United Gamer Online (UGO)

We’ve highlighted many times the opportunities presented to brands within the virtual world and MMO category, primarily from engagement and monetisation perspectives. Linked to this is another trend we identified of leveraging different platforms to synergise brands. This is a post about how these trends are rapidly transforming and driving the sector.

Real world brands having virtual worlds is not a new concept. Barbie Girls and Webkinz were early pioneers of this strategy, amassing multi-million user bases in short periods – and importantly, in most cases much faster than ‘pureplay’ virtual worlds which at present make up the bulk of the sector.

We’ll shortly be updating our Radar charts showing existing and new worlds and MMOs by genre. But in the meantime, we thought you’d be interested in seeing how brands are moving across different platforms. This is shown in the diagram below (which we’ll be updating on an ongoing basis).
We’ve placed five different channels (TV, Movies, Toys/Games, Consoles and Books) around the virtual world platform. From here we’ve shown how a brand has moved from one of these channels into virtual worlds. For example, BuildaBear started life as a toy retail operation and then augmented their virtual world proposition, BuildaBearVille. Kung Fu Panda similarly created a MMO off the back of the movie – so on and so forth.

So, this is interesting from that perspective and certainly an area seeing major traction. It’s also an area and speciality we know a lot about, having worked with companies like Ubisoft to assist with their console to VW strategy for Imagine Town, and Electronic Arts with the Littlest Pet Shop Online.

Our strategic expertise is also driving the digital strategy for the upcoming Dorothy of Oz movie with casual gaming, virtual world and other (soon to be announced) elements all created in-sync to maximise monetisation, awareness and build-branding.

However, what’s arguably even more interesting and definitely a sign of things to come is how brands that started out as virtual worlds are now moving out into other channels. Moshi Monsters for example has recently announced a merchandising strategy and a book deal, as has Poptropica for the former. Popular MMO World of Warcraft has an upcoming movie and Club Penguin is moving onto the Wii.

So what does this mean for brand owners and companies in (or entering) the virtual world and MMO sectors? Basically the idea of ‘the brand’ has to be placed front and centre and it’s not enough just to have a virtual world – just as it’s no longer enough just to have a real-world toy range.

Times are a changing and moving rapidly. Virtual world owners need to develop ‘out of their world’ brand strategies, before their competitors do.

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