Virtual worlds on the menu at kids marketing agencies

INcase you've missed it, virtual worlds are fast becoming the go-to strategy for reaching kids online. Canadian toyco Ganz started it all with Webkinz.com and was quickly followed by Club Penguin. And now that book publishers are also getting into the game (see "Publishers push into web-toy territory" on page 69), the number of kid-focused marketing firms and agencies adding "builder of virtual worlds" to their list of client services shouldn't come as a surprise.

Notably, Cincinnati, Ohio-based digital ad agency WonderGroup launched ToppsTown.com on behalf of trading card manufacturer Topps this past June, with the aim of re-engaging boys with the experience of trading sports cards. New York's youth marketing agency The Geppetto Group is getting ready to bow a branded My Princess Academy world for girls three to six this month on behalf of consumer products company Almar Sales. And digital shop Fuel Industries in Ottawa, Canada is about 10 months into building a world for an L.A.-based kids entertainment client. "The number of calls we're now receiving a month asking about getting into branded virtual worlds or the MMOG space is tenfold what it was in April," says Fuel CEO Mike Burns.

All three agencies are overseeing creative direction and content/asset creation for their clients, but WonderGroup and Fuel are actually managing the programming of the sites. WonderGroup VP of digital strategy Jeff Jones says there are nine programmers at his 75-staffer office. "If construction's not in-house," he says, "things can get away from you quickly." Because WonderGroup had the capability on-site, it was able to get ToppsTown.com up and running in six months. Similarly, Fuel has built its own virtual world engine (dubbed SNAG internally because it helps attract and build consumer audiences) that can be set up and versioned to meet a specific brand's requirements.

As with subscription-based sites that may not be set up solely for marketing purposes, the agencies say branded virtual worlds have to be constructed from the outset with their target audiences in mind, naturally paying attention to integrating all other marketing efforts such as in-store promos and calls to action seamlessly into the environment.

With ToppsTown, WonderGroup kept the boys audience top-of-mind and made sure it included activities to appeal to the demo's current behavior patterns online. WonderGroup CEO Greg Livingston says his team identified a number of motivators and reasons why kids engage in online worlds, breaking users down into types such as: the nurturer (hello Webkinz fans); the collector, who only wants to amass rare virtual objects; the nester; the trader; the joiner and the gamer - all pretty self-explanatory. It then incorporated activities that would appeal to boy-centric types. Boys, for example, are not big on chatting or nurturing, so ToppsTown really doesn't encompass those functions. But it does have robust trading and gaming applications, which are more in their wheelhouse.