Webkinz – Have you heard of them?

Ad Age released a report that Webkinz has sold significantly higher than 1 milliion “pets” in the last year.

My kids have 16 total Webkinz animals.

And they went into a”frenzy” when we were near a store that had them this last weekend. So, I of coure let them buy one. In my oppinion it is the best $11 you can spend for a elementary school kid that has access to the internet.

In the Webkinz world, the kids can play games for money, spend money on clothes and housing for their pets, feed and doctor their pets, and have conversations with other kids that are in the Webkinz world (Social Networking). It teaches computer skills, some responsibility, is pretty fun… and is far superior to anything I have seen.

If you compare it to The Littlest Pet Shop you will see that the pet shop site is focused on more toy sales (what is missing from your collection) and the Webkinz site is focused totally on the “child’s” experience. The sales just come naturally. I believe you will find other toy creators with online communites firing up every where. This is a natural fit for fanatic audiences and word of mouth marketing. So far Webkinz is strictly “word of mouth”. Also, any store that carries them has an audience that is willing to “drive a little out of the way” just to get them.

I took a peak at the “GI Joe” site just to see if they were experimenting with user communities. So far there is no hollistic community like Webkinz. They have some games and other interactive tidbits, but that isn’t good enough to allow fanatics to network together, like Webkinz. The future of toys is here – Allowing kids to play together (virtual playdates) when they are inside there homes.

Let the kids tell toymakers what kind of toys want… and make it easy for them to do it.

Viva la Webkinz.