News

Virtual friends

Build-A-Bear Workshop is the latest toy brand to connect products and online.

March 18, 2008

This article originally published in Retail Customer Experience magazine, April 2008. Click here to download a free PDF version.

Photo by John Nation

"Like other members of the family, they all have names and are loved," said their mother, Connie Moore. The animal friends are Webkinz, a popular line of stuffed animals that interface with an online gaming experience. Each animal comes with a code that allows exclusive access to the sprawling site — and those codes are so popular that many retailers keep the toy animals locked up behind the counter.

Susan McVeigh, communications manager for Ganz, the company that makes Webkinz, said the online experience is popular because there is so much for children to do.

"We believe the site is popular because it is very compelling. We update it regularly; it is rich and dense with activities and detail," she said. "It is a very complex site. It allows kids to be in control of their entertainment, and to be responsible for a pet's well-being. It gives them lots of options. It encourages them to visit regularly and challenges them to try new activities."

Moore said her girls often will play together in the online realm, pulling a laptop up next to the family desktop PC. She likes the fact that the site teaches kids how to manage money using the "Kinzcash" virtual currency. Most of all, she values the age-appropriate emphasis of the experience.

"I appreciate its innocence in today's society of girls looking and acting older than they are," she said. "Webkinz lets kids be kids — not tweens or teenagers when they're only 8 — and that's a good feeling."

Stay-at-home dad Jeff Kellmanson also has two kids who are obsessed with Webkinz. Nine-year-old Jack and 7-year- old Libby have marked just about every special occasion in the past year with the introduction of a new member to the family, and recently made dad get his own.

"As a parent, I really applaud Ganz for creating a safe, age-appropriate online environment for kids," he said. "Clearly, the kids love taking care of their virtual Webkinz, enjoy interacting with their friends and like that they don't need Mom or Dad to help them."

He also pointed out that the kids play at least as much with their stuffed toys as they do with the online component, which has spilled over into additional purchases like clothing, jewelry and trading cards.

Kids' communities

Children and Online Safety Many parents are apprehensive of anything that requires their children to get online, especially without adult supervision. The brands behind the Webkinz, Build-A-Bear and Shining Stars programs are careful to communicate their safety standards with parents. In Build-A-Bear's case, users never are identified by their real names, but rather create a fictional name from a list of "safe words." Two types of chat are available: "safe chat," which allows users to send pre-determined and approved messages, and "filtered open chat," which al- lows users to type their own messages but monitors and filters them on the fly. Filtered open chat only is available to children 13 and older, and a parent has to choose the appropriate chat option before the child can visit for the first time. Webkinz uses a similar tiered sys- tem, KinzChat and KinzChat PLUS. By default, all accounts are set to KinzChat, which does not allow users to type in their own messages. KinzChat PLUS only can be activated by a parent. "I think as long as parents see there is a firewall with respect to chat, they're more willing to let their children play online unsupervised," said Taylor. "Parents are becoming more comfortable with the idea of their child spending time online without feeling the need to look over their shoulder every second."

The latest entrant is Build-A-Bear Workshop, an 11-year-old company that grew rapidly from a single location in St. Louis to a worldwide chain of 370 stores. Customization and hands-on activity are central to the Build-A-Bear experience, which has children choose an animal shell, stuff it (with the help of a store associate) and give it a name. In a decidedly memorable ritual, children pick out a heart for the animal, utter their wishes "into" the heart and place it inside the animal. Finally, the new friend is outfitted with clothes and accessories.

In December, Build- A-Bear launched BuildABearVille. com, an interactive site of games and activities, all featuring the same branding as the store. Many of the activities require a special code to access, and those codes are available only with the purchase of a toy in the retail store.

The Web site is a few months old, but according to founder and "chief executive bear" Maxine Clark, it already has one million registered users.

"The new virtual world was carefully created so that it reflects the core values of Build-A-Bear Workshop," Clark said. "It allows children to have fun as they grow their friendships and learn about being an active participant in the community."

Marcia Layton Taylor, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Webkinz," said the notion of an online community aimed at kids is nothing new, but the offerings from Webkinz, Build-A-Bear and others represent a better value for the buyer. Popular sites Club Penguin and Disney's Toontown Online, for instance, charge a monthly fee for premium access. Contrast that with the one-time purchase of an animal, and the hybrid offerings are a much better deal, she said.

Wishing on a star

One of the more interesting uses of the real toy/virtual experience hybrid comes from Russ Berrie, the 45-year-old company that, among other things, can claim the Troll doll as one of its successes. In 2007, the company launched the Shining Stars project, a collaboration with the International Star Registry.

The line is made up of 30 animals, said Eugene Paraszczuk, director of marketing for licensed products at Russ. Each animal has a suggested retail price of $14.95, and for that price the child not only gets access to an online gaming experience but also gets to name and register his own star with the International Star Registry.

"You even get to choose your star's constellation," he said. "The Web site will show you an image and the coordinates of your star, which can then be printed on a certificate that verifies its exact location in the cosmos.

"The Shining Stars online component is built around games and an age-appropriate community system. Players earn "glow points" for each pet they activate and for playing games; earning more glow points opens up more activities on the site.

The site also teaches benevolence, Paraszczuk said, through its partnership with the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Kids are encouraged to share their glow points with the seriously ill children served by the Foundation, and so far, more than 5.5 billion glow points have been donated.

Creating connection

The concept of real-world toys that connect to the online world creates an interesting synergy between retailer and online content provider. An in-store purchase is required to begin the online experience, which creates a desire for more product to open more opportunities online, which drives families back into the store. And in most cases, the price is low enough that parents don't think twice about adding another member to the family.

"The price point helped Webkinz catch on quickly," Taylor said. "Initially the animals were $7.99 and $9.99, fueling further demand as kids asked for additional pets to add to their collections, much like Beanie Babies. That demand caused product shortage, which only fanned the flames of demand."

Toy crazes often are viewed as a negative by many parents, but this craze appears to be different.

"Each time they master something, they find something new to explore," Moore said of the online experiences that her girls enjoy. "There is always something new to try and I think this keeps them engaged. I know it's all done in a safe, fun and educational atmosphere."

And Taylor foresees a time when this concept isn't limited to stuffed animals — or to toys at all.

"I think this is a trend that will continue, but it will also continue to evolve. These sites are for children, but there's a huge opportunity for retailers with strong customer bases to pull adults in with useful content and tools related to the products they sell."

Save the Fairies   A particularly novel approach to retail/online hybrid toys comes from Australia, this one geared toward adults. In early 2007, Wildblue Holdings launched Iron Fairies, with one retail store in Perth and another in New York.   Founder Sam Wendt said his stores sell fragrances for men and women, organic soaps and body products and collectible fairy figurines. His audience, he said, is anyone who has an affiliation with fairies, magic and organic body products.   Each product comes with a send-off to a Web site where visitors learn of fairies that have been locked away by underground miners beneath the family garden. Players crack codes and answer questions on their descent to save the fairies, but the quest cannot be completed without additional purchases from the store, including a book that contains pivotal clues to the game.   When a player successfully completes the quest and frees the fairy, the company mails the corresponding figurine to the player as a reward.   "It has been very positive, and has increased our average sale from $30 to about $100," Wendt said.