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Wednesday 25 July 2007

Second Life. Oh dear.

This excellent article on Wired.com should make sobering reading for marketers thinking about creating a space in Second Life. As Pete reported earlier this month, Axa are taking a look, and I'm sure many others are, too. As much as I hate to contradict Pete – and making myself look somewhat of a Luddite – I think spending valuable budget on Second Life is a huge mistake. Finally, here's the proof: Coca-Cola's 'Virtual Thirst' pavilion receiving just 27 visits on "a random day in June…" Just so you know, there are now over 7 million avatars in Second Life.

My big question with FS providers considering Second Life is "what are you offering?" 
  • If you're just creating a space to run your adverts, forget it. 
  • If you could create some kind of advice provision to avatars, that may be better (but fraught with legal issues). 
  • If your underwriters had the stones to create insurance to avatars and their online property, then it would be worthwhile. Maybe.

Second Life is only a worthwhile venture if you create something that Second Lifers need. In that respect it's really not that different from Real Life.

Richard

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