At Macquarie University in the early 1990s, three Australian early childhood education students, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Anthony Field, decided that they had an urge to dress in brightly colored suits of 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 while dancing and singing about fruit salad and kangaroos.
If you’re the parent of a young child, you probably know this Aussie foursome as The Wiggles, which is the Beatles, Monkees, or ‘N Sync of the children’s 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 adult male would dress up in funny costumes and entertain children with songs about “fruit salad, yummy!”
His lost. Earning $14 million a year, the Wiggles are the latest kid sensation, and what they can teach us about success and finding their life’s passion will inspire corporate America to strum the guitar and dance with the Wiggles’ friends. , Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, Dorothy the Friendly Dinosaur, and Captain Feathersword the Friendly Pirate, who performs with a light-hearted, adventurous bravado that would make Johnny Depp want to slit his pirate throat.
1. Do what is good for your audience without reading.
Wiggles do not resort to After School special 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 the Wiggles in their big red car. Songs do what song, dance, and drama were originally designed to do: convey knowledge. They do it in a fun, clever, 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 beneficial to 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 Young Kids, Get Ready to Wiggle” by Rod Harmon. Greg, Anthony, and Murray used Jeff’s constant dreaming and constant gag asking the kids in the videos and TV show to yell “Wake up, Jeff!” This has become so popular that there is actually a video of Wiggles, “Wake up Jeff!” From the first Wiggles video to the current videos, you can see Jeff becoming more and more involved with the children, singing, dancing and playing, although he is quieter than the other three. Kids are always drawn to someone who is a little different, and Jeff stands out even when he dances with a large green dinosaur that recites poetry and a purple dancing octopus. The other three Wiggles seem to encourage the uniqueness of him. Of all the Jeff videos, CDs and dolls they are selling, the approach works! When Wiggles tour America in doubles, Jeff will be bullied by kids too young to go crazy for 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 huge crowds as members of the Cockroaches. 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). Dorothy even has her own dance party on tour. Whether you’re submitting a giant green dinosaur in a white hat or introducing yourself, don’t underestimate the value of reaching out and getting involved. It’s also fun to run and jump with the kids (no wonder Anthony, who’s always eating, stays slim!)
4) Do not follow the crowd or the market.
Most non-Disney, non-Nick Jr, and non-PBS American children’s shows seem designed as 22-minute commercials for action figures or dolls, as well as ways to keep children passively entertained. The traditional wisdom has been: kids will get bored if there’s no slam-bang action, and there’s 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 day’s sugary meal and mindlessly staring at a strange green monster that gets eliminated only to reappear in the next episode. With an epidemic of diabetes mellitus and obesity in America’s children, Wiggles’ approach is not only positive, but continues to generate success for the multi-colored four.
The Wiggles themselves doubted that there was an audience to help children learn through music and dance. A booking agent told them there would be no money, but they held their ground 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 second and third shows in many cities.
5) Being international or multicultural is not that difficult.
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 an underwater 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” talk about their down-under heritage, and you don’t see them suddenly moving into a mansion in Malibu, pretending they’re rich Yankees from Hollywood with no family or children.
7) Your family life only enhances your work and your passion.
Three of the Wiggles are married, Jeff apparently too sleepy to settle down, though before Anthony was married he was voted Australia’s most eligible bachelor. These peers have built their careers around children, and as noted in #3, they 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 this inspire you to Wiggle, to 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, mate.
Let’s move!
Visit Wiggles online at http://www.thewiggles.com.