Sweety High heads confidently into girls’ worlds

December 2, 2011 by Wendy Goldman Getzler

The class of girl-skewing social networks has its latest newcomer in Sweety High, a brand-new online community developed by a panel of seasoned kids entertainment execs – including former leaders from Stardoll, Disney, Sony and Nickelodeon.

The social game, co-founded by film and TV producer Frank Simonetti and pop music video producer Veronica Zelle, encourages girls ages eight to 16 to partake in an array of confidence-boosting online games as well as real-world activities based on themes such as art, pop culture, entertainment, cooking and design. Through video, photo and written quests, girls can acquire virtual currency, complete sets of virtual goods and earn a variety of exclusive real-world rewards and experiences. Girls can also harvest virtual Hearts to unlock exclusive Sweety High programming, contests and Be a Star opportunities as they progress through the more than 40 levels in the game.

Original programming is also embedded within the virtual world. Sweety High Productions, the company’s studio arm, has already launched a slate of programming including Sweet Beat TV, which features Sweety High users on the scene at today’s major pop culture events, and Food Star, a cooking show that features participants and teen celebrities.

The COPPA-compliant site, which launched this week out of private beta, has recently welcomed its new chief strategy officer, Matt Palmer, who is the former EVP of social gaming giant Stardoll and the former SVP of marketing for Disney Channel. Lucas Bean has also joined Sweety High as VP of marketing and was the former senior director of marketing at Atari and senior director of marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment for Crackle.com.

Tags: Frank Simonetti, girls' properties, social networking, Sweety High, Sweety High Productions, Veronica Zelle