This article was published on July 7, 2010

Can One Man Build an Empire by Posting Funny Pictures of Rocks Online?


Can One Man Build an Empire by Posting Funny Pictures of Rocks Online?

There’s a headline we didn’t ever expect to write but that’s exactly what one Iain Haywood in planning to do.

We first covered Rock Soap Opera last year when it launched. The premise of this site is that each day you get an amusing photo of a rock accompanied by a caption. Not just any rock, mind; these rocks are characters and over the days they act out a story, hence the pun-tastic name of the site.

Now in its second ‘season’, the site is set to expand beyond its roots into a franchise. Haywood has already run a Rock Idol competition sponsored by retailer Firebox. Next up is the launch of ‘Virtual Pet Rock’, an online game which promises “Retro stylings, tons of unreadable Japanese, and all the trappings of a good social game (leveling up, credits etc)”. In short, it will be as silly as Rock Soap Opera itself. Haywood isn’t planning to make money from the game at this stage. “It will be completely and instantly accessible and free, just to keep people on the site longer than it’d take to comment on the latest episode”.

Here’s where it gets interesting – Haywood says he is planning to extend the brand off-site and into the real world via Tamagotchi-style virtual pets. Although he says these plans are still in their early stages, he is in discussions regarding licencing Rock Soap Opera to electronic toy manufacturers.

Whether anyone will want to buy a toy rock remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure, Haywood’s antics will continue to amuse us regardless.

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