I finally did it. Tried Second Life that is.

After reading all the hype about Sears launching a virtual store in Second Life, as well as all the negative and positive opinions from the business world, I didn't have a choice.

So, is this a real and serious opportunity for marketers, or the next internet bubble?

Read this 1st article in the Second Life series to see what big marketers are doing in Second Life today.

First, the Personal View and Social Dissapointment

Now, I won't use this space to ramble about how I don't understand ..

a) the real-life attitudes and seriousness of people in the game (oops, "virtual world");

b) how people can actually spend money on virtual beer, virtual clothes and virtual sex;

c) and actually worry about their PR image in the virtual world.

As a person, I'm deeply worried about how our world is evolving if people start leading real lives in a virtual environment. Anyway, Darren Barefoot already expressed this sentiment much better with his GetAFirstLife.com parody website.

How About The Marketing Value?

But, as a marketer, I am starting to see a scent of what might become a viable marketing tool in the future.

The first companies in (IBM, Sears, Circuit City, Nike, Toyota, Nissan, Sony and many others) are certainly getting their share of free publicity supporting Second Life with in-world presences. But besides the media attention, can they really expect much more right now?

Besides getting the upper edge by testing new marketing approaches early, I somehow doubt that the 1,037,804 users that logged-in in the last 60 Days will have an impact on their bottom line, altough these people have spent $1,357,490 of real money in the virtual world just in the last 24 hours. But not on buying physical products in the real world through the Second Life interface ...

The economies of scale just aren't here yet to support creating real marketing value yet. And with the difficult-to-use user interface certainly won't be in anytime soon.

What Are Companies Doing in Second Life Right Now?

Regardless of the lack of economies of scale, some companies are pushing hard to make Second Life a real life marketing venue

a) IBM
IBM owns about 24 virtual islands in Second Life, using this virtual land to help companies like Circuit City build their own virtual retail stores, as well as hold IBM's own internal conferences.

b) Sears
Sears launched a "Sears Virtual Home" showroom prototype, where potential customers can browse Sears products, play with product colors and even create a whole garage.

Their eventual plan is to allow users to re-create their living rooms and such and furnish them with Sears products, seeing how they would look in real life. Steve Rubel speculates that the next logical step for Sears is actually allowing customers to order directly from Second Life and have the delivery done in the real world.

c) Nissan
Nissan is giving away virtual models of their cars and allowing the virtual world's users to drive them on a virtual race track.

GM and Toyota on the other hand are selling virtual models of their cars for a few $, of course in the Second Life currency Linden Dollars.

d) Ogilvy
Ogilvy, a full service marketing agency, and many others, are using Second Life to recruit employees --> people with real-life experience in Second Life, to work on client projects for the virtual world.

e) Music artists
A folk singer Suzanne Vega performed live in Second Life, to a virtual audience, with a virtual avatar.

And here's an even better one from myadsl.co.za:
"On February 3, comedian Jimmy Carr will perform a live show simultaneously in real life in London and in the virtual world of Second Life. His onstage movements will be replicated in near real-time through his avatar."

f) CNET
... and other media are conducting interviews within Second Life.

g) Starwood Hotels
The owner of the Westin, Sheraton, and W chains set-up a new hotel in Second Life, prior to doing it in the real-world. Their aim is to observe how people use the hotel, and then try to use that knowledge when building the real thing.
[source: BusinessWeek]

They are actually hoping that the virtual world residents will be able to save them money, by preventing them from making mistakes when building the real thing.

h) American Apparel
This real-life clothes company is selling virtual clothes to the residents of Second Life, for about $1 or less per item. They're hoping this will boost their sales in their real retail stores.
[source: BusinessWeek]

i) Philips Design
Philips wants to get feedback from Second Life users on new innovative projects and involve them in creating new products.
[source: Shaping Thoughts]

j) ABN AMRO
This Dutch financial services company will use Second Life to offer information on financial products, allow their customers to interact with each other and even host virtual seminars for their target audiences.
[source: Shaping Thoughts]

l) Cisco Systems
Cisco is using Second Life for both their customers and their employees, even offering virtual classes to the virtual community. Their goal is to use Second Life as communications tool for their customers, answering their questions and feedback about their various products. Yes, they are paying their tech-support staff to work in the virtual world.
[source: Technology Review]

k) Sun Microsystems
Sun held a press conference within Second Life, followed by the launch of an interactive pavilion where consumers can watch videos of Sun technology.
[source: NetworkWorld]

m) Adidas
Adidas jumped on the bandwagon by doing a store featuring their latest shoe. But, they went beyond just offering the product as a simple virtual item, actually adding features that demonstrate the product to the consumers --> when wearing the shoes, users can jump and even use a test trampoline within the store.
[source: Future Lab]

n) Autodesk
The software maker is building a virtual place to interact with a community of architects, designers, engineers and others. [see their invitation]

o) Vodafone
This European mobile operator started out the same way as most other companies, with an island, offering various information. But now they're planning to expand that with virtual handsets that will enable users to better communicate with eachother in the virtual world, as well as an SMS service.
[source: BusinessWeek]

p) Richard Minsky
Richard Minsky, the real-life founder of Center for Book Arts, is launching a Second Life magazine, to discuss various art issues.
[source: artnet]

To find out more about these various examples, just click on the source links below them.

Certainly, many companies are exploring practically unlimited opportunities within the virtual world, hoping it may pay off some day.

But, Is There a Real Marketing Model NOW?

There certainly is ... for ad agencies and the PR industry.

For marketers, the opportunity right now seems more related to getting free publicity and testing the grounds for the future.

But of course, let's not forget about the real winners of the "game" --> hundreds of virtual entrepreneurs, even a "new world" millionaire, who are making their living running businesses within Second Life.

But this is still a little far from real world marketing ...

In the 2nd article of the series read about the burst of the Second Life bubble and the prospect of 3D virtual worlds replacing the 2D internet.

Additional Sources

Reuters/Second Life
The Reuters news center for latest Second Life business news. Not the virtual news, the real life news.

Valleywag
While most have a positive attitude towards Second Life, this website brings you all the latest negative business related news on the virtual world.

It's Not a Game
A comprehensive CNNMoney.com article on why the tech thought-leaders believe that Second Life is the internet model of the future.

Finding life (or not) in Second Life
An article discussing why Second Life may not be the real thing yet, but that there certainly are implications of an internet future to be found here, especially in terms of online collaboration and communications.

I got my job through Second Life
An article with examples of how companies are recruiting from within Second Life.

Interview with BMW About Their Second Life Plans
A summary would be better, but even the transcript provides some food for thought.

Real cars drive into Second Life
CNN article about automobile companies stepping into this virtual world.

Top IT companies embracing virtual reality
The title about says it all.

Second Life Backlash Continues
All is not well in Second Life for companies. This blog post discusses how some residents voted all the agencies and marketers out.

Second Life Strategies for Companies and Future Uses
A video interview with tips for companies wanting to use Second Life.

Big Media Gets a Second Life
A BusinessWeek article covering the media outlets set-up by real-world media companie in Second Life.

Tune in for more soon.