Ypulse Interview: Evan Bailyn, CEO Cartoon Doll Emporium
Posted by anastasia on 09-07-2007
Tween girls love avatars. It's paper dolls gone virtual, and in the past year or so this space has exploded. While many of these sites cater to 13 and up (Meez, Zwinktopia, IMVU, Gaia), there are a handful that are kid-friendly and COPPA compliant, and Cartoon Doll Emporium is one of the larger sites (as is Stardoll, who will also be at the Tween Mashup). I did a quick interview with Evan Bailyn, the founder and CEO of Cartoon Doll Emporium, to find out more about their site and why they went the kid-friendly route.
Ypulse: What was the inspiration behind Cartoon Doll Emporium — is this part of your "Peter Pan" complex ;-)?
Evan Bailyn Indeed, it is. Peter Pan Syndrome, to me, means living in your own world, apart from the societal mores that adults like to impose. I believe everyone has their own reality, and CDE is a reflection of that. Our site is going to be more and more a place where kids have control of their experience - a safe make-believe world.
YP: Why did you decide to make it tween friendly/COPPA compliant vs. going the 13 and up route?
EB: I wanted to include kids under 13 because kids imaginations are very fertile at younger ages and I think it is a super demographic to work with. Kids ages 6 - 14 are sophisticated in knowing what they like and don't like but when they find something that appeal to them, they can really fall in love with it. I've found that out from CDE's fan base.
YP: What's the most popular feature or game on your site? Why do you think it's so popular?
EB: Our superdolls are the most popular games on our site because they give kids hundreds of different clothing and accessory options. Kids come to CDE primarily because they love dress up games and we create more of them than any other site on the internet.
YP: Do you moderate your forums? How do you handle community management?
EB: We have six full-time moderators that cover the site 24/7. We also have over a dozen "junior police" - older kids that have earned moderating positions - that sweep the site on a granular level. We strive to be a leader in safety.
YP: What's new or coming soon on Cartoon Doll Emporium that you think Ypulse readers should know about?
EB: A ton of things are coming in the next two months. We are referring to this upcoming fall as the CDE Renaissance due to all of the new features debuting. I don't want to reveal too much, but our fans can definitely expect brand-new profiles where they can display all kinds of personal creations and make-believe items. We are also coming out with artificially intelligent pets that learn from their past experiences and play uniquely with other pets. There are at least ten more new features, but again, I have to keep hush-hush about them for now.
The "early adopter discount" ends September 15th, so register today! And RSVP for the evening event at Bongo (it's an "intimate" venue so the list will be full soon).