Virtual worlds like Second Life burst onto the digital 
marketing scene in early 2006 and since then it’s been a roller coaster ride for marketers. In the early days most marketers correctly realised the potential of this medium to immerse their audiences in to the brand narrative but could not implement or create an effective virtual marketing campaign.
As virtual worlds continue to grow and their registered user base touches about 400 million users by some estimates; it’s increasingly important for marketers to understand what works in these worlds.
Virtual worlds such as Second Life are a hybrid of web and contact marketing. They combine the advantages of technology and latest web trends like social networking, video sharing with the proximity and immersion of contact marketing. They create engaging user experiences being entertaining, interactive and immersive.
Second Life vs. Other Virtual Worlds...
Although Second Life started it all, but it isn’t the only virtual world out there. There are many others like There (used by Coke and MTV), Gaia, et al. The choice of a virtual world or a combination of them that is best suited for a brand depends on the demographics, target audience, customer experience, et al, just as in the case of traditional web marketing. Virtual worlds can also be custom created for a brand and allow embedded brand advertising – Barbie Girls, Lego Universe are popular flash based virtual worlds targeted at teens and youth across the globe.
Branded and interactive virtual worlds can be effectively used to create loyal communities around brands. Long term community interaction, for instance Sunsilk’s ‘Gang of Girls’ – is essential both for community as well as marketing. Interactive virtual worlds can also be integrated with existing online communities such as Facebook (YoVille – Flash based virtual world application on Facebook which has about 1,50,000 daily users).
That brings us to another potentially interesting application of virtual worlds – distributed virtual worlds or embeddable virtual worlds.
Using Embedded Virtual Worlds...
So far most of the popular virtual worlds like Second Life, There, Gaia, et al are client-based as opposed to browser-based applications. But with the growing popularity of the medium, a need to embed these virtual worlds into browsers is growing. This is especially relevant for web marketing and network marketing purposes. Just as social networking platforms like ‘Ning’ and Google’s ‘OpenSocial’ make it possible to host a social network on your own website/portal as opposed to walled gardens like Facebook; distributed virtual world platforms created using Flash, Java, et al allow virtual worlds to be hosted on a company’s or an individual’s website.
This leads to the usual networking effects witnessed in social networks wherein a friend can be invited to hop onto your virtual space on your website which is in turn connected to a whole grid of such spaces allowing for both public as well as private virtual experiences. Embeddable virtual worlds are in the early stages of development and their growth will have a significant effect in using virtual worlds for digital and interactive marketing.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
marketing scene in early 2006 and since then it’s been a roller coaster ride for marketers. In the early days most marketers correctly realised the potential of this medium to immerse their audiences in to the brand narrative but could not implement or create an effective virtual marketing campaign.As virtual worlds continue to grow and their registered user base touches about 400 million users by some estimates; it’s increasingly important for marketers to understand what works in these worlds.
Virtual worlds such as Second Life are a hybrid of web and contact marketing. They combine the advantages of technology and latest web trends like social networking, video sharing with the proximity and immersion of contact marketing. They create engaging user experiences being entertaining, interactive and immersive.
Second Life vs. Other Virtual Worlds...
Although Second Life started it all, but it isn’t the only virtual world out there. There are many others like There (used by Coke and MTV), Gaia, et al. The choice of a virtual world or a combination of them that is best suited for a brand depends on the demographics, target audience, customer experience, et al, just as in the case of traditional web marketing. Virtual worlds can also be custom created for a brand and allow embedded brand advertising – Barbie Girls, Lego Universe are popular flash based virtual worlds targeted at teens and youth across the globe.
Branded and interactive virtual worlds can be effectively used to create loyal communities around brands. Long term community interaction, for instance Sunsilk’s ‘Gang of Girls’ – is essential both for community as well as marketing. Interactive virtual worlds can also be integrated with existing online communities such as Facebook (YoVille – Flash based virtual world application on Facebook which has about 1,50,000 daily users).
That brings us to another potentially interesting application of virtual worlds – distributed virtual worlds or embeddable virtual worlds.
Using Embedded Virtual Worlds...
So far most of the popular virtual worlds like Second Life, There, Gaia, et al are client-based as opposed to browser-based applications. But with the growing popularity of the medium, a need to embed these virtual worlds into browsers is growing. This is especially relevant for web marketing and network marketing purposes. Just as social networking platforms like ‘Ning’ and Google’s ‘OpenSocial’ make it possible to host a social network on your own website/portal as opposed to walled gardens like Facebook; distributed virtual world platforms created using Flash, Java, et al allow virtual worlds to be hosted on a company’s or an individual’s website.
This leads to the usual networking effects witnessed in social networks wherein a friend can be invited to hop onto your virtual space on your website which is in turn connected to a whole grid of such spaces allowing for both public as well as private virtual experiences. Embeddable virtual worlds are in the early stages of development and their growth will have a significant effect in using virtual worlds for digital and interactive marketing.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
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