E-xperiential: On-line applications of Experiential Marketing

Opportunities and perspectives in SL for small businesses and educational projects

September 2nd, 2008

Interview with Joni West, “This Second Marketing LLC” President. Interviewer: Ruslan Browa

Ruslan Browa: Joni, please tell us how small businesses are represented in SL today. What is necessary to do for organization and success of their business operations in SL? What are the their perspectives? How can a large marketing company like yours help them in launching and running their business in SL? In what areas and with which activities you can help? Do you plan to make some special training courses for small business?

Joni West: As far as I can tell, the small businesses that are in Second Life are entirely virtual. For example, they sell virtual clothing for avatars, or houses, vehicles, furniture and the like. I am not familiar with what, if anything, small real world companies are doing SL since I have not read any media coverage about them. It is impossible to know everything that is going on in Second Life because no one, not even Linden Lab, keeps track.

When a company opens an account in SL, they don’t enter their company name. I am sure there are a lot of IT people playing around with Second Life for their large and small companies but again, we have no way to know unless they get some sort of media coverage.

The success of an entry into Second Life for any business lies first in defining the objectives to be accomplished. Second Life is a web “platform” and can be used for anything the web is used for and more, given its ability to share three dimensional spaces and empower interactions among people from all around the world. People who are put in charge of a Second Life project can either select a Linden Lab approved developer like my agency, This Second Marketing LLC, or assign the task to in-house resources.

It is difficult for clients to wrap their brains around what Second Life is and how it will help them and if they are planning to create a significant presence and be successful, I would highly recommend using a Linden Lab approved developer, at least until the original phases of the project are complete. There are currently several good books on the market that describe the ins and outs of Second Life and people working on a Second Life project should read some to start. There are also video tutorials available through the Second Life website. That said, there is nothing like getting in there and navigating around to begin to understand the mechanics and most importantly, the culture of Second Life.

If you were an American company and going to open a store in Japan, you would certainly do extensive research on the culture of the place you are putting the store so that you do not offend anyone and can align your strategies and tactics for success. Same thing for Second Life. The statistics for the demographics of the Second Life population are available at www.secondlife.com and they should be reviewed by a company to make sure the audience in Second Life is the audience they are trying to reach. There are Second Life “residents” from dozens of countries and the way that breaks down can be important to a company just coming into SL.

Companies and organizations are using Second Life for a wide variety of purposes and the ultimate success of the projects depends on how well they align their strategies and tactics to the ultimate objective. Many companies now use Second Life as a place to hold meetings, thereby saving on costs and energy consumption. Training is very popular in Second Life because you can actually “walk through” areas that would not be possible to show in real life.

For example, I read that BP was training people on what happens below a gas filling station by empowering them to walk underneath a virtual gas station. My agency works with major companies and organizations to use Second Life as a marketing platform. We have been very successful at accomplishing the objectives that we set with our clients. While the entire population of Second Life is small by comparison to say, television viewers, it is possible to garner a great deal of media attention for a relatively low budget project in Second Life. All of the marketing projects that we have done to date have received excellent media coverage in high circulation publications and blogs such as The New York Times, The San Jose Mercury News, USA Today, and Fast Company Magazine (This Second Marketing will be featured in the September issue available on newsstand Aug 19th).

The result of the media coverage is an overall enhancement in brand image. Brands that are doing creative promotions in Second Life are perceived as cutting-edge leaders in many industries.

The way This Second Marketing LLC has been helping our clients is very comprehensive. We explain and demonstrate what Second Life is, often over a web meeting service. We discuss the reasons that the client wants to get into Second Life and how committed they are to the platform. We want to know whether the company wants a long term presence or to run a 3 month promotion.

We educate, educate, educate our clients on what works as well as what doesn’t, and why. Research shows the residents of Second Life don’t mind big brands entering the virtual world, but they do have a problem with big companies coming into the virtual world without taking the time to understand the culture. For example, residents of Second Life are reported to be highly creative, tech-savvy, forward thinkers. They enjoy creating the content that exists in Second Life. Approximately 75% of residents create some form of content whether it is object or animations or art.

So when I big company enters Second Life, the last thing they should do is put up billboards, the virtual equivalent of the real world kind or the equivalent of banner ads on the web, and expect to be respected. Instead, big companies should investigate and deliver what the residents really want. That includes contests, great venues to socialize in, educational classes, and live performances. They should essentially “sponsor” activities that the residents will want to participate in. This again comes back to understanding the residents who are your audience.

This Second Marketing LLC has a team that literally spans the globe. We believe we have the best of the best working on our clients’ projects. That includes builders, scripters, human resource directors, graphic artists, and more. My background is in live real world events and creating events in Second Life and showing them at real world events is new and captivating to many audiences. People who have read about SL get a chance to see it in action at a real world meeting up on a screen. It is also possible to stream a live meeting into Second Life. Focusing on the audience and the message you want to communicate is key. The technology is just the means to an end. In the case of Second Life, a very compelling means!

We are currently in the process of expanding our practice to help companies get into Second Life for purposes other than marketing. Yes, we will be doing training and creating best practices and guides for companies that want to take advantage of this new and exciting platform. It is only a matter of a few years before everyone who uses the internet will have an avatar and a Second Life of some sort.

Special thanks for Stas for help in interview’s preparation.

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