Digitas' Greg Verdino on Brands in Second Life
Anne Handley of MarketingProfs.com interviewed Greg Verdino on brands moving into Second Life.From the interview:
"Q: What are some other metaverse marketing approaches that you would expect to see become more prevalent?
A: Real quickâbrand-sponsored avatars that actually participate in the communities, interact with residents and dole out benefits (cash rewards, access to exclusive experiences, discounts, other incentives, and so on); brand sponsorships of existing in-world experiences similar to in-game marketing integrations; the broadcast of traditional ad-supported TV- or radio-style programming into private and public metaverse spaces; the use of "short term" metaverse environments by media companies and marketers that tie in with specific time-sensitive programs.
And finally, I also think that it will be vital for brands to find residents and communities inside the various metaverses that are already engaging in their own grassroots activities that may be brand-appropriate, and then find ways to support those grassroots efforts rather than simply building out their own thing.
In other words, just like in any form of social media, companies should join their customers' communities, as opposed to trying to do it the other way around."
Labels: Greg Verdino, Second Life, TV
posted by daniel davenport at 11:49 AM
2 Comments:
DD - Thanks for pointing this article out to me. I think the most interesting point he makes is:
"In other words, just like in any form of social media, companies should join their customers' communities, as opposed to trying to do it the other way around."
I agree for the most part that companies and marketers too often try to create their own communities for their customers to join (which almost never works) rather than joining them in communities they are already a part of. However I wouldn't necessarily agree that companies should join those communities without being very careful in doing so. For example, as more and more companies are joining the MySpace world you're going to see a lot of the MySpace users look for something else as they get tired of the constant barrage of advertising they're hit with.
People typically join a community to interact with similar people, not companies, so you just have to be careful as a marketer not to abuse that relationship.
Hey Jeff
Well said. Its a tricky business bringing companies into new worlds that already have established norms. But that's why we get paid the big bucks;)
Daniel
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