Why Club Penguin matters…

You probably heard already, but Disney bought Club Penguin last week. Venture Beat has an impressive write up about it (tip o’ the hat to Morgan Webb via Fred Wilson for the link). I briefly profiled social networks for tweens a while back and this definitely feels like one of the new media/old media plays I predicted last year (though there’s no way I’d call this a micro-deal).

What we can learn from this deal proves interesting:

1. Club Penguin, Neopets, Webkinz and the like have been far more successful in building community among their target demographic than Disney. Disney bought what they couldn’t build. Should you start looking to buy?
2. Selling to people who influence the purchase matters as much as the people making the purchase. Club Penguin charges its users a monthly access fee. Since their monthly users are between the ages of 8 and 12, it’s really Mom and Dad who feed the Penguin. Webkinz and Neopets – both highly popular among my kids – require parents to buy their children toys with access codes. When you look at who you’re selling to, are you also looking at who you’re influencing?
3. The mad money’s coming back again. While some micro-deals have occurred this year, there’s big money out there looking for a place to play. Made any friends with deep pockets lately?

What else did you get from the case of the mouse that ate the penguin?

P.S. – Of course, Clickz points to just one of the many nightmares marketers have in making something like this work, so stay tuned.