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AD VOICE in Virtual Worlds

by Carmen Villadar
Friday, March 14, 2008. 12:14PM
377 Views 6 Comments

Technology creeps into our lives dictating and almost forcing us to choose to adapt to its ways. Back in '94 when the world wide web opened up its doors to mainstream, art and marketing departments all over the world scrambled to learn html and the ins and outs of this new media platform.

Trying to pitch a different tune to then current advertisers and clients about the 'positives' in having their brand presence on the Internet was almost like pulling teeth. That was then and this is now.

Enter the 3D Online Virtual World Platform that was the 'buzz' in 2005, created by a company called Linden Lab of San Francisco, with their product - Second Life (www.secondlife.com).

Never mind the similarity of its 'short lived wave' - the dot.com era ... once a climax has been achieved, the memory of it still lingers and perhaps no other climax like it will emerge again out of that - *financial gain wise* however, the dot.com still continues to live on - and has created offspring like dot.org, dot.net, dot.tv, dot.ch, dot.biz, you get the point.

Truth of the matter is, virtual worlds ARE emerging and companies, education institutions and even our governments are using this platform to reach a 'market'.

On this new media platform, business models are being re-defined as are the ways of branding and marketing. How will you prepare yourself to help position your clients once they have decided to make the leap onto this 3D virtual platform?

You think I'm crazy? Tell me I'm crazy to my face two or three years down the road after someone has found a way to interface advertising with these 3D virtual platforms.

Logo branding and signage on 'inworld prims' will be a thing of the past. Soon, after a person logs into a 3D client software they will be welcomed by a familiar Real World Brand before actually entering. (Think of YouTube's transparent ads over videos. Think of pop up windows you have to close before accessing a site.)

I'm betting that Google or Microsoft, big players in the media today will be behind the scenes of these Virtual World ads.

Long LIVE ADVERTISING!!!!!! We just have to learn to adapt ourselves to new technology. Re-invent. Re-create. Re-Group. Re-Think.

Something to think about.

Cheers. ~ Carmen

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Comments

 6 shown
Tuesday, March 25, 2008. 12:32PM by Buddy 'Friendly' Wachenheimer
Hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers
Tuesday, March 18, 2008. 11:24PM by Richard Track
you are not crazy you are just tiny bit loco ..... the best second invention after the wheel was internet, i don't recall someone using the wheel as a medium to advertise so why use the virtual world when you have a real world?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008. 04:10PM by Carmen Villadar
Buddy.... you know what? It could very well be more of a problem than a solution (in the beginning) until people learn to figure out the maze and haze. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I'm just opening the floor to some discussion with "what if" scenarios. But say .. someone does find a way to make the transition - eventually, much smoother .. and the idea catches on with clients and the industry? With that notion .. how will we prepare our mindset for yet another ad medium? Remember what the World Wide Web did to the industry? It forced us to change our thinking to adapt to the online platform, configuring our ad specs, copy and then trying to figure out how the hell do we generate revenue? On top of that - pitching the new media to our existing clients. I remember it was a mess of sorts in the beginning until some of the risk-takers jumped on the band wagon. After the initial jump, then other companies followed. I've had many arguments with people, I, favoring the old fashioned mode (what exists today). I think though, that I served more as a devil's advocate for them, more than anything. I suppose we just have to wait and see what goes.
Saturday, March 15, 2008. 09:41AM by Buddy 'Friendly' Wachenheimer
What if interfacing advertising with these 3D virtual platforms is more of a problem, rather than a solution, then what?
Saturday, March 15, 2008. 06:10AM by Carmen Villadar
Perhaps you may be right about "... it will take longer than everyone expects...". I'm hoping it won't be too long. What I've noticed particularly in the past 3 years is how fast technology is advancing, especially with a lot of things becoming Open Source. True, hardware certainly needs to catch up - but I'm hopeful that it will. Say ... we can always start to plan (off side) re: advertising in virtual worlds just so we'll be ready when the doors open! But remember, ads don't have to be stationed just on one 'sector' or sim. I'm guessing they'll be in our faces at the point of login ... ;o) Thanks for commenting Marc!
Friday, March 14, 2008. 03:58PM by Marc Lefton
I think virtual worlds are a great idea but have a long way to go. Just like when the internet got popular and everyone thought that in a year we'd be video dating and buying everything under the sun from justballs.com and justtaperecorders.com, virtual worlds will see the same maturity rate that the internet did. It will take longer than everyone expects, but in the end virtual world 2.0 will be very useful. Right now Second Life is one big place with nothing to do. Once someone figures out the right formula and truly has the bandwidth for it, (SL can't handle more than 60 people in one sector at a time) it will really take off.

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