The Deep Waters Of Second Life

Deep End is a phrase Johnnie and I use when helping brands understand how modern web technology and cultures can quickly take them out of their comfort zones and into powerful currents.  Likewise, there's plenty of warm, shallow pools where they can splash around safely to their heart's content.  The problem is judging the depth of the water from the sidelines.  Some very inviting streams actually run quite deep and diving in without checking the tides can mean losing touch with shore.  Second Life is a case in point and Wired has a great article about brands that have dived into the metaverse, only to find it less than refreshing.  At first sight SL looks like a fun, albeit fantastic, manifestation of the modern web and a perfect place to splash around.  However, as I've mentioned before,  it's really an alpha-geek paradise run by a hardcore of freedom-loving hackers - not exactly mainstream retailing heaven.  Furthermore, they come tooled up in the shape of the Second Life Liberation Army, which undertakes disruptive action, including hiring mercenaries  to carry out L$1000 (virtual) hits on content developers bringing brands into SL.  "I felt like I was in The Shining," Wired reports a marketeer from Coke as saying after a recce of the metaverse.  The modern web is a wonderful, diverse environment.  But before diving into the next bright and shiny waters, make sure you know where the bottom is...

Comments

[Daria]

I think the part of the problem with SL is that most of marketers use the traditional media logic and see SL as another shopping window. There is lots of geek and research potential in SL but it's being partialy destroyed by traditional thinking. We can see the something new happens but we haven't developed the new mindset yet.

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Daria, yes I agree, the point is well made on the SLLA blog: "The SLLA was the most successful at highlighting the inherent contradiction that exists in virtual environments where the users create all the content but have no rights regarding the direction the space takes."

[Nick]

I think the biggest problem stems, not only from marketing departments quite literally not knowing what they've got themselves into, but failing to integrate it into other marketing activities.

Second Life has to be conceived as another node in the network in any online strategy a company wishes to pursue, not as a simulation of real life. For brands to succeed they need to remember that old media pulls people into new media. Look at the success of Secondfest setup by The Guardian and Intel. They had 150,000 uniques I believe, they also had a wrap around cover on The Guide weekend supplement and a centre spread inside!

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Nick, it's certainly true that the marketing mix is better when it mixes, but I think it's early days for SL.

[Nick]

Agreed! But I think it's down to some intelligent marketing departments to engage with Second Life in a more substantial way in order to move it from its current status to something more valuable and, dare I say, more mainstream.