Second life Advertising

The virtual world that is Second Life keeps on producing stories in the world of blogging. A recent conversation to emerge is the issue of virtual marketing. In many ways, this comes as no surprise. The equivalent of $5 million dollars is spent each month in the game using the virtual Linden dollars. These are being spent on all manner of products and services. For instance you can walk into a virtual shop and pick up some virtual clothing ready for your virtual night of lust with your recently acquired virtual genitalia – if that’s what you want! Equally, you could go and pick up a virtual ipod fully installed with music that will play as soon as you put the virtual earphones on your avatars virtual head (phew!). On top of this there are virtual services from detectives to events organisers. The list is almost as endless as the real world and is expanding everyday.

All these services need to be promoted. Already individuals and companies alike are trying bringing out an array of traditional marketing tactics – event sponsorships, product placements and giveaways have become second place.

What will become really interesting is when virtual worlds like this reach critical mass (assuming they do). Imagine the marketer’s delight of cross promoting between worlds! On a more consumer-based tip, imagine being able to go to your favorite store and try out virtual versions of real world clothing. It might not appeal to all, but I sure there are enough people out there who would be interested in such a service, especially if you could fix it eBay vendors where going to the shops simply isn’t possible.