IABC Branding & Marketing Commons

After holding our first weekly learning event in Second Life, it’s easy to see why this virtual world is heralded as the videoconferencing and webinar killer. This “metaverse” takes interaction and collaboration to unprecedented levels. And it’s redefining branding, from targeting consumers to interacting with engaged minds in an immersive 3-D environment.

Our last public meeting drew some 25 visitors plus some five poor souls who had to participate via WebEx because their IT departments didn’t let them access Second Life. Feel free to visit our “Train for Success” in Second Life every Thursday, noon-1:00 PM EDT. If you don’t have a Second Life account yet, you need to take a few minutes to open a free account and create your own avatar, before you’re ready to learn first hand why virtual worlds is all the rage.

Consider these facts:
* Gartner Group estimates that 80% of active Internet users will be in non- gaming virtual worlds like Second Life by the end of 2011.
* IBM is investing millions of dollars in 25 SL islands, and Sun, Dell, Intel, Adidas, Toyota, GM, and more are all there.
* Hundreds of universities, including Harvard and INSEAD teach classes in Second Life for credit.
* My native Sweden just opened an embassy in Second Life.
* Second Life has seven million residents and growing exponentially.

After a few minutes in Second Life you’ll find any regular web site to be just a collection of flat pages. As the Second Life experience becomes richer and the application diffuses more widely, it’s hard to imagine why any company would wait until it hits 100 million before they start branding in “Web 3D.”

Saturn is set to launch an interesting new promotion this Summer.

Saturn to Park Competition On Dealership Lots
by Karl Greenberg
Friday, Jun 1, 2007 5:01 AM ET

SATURN MAY BE ROLLING OUT a fresh line-up of vehicles this year, but consumers visiting Saturn dealers this summer will be surprised by the pair of cars parked next to Saturn’s Aura sedan: Toyota’s Camry and Honda’s Accord.

The effort, a retail version of the overtly competitive “Ford Challenge” campaign by its cross-town rival, lets consumers shopping Saturn’s Aura test-drive the Camry and Accord, as well, when they visit Saturn. (More at Black Dog…)

If you haven’t started investigating Second Life yet, you might want to look into it. The sheer neatness of the environment notwithstanding, it’s starting to emerge as a viable business platform and it looks like the tipping point may be just around the corner (full Voice Over Internet Protocol integration is set to roll out in the coming weeks, and the guess here is that VOIP is going to blow the lid off the joint). Lots of companies and entrepreneurs are already using the 3D virtual environment for commerce (using it to buy and sell in-world goods and services and developing storefronts that allow you to buy “First Life” goods and services, as well).

In addition, 2L is gaining traction as an internal comm app and shows tremendous potential as a corporate training platform. One firm that’s early-in on the training front is e-learning and consulting shop Gronstedt Group. (More.)