MIDEM 2007 looked at one particular subject close to Brand Strategy’s heart: virtual worlds. The CEO of girls’ site Stardoll discussed how he is monetarising his world through selling virtual clothes to go on virtual dolls. The site is unusual in the online space as it has 95% female use in the 10-17 age cateogory - a particularly tricky demographic for websites to attract in general.
Stardoll lets girls design their own online dolls or use a celebrity template, which they can then dress in virtual fashion. The site is monetised by offering various outfits and accessories for sale, which are then kept in the doll’s virtual bedroom. The dolls can visit or chat to one another, give gifts or appear in the online world’s virtual magazine.
This was very interesting as it brought up several key points:
- people will pay for content like virtual clothes if it feels ‘real’ enough to them even though they will never own it outside a computer;
- the same principles of how groups interact with each other work online as well as offline. Girls like to chat to their friends, give gifts and dress up - if they aren’t doing it in reality, they’ll do it virtually;
- brands can get involved with these virtual worlds incredibly easily. Why aren’t all teen clothing brands available on Stardoll already? TopShop could be launching clothes collections in the game at the same time as in real life.
Any thoughts? Let us know.
May 9, 2007 at 4:19 am
My daughters have (had) accounts on stardoll.com and LOVED it until my oldest daughter (who had saved real money to buy doll clothes on the site) had her account stolen. Not only did Stardoll.com not correct the problem when they were notified, they never answered a single email or site message about the theft, and that’s what it is, the theft of a little girl’s money, time, and joy. She gave them her money and they left her out in the cold without so much as a “we’re sorry but..” letter. I’ve searched online and found others with the same response and several who have had account stolen and then sold on the site with no help from the moderators. It’s appalling. Seeing a little girl so upset over something she enjoyed so much and the company doesn’t even care.
Mad Dad