Virtual Worlds Forum

Virtual Worlds Forum Blog: The ‘virtual worlds for teens’ market is pretty crowded at the moment - what do you see as the key differentiators for Meez Nation that’ll make it stand out?

We believe that Meez Nation delivers a mix of elements that will prove to be more engaging for mainstream teen users. We’ve built hooks into our virtual economy that will fuel competition for status among users.  For example, users can purchase or earn Coinz (our virtual currency) that can be used to purchase premium rooms, gain access to exclusive neighborhoods, etc.

Our 3D avatars are more sophisticated than most, allowing for greater customization and more refined outfits, as well as a far greater range of movement and fun features like text triggers that initiate animations. Meez Nation is built to be super-accessible.  It’s browser-based – no downloads – so casual users can create an avatar in minutes and start chatting in a virtual room.

Many worlds in this category cater to a young teen audience, if not tweens. Meez Nation is designed with a somewhat older user (18-19 year-olds) in mind.  Rooms like our goth bedroom and abandoned warehouse were created to hold the attention of older teens, while also having an appeal for aspirational younger teens.

Since we launched Meez Nation, average time spent on Meez.com has gone up by roughly 50%, so we’re clearly making progress in terms of our engagement goal.

VWFB: Your branding deal with 50 Cent is really interesting. How important will brands be to Meez Nation’s growth, and are you finding that they’re clued into the potential for virtual worlds?

Brands are an essential piece of our offering. Unlike other worlds which are more fantasy-based, Meez attracts users who are more interested in replicating their real life. Part of this is being able to incorporate their favorite brands from real life. We get loads of requests every day from users who want us to add new fashion brands, entertainment brands, makeup brands, etc.

As far as brands being clued in, this is a relatively new marketing arena, so some caution on the part of brands is to be expected. But once advertisers see the brand engagement metrics that we can deliver, it becomes more of a no-brainer. We’ve already seen repeat buys on our Brand Immersion Packages from major advertisers like Nike, Sony and New Line Cinema.

VWFB: The existing Meez community has been pretty forward-thinking in extending out into other Web 2.0 sites like Facebook. Do you see similar potential for Meez Nation?

The precursor to Meez Nation was actually launched on Facebook this past January. The application has been updated and resides here. Meez has integrated its product offerings into several top social media sites and services, including AIM, Friendster and Facebook. We continue to look at these opportunities, especially instances where we’re able to build Meez into the social fabric of a community. For example, on Facebook, we took advantage of their messaging system to handle friend invites and perform other communications functions.

VWFB: What’s the business model for Meez Nation? How important will premium item sales be compared to advertising revenue?

With the launch of Meez Nation, premium items will be a bigger and bigger part of our model. The virtual rooms in Meez Nation provide a visual context that motivates users to try and differentiate themselves.  So they purchase premium avatar and room items to set themselves apart and achieve status in the community. We’re also adding a lot of new features (i.e. virtual item gifting) and exploring brand partnerships and which will spur our virtual economy.