Canadian interactive firms continue to make their mark with kids content

BC-based New Horizon Interactive set the gold standard for kids online entertainment when it launched the social networking site Club Penguin in 2005, which it sold to The Walt Disney Co. last August for US$350 million. Now another western-Canadian new media firm is gaining national and international recognition for what may be the next big thing in kids interactive entertainment. Last month Edmonton-based Hotrocket beat out 20 other digital media companies to be named "Best of Show" at the 2008 Fusion Digital Media Venture Forum in Vancouver for its kids cross-platform game CIE. The award comes a year after Hotrocket won "Best Pitch" and CIE was named "Best Property" at the KidsScreen Summit in New York City. For winning at Fusion Digital, Hotrocket now has the opportunity to travel to Seattle and Silicon Valley for follow up meetings with groups of top-tier venture capital firms over the next month. "CIE is a project we've been working on for the last three or four years and now what we're looking for is our next round of financing," says Hotrocket CEO Ken Bautista. "What we presented at the Fusion Forum was to kind of get us to the next stage. Our goal is to see if we can get something locked in, so we can hopefully launch sometime in early 2009." And when the rubber hits the road Hotrocket will find out for sure if its game will live up to the expectations of the concept. Designed for kids aged eight to 12, CIE, or the Central Institute for Exploration, "follows the inner workings of a secret kids-only agency dedicated to exploring the past, present and future." The story line is delivered through cell phones, websites, blogs, podcasts and video, and kids have to work together to solve the games issues and challenges. While the launch of the truly multi-platform CIE may change the face of kids gaming, it will definitely change the business direction of Hotrocket. Co-founded in 2001 by Bautista and Jason Suriano, Hotrocket primarily focused on interactive consulting and strategy until the last couple of years when it moved more into developing original intellectual property. Bautista says now that he's about to turn 30, he believes Hotrocket is entering its second act where it will primarily focus on original IP in the kids genre. Both the business model and the market, he says, provide the most opportunity for the company. However, Bautista and Suriano aren't specializing in the kids market just to chase Club Penguin-type money. In fact, they both are naturals for the genre; Bautista's Bachelors degree from the University of Alberta is in Elementary Education and Suriano used to be an elementary school teacher. And for creative professionals, kids present an almost limitless demographic. "The nice thing about the eight-to-12 demographic is it's a fun age," says Bautista. "They're kind of the first generation born into the interactive age. So email is mail for them. They are well informed on new platforms, so we can do a lot of pretty cool things, whereas with adult content the demographic is still growing into some of the new interactive technology." The media savvy of kids fits perfectly with Hotrocket's branded storytelling approach, 360 Degree Play, which engages kids across all platforms, wherever they are. It's an approach the firm has brought to other clients through its consulting business, and is also obviously employing through CIE. "Kids are the generation that really has that multiplatform aspect to them and is used to consuming media in multiple ways," says Bautista. The other advantage of developing kids content is the opportunity to grow with your audience, and Hotrocket has been looking at some older kid and teenage interactive properties. For now, though, much of the focus will be on bringing CIE to market. Bautista says Hotrocket has already arranged partnerships with Canadian science centres and museums to spread CIE, and has had discussions with a number of media companies that have shown interest as well. But will Hotrocket be the next western-Canadian interactive firm to catch fire with a kids property? Only time will tell.

Canadian interactive firms continue to make their mark with kids content

Broadcast | March 20, 2008

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