SNW INTERVIEW -- Nov 29 -- Tootsville is a social network for kids, built by Louis Pecci who also builds theme parks for the likes of Disney and Universal Studios. Tootsville offers a premium membership for $6 a month. - Mark Brooks
What’s the founding story of Tootsville.com?
Tootsville is a project a little over a year in the making. One day I had an idea, to create little elephant characters with their own unique personality. I really wanted to bring them to life and that’s where the virtual world concept came into play. My background is in theme park development, so a lot of what I do is developed around a brand concept first and I wanted to concentrate on making Tootsville a very, very unique brand.
Tell me more about the theme park development. What kind of theme parks?
We’ve been very, very fortunate, working with just about every major company in the industry, all around the world. We have worked with Disney, Universal Studios, Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! which we built up in Ocean City, Maryland. We created a 40 foot long shark that crashed through the entire building. Recently we finished a park in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia called Al Shallal.
What have you learned from the real world that you’ve brought into the site?
Building the site was not that much different from building theme parks. When you’re working with children and immersing them in the overall experience, it’s very important to combine things such as sight and sound. We’ve brought that into Tootsville with audio and visuals that are very powerful and stimulating. Also the game play, chat modules and characters themselves have to be extremely lovable. A lot of virtual worlds are either dedicated to boys or girls, but in Tootsville it’s 50/50. There is just as much for the boys to do as there is for the girls. We have incorporated events such as the Tootsville Motor Speedway, Monster Truck Rally, and for girls, a world completely dedicated to the color pink. Targeting activities, that boys and girls can do together and separately, give them the choice.
Tell me about the Tootering program.
The Tootering Program is an educational program based on audio visual stimulation. All of the games are located in a place we call Toot U or Toot University. We do have educators on board that help in the development of the program and we will make it available to teachers as well. Instead of playing the games for money, our characters, our little Toots, work for peanuts. When kids play the games in TootU they get double the peanuts. The actual Tootering program itself will launch in January.
What can they do with the peanuts?
Inside Tootsville you can buy things with your peanuts. Tootsville is a free site, the kids can play most of the games and get a house. But they can’t buy clothes, dress their avatars or decorate their house to the degree a VIT, a Very Important Toot can. A VIT is a premium member and our membership is $5.95 a month. Premium members have full access to the site, which means they can purchase goods inside the world with their peanuts and they’ll also get invited to all of the main events. We do throw a lot of events in Tootsville. In August 2008 we launched the Tootlympics which was a big success. Then for Halloween we launched the Haunted House which featured a complete haunted house, animated costumes and two incredible new games.
What is the target age range for Tootsville and who would you say is your top competitor?
We’re reaching the tween market which goes from 5 to 13 or 14. The younger children enjoy decorating their house and customizing their avatar, exploring the worlds and playing the games. While the older children enjoy the chat module and the interaction between other children on the site. Probably our main competitors would be Webkinz and Club Penguin. They hit pretty much the same target audience.
Another unique item we offer is our brick and mortar solution, the Toots stuffed animals. There are plush Toot products that come in a variety of different styles; Cupid, Superstar, Little MC, Dottie, Zap, and Moo. Then there’s jewelry, and Tiny Toots which are smaller figurines. There’s plenty of other merchandise including apparel. We are presently working on a number of licensing deals.
One of the things we’ve taken a step further and has not been launched yet, is our Toot Techno-Plush. The Plush unit itself has a high quality sound system inside and a USB connection so it can be connected into the game. It will be able to play the game with you. So while you’re online your Toot is right there with you. You can also download music to your Toot and the Toot will learn through artificial intelligence what your favorite games and activities are.
The philosophy in my company is if you can dream it you can do it.
