'We’re moving against the tide’

Focus, an advertising and digital media agency, has launched ‘Worldoo.com, an online ecosystem for kids in the age bracket of 6 to 12 years.

The company has tied up with content producers such as Cartoon Network, National Geographic, Zapak, Miniclip, the gamebox, Warner Bros, Shemaroo, Sony Pictures, Reliance Big Flix and edutainment channel ZeeQ.

Monish Ghatalia, managing director, Focus Circle Group said in a statement, “We are very excited to launch Worldoo, India’s first audience focused engagement platform for brands on the internet. With conventional activation mediums, it is challenging for brands to reach out to a large chunk of target audiences at a single point, and even more difficult to sustain the engagement. We are confident that Worldoo will provide an edge for brands, to engage with the right target audience. It offers the right platform for brands to achieves much more than just impressions and clicks."

Campaign India caught up with Ghatalia for more on the new entity. Excerpts:

What was the thought process behind starting Worldoo?

We in fact started the journey two and a half years back. So a lot of time and effort has gone into creating this. It’s a unique concept where we’re creating an ecosystem for kids where they can live, express and play. They can consume content and do everything they like to on one platform. There was a big gap as far as engagement for kids was concerned and you will see that gap being filled with the launch of Worldoo.

Also, Worldoo is not a website. It’s an ecosystem for the kids. It’s a place where brands can talk to kids and be a part of the whole ecosystem. Our differentiation is that we’re not going to adopt the traditional digital marketing approach. So Worldoo will not have banners and site takeovers. Our entire focus is to create an experience for the kids. It’s going to be a unique experience for the brands as well.

Was there a research conducted to study the content consumption patterns of kids?

Yes, we commissioned IMRB to conduct a study for us. And the findings are very encouraging. Almost 100 per cent of the mothers said that internet is useful for their kids. The research also said that kids like a lot of content. So we’ve tied partnered with content providers such as Cartoon Network and National Geographic channel to name a few.

How has been the response from brands so far?

We’ve approached 70 per cent of the brands that advertise on kids’ platforms. The response has been terrific. They understand that with a platform such as ours, it is important to look at the engagement metrics rather than cost per clicks and cost per thousand impressions. We’re not really bothered about statistics such as site visitors and other such data. So we’re moving against the tide. That’s our positioning. We are a platform that does not believe in traditional methods of digital marketing.

Is there a revenue sharing agreement with content partners?

Yes, we do have a revenue sharing agreement with our content partners. About 30 per cent goes to the content partner and 70 per cent comes to us. The contract with the content owners is that every month they will give us new content. We as a brand will also introduce our own content such as comics, sports, news, games etc. Right now the blend between outside content and our content is about 70:30, but over the next two to three months, we aim to make that ratio 60:40.

How are you planning to market this initiative?

We’re launching a digital campaign in the next few days. The next phase of marketing will be TV. We’ve tied up with all our content partners and channels, plus kids’ channels.  We will also do events at schools to engage with kids and see if they can actively participate in the ecosystem. Plus, we will have activations at malls and other such ground events.

Since India is a diverse country, are you looking at launching content in regional languages as well?

Yes, we will look at it at some point in time.

How seamless is the overall experience as we speak?

It’s a completely seamless experience. Right now the site is loaded with content. We may take the content to the cloud so that the site experience becomes faster.

When do you expect to break even?

In two years from now.