Subscriptions of newspapers are falling off; television viewing is falling off and advertisers are following their customers and potential customers to where they spend time … which is WHERE exactly?

Some of the growing media segments are of course the internet and computer games. Most marketers know that already. But there is also “another segment” which is located somewhere in between; it’s the so-called MMOGs or Metaverses; virtual worlds (or YOU-niverses) in which “residents” are free to do as they please, not participate in a pre-defined role-playing game.

6-7 years back when I studied media science at college I remember MUDs or MMOGs being a pretty hot potato. All students with a little self respect had something to say about this phenomenon; “social norms will dramatically change and we will have to expand our traditional definition of “identity”" - however it never really took off on a big scale it seems, until now.

Second Life (and The Numbers)

One of the most popular and interesting metaverses is “Second Life” (SL) – even though debates continue on how popular SL really is. The official numbers coming from Linden Lab, the creators of SL, is that SL is the home of 3,117,288 million residents (or Avatars). Compare that to 124,175 the same time last year. 86% are between 17- 45 years old. 59% are men and 41% are woman.

A Google-Like Phenomenon?
People talk about this being the next Google-like phenomenon in modern media history. In the long run this might be true. Personally I still find the 3D quality to be far from good enough to really intrigue me; it’s still too virtual.

This might change pretty quickly. Many companies are pouring a lot of R&D $ into this industry. One of them is of course Google, who have invested heavy in these areas:

1. Google Earth - a free-of-charge, downloadable virtual globe program.
   
2. SketchUp - a free 3D software product
3. The recent acquisition of in-game advertising technology company “Adscape Media”

This combined should provide Google with the perfect platform to become a trendsetting player in this area as well (and become the next Google-like phenomenon).

Metaverses and Marketing
There is no doubt that real-world changes will happen and this also includes “MARKETING” … The growing virtual population mean that SL and “metaverses” in general are moving up the list of places digital marketers and brands want to be! The current challenge for marketers and brands is now to figure out how to add something relevant to virtual worlds - just plastering banner ads on virtual walls won’t do it.

Some advertisers are starting to explore these “metaverses” as an outlet for experiential marketing, giving consumers the opportunity to interact with brands on their own terms. Some interesting examples of products and brands in SL are Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, American Apparel, and the Danish company Saxo Bank.

• Case Study #1: StarWood Hotels & ResortsStarwood Hotels & Resorts, which oversees such well-known hotel brands as Sheraton, St. Regis and Westin, will launch its newest chain, Aloft, in the online society “Second Life” in September. Read the full story here.

• Case Study #2: American Apparel
  American Apparel, known mainly for producing sweatshop-free, made in the USA T-shirts and hiring a porn star or two for their marketing campaigns has opened up a shop where they sell virtual clothes - much like the company’s real offerings:

“Since we opened in May, we’ve sold over 2,000 items to people outfitting their avatars,” said Raz Schionning, director of web services for American Apparel, which opened an elaborate retail store last month in Second Life with the help of ad agency Ad Option and web developer Aimee Weber. Virtual shoppers who buy virtual clothes get 15% off the same items in real life.”

Read the full story here.

• Case Study #3: Saxo Bank
  Another recent launch in Second Life has been our Headlight customer, Saxo Bank - an online investment bank, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. During development the island was codenamed “Wall Street”, but with its launch it has now been renamed to Saxo Bank. Read the full story here:

“Virtual Marketing” Agencies - who can help you out?
So you want to get started with Virtual Marketing!? Here’s a list of companies who can help you out:

www.electricsheepcompany.com
www.millionsofus.com
www.ad-option.com
www.riversrunred.com
www.swivelmedia.com
www.doppelganger.com

Tracking and Virtual Marketing - what to do?
Is it possible to keep track of what’s going on within virtual worlds and is it possible to provide good cost benefit reporting on these investments? We think so.

Our R&D team is looking into different ways of doing this (we know it’s possible in SL) and we’ll continue these R&D efforts the next few months. Hopefully we can provide some best practice examples and something more solid on this within the next 6-8 months. We’ll keep you posted. If you have ideas and/or experience with something like this then please don’t hesitate to help us out :-).