Littlest Pet Shop to Launch Yet Another Kids Virtual World

They keep piling on. Hasbro and Electronic Arts are linking up to launch a virtual world themed to the Littlest Pet Shop toys. The site is purportedly aimed at the tween market, but I know plenty of 5-year-olds who love LPS, so I bet the demos trend way younger than tweens.

LPS has been a big success for Hasbro, with sales up 26% in 2008.

According to Kzero’s latest virtual worlds universe tracking study, the 8-10 age group is a sweet spot for virtual worlds, with more than 40 worlds active or in development, including Webkinz, Barbie Girls, Neopets and Club Penguin. Very few worlds target kids younger than that, so LPS may be among the first, even if Hasbro claims to be reaching the tween segment.

I’ll be publishing an eMarketer report on kids, gaming and virtual worlds in the next few months.

Crest’s 3-D Web Ploy

In a tongue in cheek (or would that be tongue on teeth?) effort, Crest’s KissMeIn3D.com gives visitors a taste (sorry, I love puns) of kissing a virtual character. In this case, a mustachioed Latin lover named Fernando or a wholesome cutie named Olivia.

It’s not exactly virtual world love (see: Second Life), but it is definitely strange. And, to best experience the Website, you need to have kept those 3D glasses you got to watch the Super Bowl ads. I didn’t, so the experience wasn’t quite as fulfilling for me. Especially when Fernando ripped off his new White Strips after he mimicked three kisses. Funny, ehh. Ewww, yes. Even if White Strips Advanced Seal does stay on while kissing, as the ad says. And especially if you read the fine print, which says kissing with the White Strips on can cause white spots to form on your teeth.

In an Adweek article, Crest rep Laura Brinker said, “We noticed there was a lot happening with 3-D. That was a relevant trend to latch onto. We thought we could bring the benefit of the product to life in a relevant way.”

Despite the ick factor, the idea of incorporating 3D into a Web marketing campaign is ingenious. For that I give Crest props. But Fernando and his White Strips can stay far away from me.

Tampax Takes Risks in Social Networking

When someone asks me the secret to success in social media marketing, I often say that the product has to be something that consumers feel passionate about, and more importantly, that they are willing (and excited) to share their passion. I then go on to say, “tampons, for instance, are not something most people feel passionate about.”

So what to make of Procter & Gamble’s willingness to put the Tampax brand out there in the social media space? Tampax has been a willing sponsor of teen girls’ social networking (last year it sponsored a cheerleading-video competition on a site called Takkle.com).

Now, it is sponsoring Stardoll, a virtual world of sorts where girls can dress up cartoon doll avatars and then interact with each other. At Stardoll, Tampax sponsors the MonthlyGiftClub, where members can get gifts based on group milestones. According to Brandweek, some of the gifts might include white virtual clothing for their avatars — a play off of Tampax’s campaign featuring women wearing white clothing.

Here’s where I start to go “ewww” and wonder why girls would join this club. But I checked it out and it’s surprisingly active. The member list runs nearly 3,000 pages (and there are a couple dozen names per page). The guest book runs over 1,000 pages, and the discussion forum is quite active (if you call a lot of “lol” and “thx” posts active). No one’s talking about Tampax or tampons per se, but then again no one’s actively dissing the brand (that I found). Which says something.

Maybe I need to find a new product category to mention when I talk about brands that don’t make sense in a social environment. Anyone have any ideas for me?

News I’m Following (Virtual World edition)

Whyville Has an Older Sibling: Numedeon, the company behind the kids virtual world Whyville, has launched its first world aimed at grownups. Called SportsBlox, it caters to, as the name would suggest, sports fans of all flavors (and nationalities) who want to talk sports with other avatars. Numedeon has several new virtual worlds in the works, according to News.com, including one for older adults.

An Intelligent Virtual World? From Forbes comes word that the US government is funding a VW application “to let uncommunicative U.S. intelligence agencies interact with each other more efficiently and with more trust.” Yes, according to the report, agents and counter-terrorism officials may eventually use the technology to sit in a virtual meeting room and “have personal interactions in cyberspace.” The companies behind the application are IBM and Forterra Systems, a California startup. There’s even a way for secret agents to identify themselves using the same authentication they use to log on to their own computer networks. Weird that it would take a virtual world to get intelligence agencies to actually start talking to each other.

Second Life To Get a New Leader

Philip Rosedale, the brains behind Second Life, is stepping down as CEO of Linden Lab (Second Life’s parent company). It’s a move typical to a lot of tech companies — a founding CEO moves up to chairman to allow an exec with more operating experience to come in.

What I found interesting is that the company “has a very nice business that is a lot larger than virtually everybody thinks,” as current SL chairman (and investor) Mitch Kapor put it in The Wall Street Journal today. Since the virtual-world marketing idea didn’t pan out (at least not with traditional marketers) I’d love to know more.

News I’m Following

Some news tidbits I’m following:

Gaia Online gets $12mm venture round. Investors this time include Sony (a previous investor) and Time Warner. What intrigues me the most about Gaia these days is that the teen-oriented VW has been building its audience by using a widget on Bebo. Bebo members can sign on to Gaia and play a trimmed-down version of Gaia right from Bebo (via VentureBeat).

MTV extends its video syndication play. New artners include iMeem, Veoh and Dailymotion, joining existing partners AOL, Bebo, Joost, MSN and Comcast’s Fancast. MTV will handle ad sales, giving a cut of revenue to the video sites. And because MTV will allow its video clips to be widgetized, it will also gain revenue when its content is picked up by individuals and placed on their blogs, social network profile pages, etc. (via MediaPost)

Usage of video sites growing exponentially among young adults. According to a new Pew Internet & American Life Project survey (conducted in October-December 2007), 48% of US adult Internet users have ever visited a video site such as YouTube, up from 33% a year ago. 15% did so “yesterday” – i.e., the day before they were surveyed. That’s up from 8% a year ago.

Among people ages 18-29, 70% had ever visited a video site, up from 55% a year ago. And 30% said they had done so yesterday, double the 15% from a year ago.

As video proliferates across the Web (thanks to syndication deals such as MTV’s and the ease of spreading video virally by using widget technology) these figures will continue to rise.

Virtual Worlds for Kids “Exploding”

Now that the marketing community has firmly given the heave-ho to Second Life, is virtual world marketing dead?

Not a chance.

In fact, 2008 will see a ton of activity. With major media companies such as Disney, Viacom and Turner betting big bucks on virtual worlds for kids and young people, the market will continue to grow.

As Sibley Verbeck of Electric Sheep Co. told ClickZ, “The kid’s space is exploding.” Good for him, since his company’s SL business has foundered.

Virtual worlds operate at the sweet spot between gaming (hugely popular with children and tweens) and social networking (teens and young adults). They have the potential to draw huge audiences from both demographics.

Now, if only Webkinz would let my kid log in and register her new pet. Yesterday the site’s servers were down.