anthony are Australian (again, four Americans wouldn’t do what they do), though Dorothy sounds a bit more British. Songs like “Willaby Wallaby Woo” speak to their down-under heritage, and you don’t see them suddenly moving into a mansion in Malibu, pretending they’re rich Hollywood Yankees with no family or kids.

7) Your family life only enhances your work and your passion.

Three of the Wiggles are married, Jeff is apparently too sleepy to settle down, though before Anthony got married, he was voted Australia’s most eligible bachelor. These peers have built their careers around children and, as noted in #3, regularly include their own families in their videos. The family that eats fruit salad and plays bomp-a-stomps together, stays together. If you bring joy to millions of children, you can’t help but have a lasting positive effect on your family.

Does all of this inspire you to wiggle, get up and dance? You probably will if you have children. But let it inspire you to follow your passion in your work, your family, and your life. Learn from those four professional consultants, Greg, Murray, Jeff and Anthony. And she hey, eat some fruit salad. You need your health, friend.

Let’s move!

Visit Wiggles online at http://www.thewiggles.com.

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