DadLabs is an online information and entertainment production company based in Austin, Texas, which aims "to foster the father/child relationship through media, instructional and retail products ... and to strengthen families and benefit children by empowering today's fathers."1 The largest site of its kind on the Internet, DadLabs gets more than 1,000 visits each day from unique users and has shown a 32% average monthly increase in traffic over the past seven months.2 It is a vertical-specific, video-enabled destination, and social networking site for fathers.
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Addressing an often-overlooked market, DadLabs focuses on the issues of the modern father. Their website presents a progressive approach to paternity that stresses father participation in all aspects of parenting. The targeted market of the site consists of "expecting, new and veteran fathers... "3
DadLabs was founded in Austin, Texas, in 2004 by Brad Powell, Clay Nichols, and Troy Lanier. The three founders released their first DVD Due Dads: The Man's Survival Guide to Pregnancy, while they were co-workers at St. Stephen's Episcopal School, a private day and boarding school serving grades six through twelfth. After their DVD met wide success, they left their teaching jobs to pursue DadLabs fulltime.
DadLabs has produced and distributed a DVD series of instructional videos that escort expecting fathers through each trimester of pregnancy, delivery, and bringing a child home for the first time. The titles in this series are Due Dads: The Man's Survival Guide to Pregnancy and Due Dads: The Man's Survival Guide to Labor and Delivery. The former won the iParenting Media and Bronze Telly awards.4
In addition to the DVDs DadLabs also offers a line of parenting products, such as books, compact discs, furniture, and child-care paraphernalia through their online retail store.
Following the trends of other video blog sites, such as Wallstrip, which was recently acquired by CBS News for $5 million, DadLabs is most likely searching for their own corporate backing/acquisition. With this financial boost, DadLabs would be able to increase its reached market through an enhanced advertising strategy, thus making it a major player in the realm of fatherhood resource sites.
1. http://www.dadlabs.com/about_us.html
2. DadLabs CEO Brad Powell
3. http://www.dadlabs.com/about_us.html
4. http://iparentingmediaawards.com/winners/14/20830-14-34.php and http://www.dadlabs.com/telly.html