NeoPets Global Marketing - Case Study Example

NeoPets Global Marketing NeoPets is a fun and exciting website that is geared towards a childs market but it is interesting enough that it could be a site for all ages. The site has created entire village of NeoPets that live in Neopia. When you are a new person "moving in" you get to create your own NeoPet, give it a name and a color and create a house for it to live in. You give details about your NeoPet that inform the community of what it does and what it likes. There are several interactive games and much to do with your NeoPet. They have also created a way for members to interact with each other in a social networking kind of way. The site is intriguing to children and adults and it boasts a membership of 25 million people worldwide (Taylor, 2005, par. 3). Their Neopian Times which is the virtual newspaper that is chock full of articles says that the circulation of the newspaper is 165,503,751 (Neopian Times, front page). According to Taylor some of the best features of NeoPets include: 1. NeoPets boasts that it has been translated into 10 different languages. 2. It has more than "2.5 billion page views per month" 3. The average fan spends at least six hours each month on the site. 4. Neopia has 80% of its demographic as fewer than 18 with 40% of these children under the age of 13. (Taylor, par. 3). NeoPets is more a phenomenon than a fad because they have carefully lured children into the trap of advertising. They can go into the market area on the site an "buy" certain items that are from various manufacturers. Although these items are purchased through your points that you gain by doing other things on the site they are linked back to the sponsors of the site. This is a great way for kids to learn about commerce and philanthropy because you can also donate points at the "Money Tree". There are products like McDonalds and Disney for kids to look at and make comment. These products are blatantly marketing directly to the kids under the guise that they are available to their NeoPets. NeoPets was started in 1999 as a private company and was quickly purchased by MTV Networks in 2005. They saw the potential of the online community for kids and this became more important for them to own (DeMott, 2008, par. 23). According to Kyra E. Reppen, the head of NeoPets, the most popular areas are the games and the social networking aspects (Reppen, as quoted in DeMott, 2008, par. 24). The reason that NeoPets is so successful is because it is cute and it is interactive from the first minute that you come onto the site. Once you are registered you start playing whether it is picking your NeoPet, going to pick up free items or designing the house that your NeoPet will live in. This will stop it from becoming a passing fad. The fact that it is a global marketplace also makes it a very good way for kids to meet other kids all over the world. Another factor that many business people have cited as a reason why this will not be a fad is because it is one of the "stickiest" sites on the web. What this means is that people who come to the site stay for a very long time. In the case of NeoPets the average person stays four hours each day (DeMott, par. 26). NeoPets does not have to do a more proactive promotion because the kids are doing this for them. A search on Goggle for "NeoPets fan sites" brings "at least" 140,000 hits. The kids have created a marketing blitz by inviting their friends to join like they would in social networks, by creating the fan sites and they have created "22 million shops…and [created] more than 10,000 user submissions" (DeMott, par. 27) on a monthly basis. NeoPets has helped kids design videos and newspaper articles to help them customize their experience on the site. Their "user lookups" help kids create their own homepages. These are the things that NeoPets has done to create a very effective market. Another reason why NeoPets is successful is that they talk to their users. They ask about likes and dislikes and then they adjust to meet the needs of their market. This means that their content is always fresh and interesting to their target market. It is this researchers opinion that this market could easily reach an adult market but it would be those adults who enjoy having fun. There does not have to be much change to it to appeal to these adults who are young at heart. The site is exciting, interesting, and interactive and all of these things appeal to adults as well as to children. It would seem that there are already adults playing online whether the demographics show it or not. The global market for NeoPets seems to be larger than one would think. According to Alexa the company that ranks websites according to their activity, NeoPets is very active in 24 countries outside the United States. The companies are as varied as the people in them. Children are finding NeoPets all over the world so it would seem that there are no real cultural barriers to children getting into the website. Children had to speak English in the beginning but since it has been translated into 10 different languages this is not such a consideration. In some countries if the country really wanted to scrutinize the site they may decide that some of the characters are not acceptable. As an example, in Afghanistan they may think that the female characters should be veiled or that there should not be strong female characters. However, this would be difficult to stop their children from looking at this site on that basis because all the characters are cartoon like and not human looking. It seems that the makers of NeoPets have done very well at capturing audiences from other countries. Since it is a site that anyone can go to they do not seem to be having problems in this area. They have many children from all over the world as participants in Neopia so it does not seem to have any barriers that are problems for the children. There are several criticisms of the site that have parents alarmed. Some of the issues have to do with the site itself and others have to do with safety. The major issues seem to be: 1. The "stickiness" of the website -- many critics and parents are concerned that children spend too much time on the site. Because it is so interesting and interactive children can develop somewhat of an addiction to the site if they are not monitored properly. This could be a problem for some children and parents should monitor this very carefully. The point is that NeoPets has made this site in this way to engage children and keep them on the site for as long as possible. This is working for them and they would not change this piece. Regulatory agencies might try to regulate something but because this is virtual world it would be difficult to add sanctions. 2. They are based on an advertising business model -- children are exposed to lots of advertising on the site and this can cause problems in the "real" world when they do not get everything they want. This "over exposure" to advertising has some critics worried that this is an inappropriate way for children to play. Although advertising can be a negative situation this is how NeoPets makes money to keep the site open. There does not seem to be anything they need to do on this one. 3. Inappropriate gambling - some parents and critics think that giving children the opportunity to gamble on eh site is inappropriate. Parents will need to monitor their children on the site and limit their involvement if they feel that this is an inappropriate activity. This is not something for regulatory agencies or for NeoPets to correct. 4. Child Safety -- some critics worry that since about 21% of the population on NeoPets is older than 18 that it could be an unsafe environment. NeoPets has already developed several safeguards for child safety. To use chat or messages the individual must be over the age of 18 and there is daily monitoring of the website. They also have a way to report inappropriate behavior or messages that come through the site. (Rosen, 2005). NeoPets is a phenomenon that is working and the makers of the site are increasing their visibility online. Children and adults are already playing the games and interacting with the process. This is an opportunity for people to have fun and relax. Many of the games are a bit silly for adults but many adults enjoy them anyway. This is an experience rather than a fad and unless you have gone there to play you may not experience the richness of the site. References Alexa. The Web Information Company.(2008). NeoPets. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/neopets.com. Demott, R. (2008) Animated Worlds on the Web. Animation World Magazine. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=3154. NeoPets Website. Retrieved December 8, 2008 from http://www.neopets.com/. Kushner, D. (n.d.). The NeoPets Addiciton. Wired Magazine online. Retrieved December 9, 2008 from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/neopets_pr.html. Rosen, C. (14 April 2005). Its a whole neo world; Neopets.com is a raging success. but some find it inappropriate and even scary. Message posted on http://www.commercialalert.org/issues/culture/neopets/its-a-whole-neo-world- neopetscom-is-a-raging-success-but-some-find-it-inappropriate-and-even-scary. Taylor, D. (18 December 2005). Welcome to Neopets Neopia, 25 million strong. Article posted on http://www.intuitive.com/blog/welcome_to_neopets_ neopia_25_ million_strong.html. Read More