BALTIMORE — On Wal-Mart's aisle of educational toys and children's learning materials, dozens of brightly packaged products and cartoon-infused titles vie for parents' attention and a slice of their spending.
There's the LeapFrog electronic writing pad, Dora the Explorer learning kits, SpongeBob SquarePants educational games -- and an old brand fighting to be new again.
More than a decade past the peak of the backlash against "whole language" reading instruction that propelled Hooked on Phonics into infomercial ubiquity, Baltimore-based Educate Inc. is aggressively reintroducing the brand as an educational products line at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and other mass retailers.
The move to revitalize Hooked on Phonics, which Educate acquired last year when it bought Gateway Learning Corp. of Orange County, is part of the company's broader plans to shift more of its business toward consumer products as its core tutoring business, Sylvan Learning Centers, is stumbling.
But Hooked on Phonics faces scores of competitors in a nearly saturated market. Spending on DVDs, CD-ROMs and other educational materials is declining, and some analysts worry about the pressures on retailers to cut shelf space devoted to educational products.
Some analysts also are concerned whether a company known for its tutoring business has the skills to manage inventory and maintain relationships with retailers.
Others question whether the Hooked brand is still relevant.
"One of the questions I have is 'Will the market favor the line of thinking: What is old is new again'? " said Jim McVety, a senior analyst with MarketingWorks, which specializes in educational sales. "In the retail market, they're up against companies like LeapFrog, which touts the model of toys that teach, whereas Hooked on Phonics is a tool that teaches."
Educate believes its strategy can work. The company wants to attract parents who may balk at spending an average of $3,325 on tutoring, hoping they will be lured by the nostalgia of the Hooked brand. It also is trying to reach children earlier in the learning process. Educate has found that two-thirds of parents bought educational materials before enrolling their children in its tutoring sessions, which begin in kindergarten.
The move into consumer products involves more than just Hooked on Phonics. Under a deal to co-produce the PBS children's series "Reading Rainbow," Educate will start selling licensed "Reading Rainbow"related DVDs and other materials in stores this summer.
