Webkinz Insider staff member Meets Webkinz Creative Director!!

Written by Justin, on March 11, 2008


One of our staff members, cynalot, signed two of her children up for the March Break
focus group and while she was there had an opportunity to meet and discuss a few
things with the Creative Director of Webkinz.

While her children taking part in the 20 minute session, cynalot chatted to the
coordinator and mentioned that she was an active member of a fansite for Webkinz.
After finding out that the site was Webkinz Insider, cynalot was asked if she would like
to meet the Creative Director of Webkinz.

"I only had an opportunity to speak to him for a few minutes. I sent my regards on
Justin's behalf and asked him what was going on with the Curio Shop"

"I think he thought I was going to complain about the one rare limit and the lack of
advance notice but was very surprised when I explained how the different time zones
were seeing a different rare schedule and how the rares had been known to switch
mid-hour in the Asian and European Curio Shop."

According to the Creative Director, the rare schedules are fully automated and random, but each time
zone is supposed to follow the same schedule so there is a bug somewhere in the
Curio system.

"On my way out, I passed his office and had the opportunity to pop in and ask him
one last question about the recent surprise retirees. He told me that yes, the love
puppy and sherbert bunny are officially retired. Originally they had intended to keep the
door open, but since they had no plans for a re-release this year or next year that it was
simpler to just retire them altogether. He also said that there were mistakes on the list
that they are working to fix as we speak."

As to the Focus group, the children were asked to do three different activities and
answer a few questions.

Both of her children put on a felt board show, made a marble contraption and did a
counting exercise. They were also asked to choose their favorites out of six prototype
stuffed animals.

"I was asked to fill out a few questionnaires and also asked to choose my favorites out
of the six prototypes. They clearly stated that they could not tell me what the focus
group was for, but my impression was that these were not future webkinz. If I were to
guess I would have to say that perhaps Ganz is considering an offshoot website
specifically for the preschooler."

THIS ARTICLE WAS TAKEN FROM WEBKINZ INSIDER