Zwinky Goes for the Younger Set with Zwinky Cuties

On September 16, IAC will launch its newest virtual world, Zwinky Cuties, aiming to take a segment of the 6-12 girls market, a large number of which the company says it's turning away from 13-and-older Zwinky.

"[Zwinky has] got about 16 million registered users and between 6-7 million monthly uniques spending about 80 minutes/average visit. As we do more and more, the audience responds really well," explained Mike Primiani, SVP of Product Development. "One of the things we were seeing was a huge number of tween girls that we were forced to drive away each day. We started talking internally and saying 'We've got an incredible opportunity here to verticalize the franchise and expand that way.'"

The Business

Zwinky Cuties, now in beta, will differentiate itself from Zwinky in several ways. While the world still build on the freemium model, instead of emphasizing microtransactions for paying users, Cuties will offer users subscriptions starting at $5.95/month to become Zwinky  Cuties Jet Setters with access to exclusive pets, furniture, avatar accessories, games and environments, and a virtual passport to show off badges and awards from various activities. Free users can still earn Zbucks, the virtual currency,  by playing games and participating in other activities. They'll store them up, but only Jet Setters can spend them.

There will still be brand exposure in-world and promotions, but with a focus on adding content for users instead of straight advertising. The first, beginning immediately, is with Cuties spokesperson Jordan Pruitt who will be kicking off its launch with a live concert in Times Square. Her line of clothing, however, will only appear in a boutique in Zwinky, not cuties. She will have further involvement with Cuties down the line, though.

"Doing this coming from a big multimedia conglomerate, we have such excellent relationships with people in movies, music, and entertainment. We're absolutely going to leverage those relationships to bring in partners that are relevant," said Primiani. "When we do promotions with celebrities, it's really more about the user experience and providing value to them. The advertising we do in Zwinky is a lot of fun. It's the type of brand engagement you have, but this is a little different. We want to certainly be a lot more careful with brands and engagement that we put in front of this audience."

Important, though, is the fact that this is not an experiment. There's no integration with Zwinky yet, but while Zwinky may be the larger world, Primiani says that Cuties will have equal weight and focus from IAC.

Accordingly, the company already has plans for more expansions down the line--including a break into the physical retail space based around different personalities for girls.

"We're looking toward retail maybe next year as a great way to bring personalities in," said Primiani. "For example, not that we'll necessarily go this way, girls love pop stars. In the retail world, you get a doll or a guitar and there's a type of play you expect offline. Then maybe you bring that online and you can access special activities and rock out on that guitar or play games that only pop stars can play or have access to special areas of the world that only you and other pop stars can access. That's the personalities style we're looking at."

Adapting to the Demographic

Working with a younger set required a different approach from Zwinky, but part of IAC's reason for focusing on six as the lowest age is to keep the world appealing for users accessing on the virtual world on their own.

"At this age, you're starting to use the computer a little more by yourselves and we wanted it to be about self-expression and personality," said Primiaini. "I feel like if you go younger, it would be a little more about education and parental help. You're sitting on mom's lap."

It's on Cuties, then, to provide that education and help on its own.

"The idea is that when you come into the world, there are these bubbles to get you acclimated because we're dealing with a younger audience," said Primiani. "We try to create a very friendly UI where everything revolves around the left pane and the right. You can go to locations by clicking on them or just one of the buttons on the left, the idea being that if you're dealing with someone on the older age, they may find it easier to read and just click on ‘Pool.’ If it's the six-year-old, they may be much more visual and click on the pool itself, so we have that as well."

With an under-13 crowd, safety also becomes more important. Primani says Cuties is COPPA compliant and will feature only pre-chosen chat messages for users to interact.

The Experience

The world itself is fairly interactive, with rich objects scattered throughout, from a chalkboard users can doodle on to flocks of ducks that surprise users when clicked. It's likely that most of the time, though, will be spent in tweaking avatars and rooms.

"A big part of the world, and something we've seen a ton of success with in Zwinky is the avatar customization," said Primiani. "We've got a very well received way of doing that, though we’ve obviously customized that for the younger set. Unlike other worlds where you're really in a model of an idea—you’re an animal or something—here you can really change it up in every way you want."

That idea of customization extends to every aspect. Users can customize their rooms, avatars, and, in a move that Primiani says is significant, add pets.

"It's definitely a differentiator," he explained. "We’ve done a couple of focus groups. We had some 8- and 10-year-old girls come in and tell us how they play online. So much of it led back to this idea of customization and personalization and giving them that freedom and interaction with pets.  You care for them, feed them, play with them. There's so many to choose from so it plays into that idea of expressing yourself. If you identify with it, the difference between a dog, cat, goldfish, penguin, really, really opens it up."

Cuties is getting into a market that Primiani recognizes is already rich with competition from Club Penguin, BarbieGirls.com, Webkinz, and more. With results coming in from the beta and focus groups, though, he's optimistic.

"We haven't put this in front of 5000 people, but the folks we have put it in front of love it," Primiani said. "They enjoy the freedom and the gameplay and the way you interact with the world."

Comments

[robyn]

If you are six or up to twelve then you're in luck!They've created a new game called "Zwinky Cuties".Cool huh?

[avpg]

i love pets

[Kylie sisemore]

I realy do not like how only Zwinkys Cuties jetseters can buy things.It is not fair !!!!I think you shoud at least have ONE store where the others can buy things.Also ALL of your things are way over priced.
.Games do not give you enough money(per game)
.non jetsetter members can not purchase anything
.Last, I hate how when there are already a certain amount of people in one place the site says"Sorry, that room is full." such as the pet store, the pet store is always full and other people can never get in.

Personaly, I think you have a lot of work to be done on your site.

P.S why do we have to pay money to change the color of things in your Room ?

[carlie loyd]

i think this is a awesome website

[cassie]

you have to pay for you walls for sure.
but i am not sure about the things?

[kelsey]

why do you think we have to pay

[kelsey]

why do we have to pay?

[janet]

I love zwinkycuties.com

[Hannah]

how we verify our account tell me plaes!!Hurry before it ends! I need answer!!NOW!!PLEASE!!

[rrr]

it not fair tat some kids dont get to be a jet setter

[Steffi Maegan]

Yah not fair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Page Burn]

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Page Burn]

lol girl!