Fear of a Virtual Planet

It’s an interesting time for corporate builds in Second Life. The days of the buzz chasing, PR focused campaign are gone, and now marketers have to really dive in and discover what virtual worlds are really about.

Unfortunately, much of the conversation in the advertising industry to date is just arguing over the merits of Second Life by holding it to the same standards as traditional mass media platforms like TV and print. It’s far more productive, and interesting to examine how these virtual worlds offer entirely new ways of connecting with people.

Besides, most of the arguments are simply rehashes of the arguments against Internet and web marketing in the nineties. I prefer to think about what these new platforms offer over the traditional channels, and how that should change our entire thought process about marketing in these spaces.

Virtual World platforms, right now, are the worst they will ever be. With each new development — faster bandwidth via advancements such as Verizon’s FiOS network, more powerful computer processors, and better user interfaces — virtual worlds will only become stronger, drawing more and more people to them.

On the flip side, TV, print, radio, and other static, disruptive channels have already seen their best days and continue delivering diminishing returns. The same technological advancements pushing virtual worlds into mainstream usage are also responsible for chipping away at the value of those once dominant platforms.

But the key difference is that virtual worlds, while constantly changing, are persistent. Most marketers think in terms of limited engagement campaigns, but the real power of virtual worlds is in a sustained, long-term engagement. I’m talking years, not months. Long after that hugely expensive TV buy has been spent, and your 30 second spot has left the airwaves (and consumers’ memories) for good, your virtual world campaign, if done right, will still be there, engaging people, growing, and adding value. It is a Long Tail strategy. Of course in order to get there, you have to stop applying both the old rules and the old measurements to the new platform. You can’t just market to virtual worlds, you have to join them.

Since I’m more a practitioner than theorist, (and theory follows practice anyhow), Monday I’m going to post about our approach, in collaboration with Leo Burnett Detroit and Second Life development company Millions of Us, in bringing Pontiac to the virtual world platform of Second Life, and how it was (and still is) significantly different from other brand initiatives in the virtual world.