Girl Scout cookies entering digital age

More than 6,000 Girl Scouts and their families descended Saturday on the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, and while it looked like they were having fun, it was all business.

They came to kick off their annual cookie selling season and learn about the Girl Scouts' new marketing strategy, which incorporates social media to track and promote sales.

Girls saw the newly unveiled “Cookie Club,” an online marketing and goal-fulfillment resource that enables them to line up cookie contacts, send them e-cards and update them on sales and delivery.

And for customers needing to satisfy a Girl Scout cookie fix? There's an app for that.

The afternoon at the Allstate Arena included interactive activities like practicing making change, delivering cookie boxes and creating novel marketing techniques.

Girl Scout officials say the hands-on activities help girls learn the basics of money management, product marketing, interacting with customers and goal-setting.

Maria Wynne, a Palatine resident and CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, kicked off a pep rally before the Scouts and their families settled in for the evening's Chicago Wolves game.

She firmly believes the Scouts and their cookie sales go a long way in empowering young girls to be future leaders.

“We're trying to move at the speed of girls,” Wynne said of the new social media initiative. “This is an electronic way of extending their reach, beyond door-to-door. It doesn't replace the personal exchange, but it only enhances it.”