April 18, 2008

WeeWorld: South Park Style Avatars Designed By Girls And Big Business

Duncan Riley

14 comments »

weeworld.jpgUK startup WeeWorld is offering a avatar focused social networking service that is doing some great numbers.

WeeWorld is pitched as the “world’s first multiplatform visual identity” and offers a personalized Web experience that can be used across IM, blogs and social networking sites. WeeWorld users design a WeeMee, a customizable avatar that gets its own space, and embeding is fully built in for users. The site offers a social network platform in its own right, described as “a community offering of entertainment and exploration to enrich their online and mobile experience.”

Where WeeWorld gets more interesting is the link ins with big business. This from their email pitch to us:

On WeeWorld, users actually ask us for brands to help them express themselves. And the more we give them, the more they ask for … I think it works because it’s content, not ads. Plus it’s visual, fun, and helps our users express their mood and personality.

Brand advertisers and agencies are starting to get it and to get what WeeWorld is about. We’re in the midst of a big P&G PROM promotion for example. Girls are snapping up everything from make-up and hairstyles to beauty tips, while embracing brands like Herbal Essences, Crest Whitestrips, CoverGirl and more. They are even participating in brand-sponsored, surveys, contests and forums. Check it out at: weeworld.com/prom/.

comScore reports that the site did 100 million page views in March 2008 on 1 million uniques, and WeeWorld reports more than 21 million sign ups. The company took $15.5 million in their second round from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital in 2006.

comScore notes the majority of users are female, and although many might presume that it’s a service targeted at kids, comScore notes broad usage among many age groups. Some screenshots of my avatar in action as follows.

Wow, I’m going to the prom!
weeworld1.jpg
Barack Obama, a LOLCat, myself and a Yeti in my apartment
weeworld2.jpg

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Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

  1. WeeWorld:头像随着表情变 | SilenceWolf
  2. Business News Research » WeeWorld: South Park Style Avatars Designed By Girls And Big Business
  3. Is your WeeMe going to Prom? « Hard Knox Life: A Brand Manager Blog

Comments

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  1. Peter Urban

    Cool, I’ll go and check if I can create the Smibsons there ;-)

  2. 113.com

    Cute :-o

  3. matt

    In the first picture, isn’t that a boy? why is the girl telling him to “Glam up” and put on a dress?

    looks like a bug too me

  4. Allan

    So has anyone done an avatar network with mostly boys as members? Oooh oooh, good idea! Give me $15.5 million to run with it! :)

  5. Farhan Lalji

    Am I the only one who thinks comScore’s numbers on WeeWorld sound fishy? I like the service and I know it has good people and VCs behind it. But 200M, 1M and 21M?

  6. Jon

    Avatar sites are a dime a dozen… they are the new “dating site” of the 21st century… just as saturated and equally as useless.

    Jon
    http://woodmarvels.com - Create Unique Memories

  7. Jim McNelis

    innovative advertising idea.

  8. CaptainObvious

    What? There are no girls on the internet.

  9. chat room guy

    The fact that they’re able to get advertisers to pay for digital versions of their branded products is proof is promising for these kind of applications.

  10. Logical Extremes

    Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids that they are not a brand?

  11. omar

    cool

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