AOL Canada announced the launch of Parentdish.ca, a full-spectrum parenting site offering information and advice for parents on topics ranging from pregnancy, gender roles, health and discipline.
Rashida Jeeva, general manager of AOL lifestyle properties, said the site provides parents with an expertly curated, honest take on parenting, and features advice, news, reviews and original content on topics that matter most to Canadian parents. What sets Parentdish apart from other parenting and lifestyle sites, said Jeeva, is the fact that it uses trusted authorities to dish out dependable, sound advice, and assists parents in cutting through the everyday clutter that overwhelms them.
“A lot of sites are very rigid. We want parents to enjoy and click through for all the various perspectives. We made sure it was authoritative and that parents could weigh in on what our experts offer. At the end of the day, we want parents to feel, ‘You know what, I did a good job today!’”
Psychotherapist and parenting expert Alyson Schafer has been named Parentdish’s resident guru, and other features include “Healthy Lunches,” authored by nutrition specialist Rose Reisman, and “Is that normal,” a weekly feature on behaviours and habits of kids. All stories are anchored by a video, pulled from the AOL On Network, which contains 250,000 lifestyle videos. Parentdish will also feature shared content from CanadianLiving.com, StyleatHome.com and ElleCanada.com.
Accompanying the launch is a digital and social media campaign called “Because Children Don’t Come with Instructions.” The site has also aligned itself with parenting bloggers that are part of the AOL network, Jeeva said. Creative and marketing for the campaign—which will roll out in several stages—is being handled in-house.
TD Bank Group is the official advertising launch partner and has created custom branded content around the financial institution’s own www.TDReads.com promoting literacy and reading habits for children. Jeeva said there are other “major brands” on board, but couldn’t name them yet. Parentdish is also courting insurance companies, automotive companies and fashion houses to advertise on the site.
