Advertising in virtual space is about content, conversation and community
A recent change in leadership for Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life has sparked a minor resurgence of interest among marketers, despite their lingering fear generated from the oft-repeated horror stories of past ventures into the virtual world.
Who was responsible for the ill-fated virtual marketing campaigns of 2006-2007: the marketers, the platform or the consumers?
The onus of failed marketing efforts in Second Life falls on each party (to a degree). However the bulk of failures were due to most marketers' inability to change with the times and devise strategies that take advantage of the new paradigm of conversational marketing.
Andrew B. Mallon, executive director of The Social Research Foundation, who runs the largest research panel in Second Life, points out that, in a recent study, brand was a low rated influencer on purchasing to residents in Second Life (it trailed price, style, features and the recommendation of a friend). While marketers tend to blame the platform for these types of metrics, we blame the poor strategies implemented by marketers.
Recently, virtual world pioneer KZero teamed up with L'oreal Paris to take another stab at marketing in Second Life. Their unique approach was one that leveraged the inherent drivers behind online community, collaboration and co-creation.
Unlike the 95 percent of previous marketers in Second Life, L'oreal Paris and KZero did not buy an island and solely base their effort around it. Rather, they "seeded" Second Life retailers with product and enhanced residents with an already established presence in Second Life with content. KZero placed L'oreal virtual products alongside resident creations and made them available for the taking (push versus pull -- haven't we learned the power of this from search marketing?).
What L'Oreal learned was that its products "flew" off of the shelves of these resident-created storefronts in a way that would not have occurred if the company had created a separate island to sell them on. The connection and integration with the Second Life community provided a benefit to the store owners and to the community overall. In this way, L'Oreal found fantastic versions of its products were used to adorn the world of Second Life as content to be interacted with rather than as a distraction to residents by another company seeking to control and exploit the community (see full case study from KZero here).
The notion of consumer control reigns supreme in other virtual worlds as well. WeeWorld's Bigelow had the following comment to make:
"Consumers are increasingly in control over their media content. They won't tolerate intrusive ads, and WeeWorld has made it easy to turn the ads into branded content that consumers embrace and make a part of their personalized experience."
The consumer in the above graphic is not a paid member of the community. What we see here is the reaction to a brand providing valuable content. The result is a partnership between the brand and the consumer where both win.
Marketers need to understand that it is not brands that people dislike; it is certain ways that brands approach consumers that is off-putting. By "Joining The Conversation" marketers can begin to understand how to market to avatars in virtual worlds as they seek to reach the next generation of consumers, Generation V (Virtual).
Here's how.