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If you build it . . . they may not come
April 7, 2008
The Virtual Words Conference offered a great deal to consider and learn. Below are some of my initial take aways:
1. If you build it they may not come
There are an incredible number of virtual world sites that have been constructed or under construction. A lot of these have sameness about them. Before you build yours, make sure that you are creating an environment that is different from other sites and that is a place where children enjoy spending time, that keeps them coming back and where parents feel that they are safe. If not, you may have spent a lot of money and got little return on your investment.
2. If you build it they may come, but it may not be who you expect
What interested me at the seminar by Mattel on its Barbiegirls.com website were the ages of the girls they are attracting:
Ages 16 and up 3%
Ages 13-15 18%
Ages 11-12 30%
Ages 9-10 35%
Ages 7-8 12%
Ages 6 and under 2%
That means that unlike the actual dolls which attract girls primarily 8 and down, the web site population primarily consists of girls 9 – 15.
What makes this interesting, at least to me, is that they were surprised this happened and are not totally sure why (or they know and are not telling). Whatever, it is a great accident because the website has allowed them to do what they have for years failed to do, attract girls over 8 to the brand. It will be interesting to see what they do with this new audience.
3. There are many business models
Some websites require you to first buy a real world product before you can enter and some charge a fee. Some allow universal entry at no charge. Others allow universal entry but either charge you a fee or make you buy a product in order to access the rest of the site. For example, the Barbiegirls.com website is free to enter but 75% of it is accessible only if you purchase the special Barbie MP3 player. It appears that the jury is out on which one will be the dominating format.
4. If you’re a manufacturer tread lightly with your retailers
A number of these virtual worlds created by product manufacturers allow you to buy products on line. If this is the case, care needs to be taken that retailers who carry a company’s line don’t feel that their sales are being cannibalized by the manufacturer.
5. Its all well and good but there could be a bust coming
I was intrigued by the sheer optimism of everyone in attendance. The number trillion was thrown around a lot and the virtual world user estimates for the next few years were impressive (There are currently 8.2 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 logging into virtual worlds and that is expected to grow to 15.1 million by 2009). There was, however, something about this heady atmosphere that smacked of bubbles of the past (remember the dot com bubble?). Don’t get me wrong, virtual worlds are a powerful engine and they are here to stay. Let’s just not get too carried away. We could see a shake out in the next few years as market forces weed out the winning and losing business models.
Posted by Richard Gottlieb on April 7, 2008 | Comments (0)
