Ypulse Interview: Joe Hyrkin, Gaia Online
Posted by meredith on 10-15-2009
Today’s Ypulse Interview is with Joe Hyrkin, Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Gaia Online. After Anastasia’s recent post on the shakeout of virtual worlds among older teens (we’re hoping to have more perspectives on this next week) we thought we’d catch up with one of the worlds that’s had success with the demo and ask a few questions about older teens, engagement and what comes in between.
Ypulse: As one of the virtual worlds that has been able to build a healthy teen user base, what factors would you point to as being key for maintaining excitement and interest in a virtual world? What unique challenges do virtual worlds face with this demo?
Joe Hyrkin: According to Hitwise research, Gaia users spend 52 plus minutes per visit on the site. We attribute this largely to the wide range of engaging activities available to users. Maintaining excitement and interest in a virtual world or avatar social gaming site requires multiple offerings and experiences to hold a users attention. It’s important for users to know that there will constantly be fresh ideas, new elements with which to engage, in addition to a rich user generated content element whereby they feel a strong ownership for the content and experience on the site.
In the case of Gaia Online, most of our users have many interests, some of which appear to be totally unrelated, but that are critical to them in their life. They are serious about their boyfriend or girlfriend, upcoming movies, art, politics, homework, sports, issues with their parents, etc. So while a user may log on with a specific focus in mind, they stay engaged because they meet friends that share their interests. They may come to chat about what they saw on TV last night and in the process get excited about buying items for their avatars or hanging out in the latest Skittles game park. They are also drawn by the active economy that serves as the bedrock of all activity on Gaia Online. They are well rewarded for their time spent, both emotionally and with Gaia gold.
Teens are a fickle group and as they get older the number of activities and interests they are involved in only grows. To keep their attention virtual worlds and online spaces need to offer them a variety of friends, content, activities and experiences to satisfy not just one or two interests, but many interests. These spaces need to be as diverse and dynamic as the teens who visit them.
YP: Could you describe teens relationship with brands in virtual worlds? How does it compare with those same brands in real life? Is it more aspirational or do they seek out what they already own?
JH: In an environment where users spend nearly an hour per visit, the line between real and virtual becomes blurred. If a user is interacting with Skittles or Venus razors as part of their normal activity on Gaia Online, it’s natural that they form an affinity with the product in their real life too. For many users, they see their online interactions as completely part of their real life as well. Interaction with virtual goods is often driven by the experience available. We are way beyond the notion of the t-shirt here. Users don’t just want a Nike T-shirt. They want something that enhances their experience. In this way, brands are able to drive home brand attributes and brand ethos with virtual items in ways rarely seen in other marketing venues. In Gaia Online, we created an experience where users watched a video related to a Nike promotion and when they were done, they won a Nike t-shirt that when worn made them run faster in towns. So the users loved the item. It made them cooler than anyone else. Nike loved the promotion because they were able to very clearly communicate their association with the ideas of speed, cool and fun.
YP: Could you describe one or two examples of successful promotional campaigns that have drawn teens, and older teens in particular? Which ones and why?
JH: We’ve done three different campaigns now with P&G brands, including Venus razors, Secret and Tampax. In each case, we’ve targeted teens with an emphasis on older teens. Each promotion included several different campaign components. The Gaia Online Engagement Marketing offerings focus on integrating brands and related experiences across the site in ways that fit naturally with a user’s normal behavior on the site. So in the case of these P&G brands, we’ve leveraged many of the most popular services on the site, including custom forums where users can actively chat about their use of the products, custom flash spaces that offer a whole new fun environment in which users can hang out. Users won items for participating in the different areas that we created. In the case of the Venus promotion, after watching a video, users won a pair of fun sandals. Most of the female users would think about shaving their legs before wearing such a pair of sandals. So quickly Venus is able to bring a new experience to the users and clearly indicate that their brand is associated with summer fun and elegance. Other major successes have included a promotion for the Lionsgate thriller, Haunting in Connecticut. The studio was targeting older teens and young twenty year olds and Gaia Online provided the perfect space to create a custom experience that inspired users to go see the movie. We’ve done more than 75 major brand promotions in the last 2 years.
YP: What lessons have you learned from branded promotional campaigns?
JH: Users like them. It’s important to incorporate value and fun experiences with brands. Often the branded promotions bring new features to the site. This was the case with Scion who brought cars to Gaia Online. We created our interactive community theater concept to promote movies and have gone on to work with most major studios including Warner Bros, Sony, Universal, Disney and others. In general, users do like brands. They just like to interact with them in ways that add value and fun to their experience on the site.
YP:What projects and partnerships are in the pipeline for Gaia?
JH: We continue to focus on growing our user base and creating new ways for interested folks to find out about us and have fun on the site. We’ll be launching some voice features in our MMO and major promotions for some of the hot movies coming out in the next two months. We’ll have a very sophisticated site-wide Halloween event, which is always one of the highlights of the year. In short, we continue to provide fresh, compelling and engaging experiences.
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