A Thought About Second Life

I’m one of those who doesn’t get Second Life (SL). Gave it a shot though … spent a few days last month creating my avatar and snooping around SL. I got bored. Haven’t been back.

But as we know, many people are enjoying being residents of SL and brands are setting up SL enclaves. We’d expect brands like music labels to be there (and they are) but an unexpected brand that has setup shop in Second Life is Sears.

Yep, 120+ year-old Sears is getting down with the younger generation by having a virtual showroom where Second Life residents can play house by arranging and organizing a virtual kitchen with cabinets, countertops, and colors. (Hmm... okay.)

So I was curious to read opinions about how the virtual Sears is doing. I couldn’t find many comments about the virtual Sears. However, I did run across an astute remark about brands and Second Life from Darryl Ohrt (Brand Flakes for Breakfast Blog)

“Lots of brands are entering Second Life, and getting real world press for it. Obviously, the people who are writing the articles about Sears in Second Life, and the people who are reading the articles about Sears in Second Life, will never actually go into Sears in Second Life.” [SOURCE]

Darryl is right. I bet 90% of the journalists writing about brands in Second Life haven’t been in Second Life, much less visited the virtual storefront setup by these brands. And, I’d be interested to know how many marketers from brands in Second Life have actually been in Second Life.

I know far too many marketers for brands in the real world that rarely visit/tour/shop the stores they are managing marketing programs for that I’d be shocked to learn that if these marketers are actually spending time in the virtual world visiting, touring, and/or shopping their brand’s Second Life presence.

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

John: You're right. I'd extend that assumption to corporate Web sites too. I can validate that from anecdotal experience.

As far as SL, anyone getting into it should do so for more than flavor of the month press.

They need to do a couple of things in my opinion:

1) Make it an extension of their real world brand, not a duplication. American Apparel should be pushing out with their store, not being safe and obvious. The Sears store starts to do that by taking advantage of certain SL technology, but every real world brand could push harder here.

Avatars come standard with teleporting and flying capabilities...that's a hint its residents are up for more than a mirror image. There are other things brands can do here...Starwoods aloft offers a most notable example as it builds and vets a brand in the virtual world before taking it into the real world.

2) They cannot set up shop and bail. They need to have dedicated resources and set hours so people that want to experience the brand can do so. If Sears finds a Sears fan in SL, hire them.

3) Consider event-based opportunities. You and I are both bored with SL. My problem is that I can usually only go during off work hours at night. So none of the folks I want to connect with are online. Brands creating events on a semi-regular basis provide more time-based destination opportunities for the average skeptic and fan alike to take a test drive.

FWIW

[heri]

for me, Second Life is such a fad. The only people I know who go there are marketers or business owners. It reminds of the pre-bubble era, where everyone (again not everyone, journalists, marketers and PR people) were talking about virtual cities, virtual reality and mixing it with ecommerce. where are they now? all bankrupt. there is no real need for the average joe to go to Second Life. one can go to SL just to see whats all the hype is about, but i believe there is no value in it.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Kevin ... that's great advice for companies considering a SL presence. I'm actually emailing with someone right now who is putting together a proposal for a company to create a SL presence--I'm gonna share your smart thinking with this marketer.

heri ... yeah, I also think SL is more fleeting than enduring. I'm not convinced SL will cross the chasm and reach the "early majority" population.

[Lewis Green]

John,

I think Kevin is right. Other than marketers, I am unaware of anyone in my circle of consumers, which is large, who have heard of Second Life.

[Alex Schleifer]

Second Life isn't for me either but I would say it's premature to call it a fad as it's basically an open tool-set for world-building. You never know where the next killer-app is going to come from.

As the technology becomes better and people start building better content the world should technically become more enticing as a destination. Or, it could fall flat on its face when people flock to the next best thing.

[darryl]

John - thanks for the shout out.

You've hit it on the head. The first thing students learn about advertising and marketing is to understand the marketplace you're trying to communicate to.

And it is astounding that professionals in our business will create work without doing the most basic homework. In real life OR Second Life, as you accurately point out.

This goes for brands, too though. I feel that plenty of brands are green lighting Second Life projects, because it's the thing to do, or because everyone else is doing it. Without a single question about the value they plan on bringing to the SL community.

Brands: Ask your agency how the SL community will benefit from what they plan on building for you. It's important.

[Kristine]

I agree that it might be premature to call it a fad, but at the moment a lot of companies seem to be settig up shop there in the wake of the surge in media coverage of the place last year - attracting good PR in the real world, but without seeming to have thought thru their Second Life presence well enough. I work too much myself to ever have the luxury of spending a lot of time on a place like this, but think it's great for seminars and education - instead of flying half way across the globe to hear a lecture, just log on to Second Life: stroke of genius.

[Rob Cottingham]

I'll echo what Kevin and Darryl said, and add this. Marketers have to understand the medium they're working in. Second Life has areas of mind-blowing potential and fist-clenching frustration that are unlike, say, television, print or even the web. The key is understanding what those are, and focusing on SL's strengths -- especially the way it allows some very new, very interesting kinds of interaction among users.

That seems to be what keeps bringing people back after they've seen the fabulous builds and outrageous avatars. Whether it's fantasy sexual encounters, war play, business meetings, commerce or just chatting with someone you bump into at high altitude, the human element is what puts the life in Second Life. And any marketer who ignores that is missing out on most of this medium's power.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

I hear ya Rob. It's amazing how no matter the environment, the success of a something is contingent on making connections at the personal level ... not just the technological level.