Never heard of Webkinz? You will.
The site is the brainchild of Ganz, a Canadian toymaker with a popular line of plush pets. Two years ago Ganz created an online environment to entertain the owners of its stuffed animals and was quickly swept into the exploding world of virtual-reality gaming aimed at tweens, children between the ages of 8 and 12.
Ganz's Webkinz.com and a site called Club Penguin were early entries into this market, but they've been joined this year by the giants of tween marketing:
Disney (
Charts) and
Nickelodeon (
Charts).
One way Club Penguin gives kids control over their environment is by letting them "bank" points they win in games and convert those points to "money" that can be used to customize their igloos.
Another trick used by Club Penguin to keep kids hanging around is throwing themed "parties."
Disney Xtreme Digital (DXD). Users get to choose from among more than 500 Disney-branded character-and film-themed sites
clipped from: money.cnn.com