Retro-Marketing
Marketing to People in Their First Life

I can vaguely recall the days when things were very different.
People spent their time in a world filled with oxygen. It seems just
like yesterday – OH MY – it was yesterday! Let’s take a trip down
memory lane shall we? The date is Jan 1st 1997, and people are
starting to spend some time on this thing called the internet.
Within a couple of years there was a hyper-saturated web with niche
sites that had everything from exclusive glues to websites designed
as destination locations for people in their mid 30’s that had an
affinity for poodles. Certain people claimed they would never leave
the house again, and vowed to radically change their behavior.

Now we find ourselves in the 21st Century and the year 2006. The
internet has just recently started living up to a portion of its
hype. More people are connected than ever before. The internet is
by far the greatest way to disseminate information to the masses at
lightning speed that’s ever been found. I learned this myself by
building an on-line community. Turns out that people from around the
world had similar things that they wanted to talk about – surprise!
In my case, I am referring to experiential marketing. In this day
and age, people spend dramatically more time on-line then marketers
ever thought they would back in the early days.

But now, let’s direct our attention to a current on-line phenomenon
that has recently been discovered by the media. I am referring to
the on-line role-playing game Second Life produced by Linden Labs.
It’s a phenomenal platform that allows endless virtual freedoms in a
world without oxygen. However, Second Life is a world in major
transition. It is instructive and interesting as a marketer to be
able to watch what is going on in that “brave new virtual world”.

I was acquainted with Second Life even before it launched. It was
astonishing to see the technology they had developed, and I anxiously
awaited how it would be accepted by the public. As with any ahead of
it’s time technology it was immediately embraced by technological
innovators and early adopters. There was a small group of around
35,000 residents that felt like they had died and gone to heaven.
They found a computing platform that allowed them to do things that
they had dreamed of, but were never able to do before.

These first residents wanted to create a new world far from the
masses in first life. Back when we launched Stagecoach Island for
Wells Fargo we were very careful not to intrude. We built a separate
private branded entrance, and our island was separate from the Second
Life MMORPG. There are many reasons from the brand perspective why
we did this, but there were other reasons that had more to do with
the respect we have for the in-world residents and our own sense of
how to reach people in a meaningful way on behalf of our clients.
The most important was that we believed the Second Life residents
(innovators) wouldn’t have wanted us throwing up a corporate bank in
the middle of their Utopia. We respected that and were looking to
build a brand experience that wouldn’t intrude into anybody’s virtual
reality, but rather allow for a new experience in which young adults
could play and learn, utilizing an exciting interactive platform. We
were able to find a happy medium. Remember, experiential marketing
is about not interrupting folks, but providing the possibility for
people to participate in a positive brand experience if they choose to.

I am amazed everyday at what is taking place in Second Life. The
early residents are, and have been, feverishly working to pass things
like the virtual bill of rights etc. These innovators are still the
ones that make up the majority of the full-time residents. Second
Life went to a free membership model sometime ago. This allowed for
a lot of “lookie-loos” to dip a toe in the water and rarely, if ever,
come back. The full-time residents are not happy with the influx of
corporations into their world. Is this bad, or is this just the
inevitable, natural evolution of any society?

Second Life has recently positioned itself in mainstream media as a
viable platform for marketers to ply their trade. Because of it,
brands are jumping in feet first without even really asking
themselves if they are wanted there. Many brand marketers don’t know
what questions to ask the agencies that are working for them. They
want to provide a compelling and pleasant brand experience, but fail
to realize they have dropped themselves in a world where the majority
of the population is not interested in first life issues, and does
not want them there. Unfortunately, unless they immerse themselves
in the world and understand its residents they can’t know how to
integrate themselves in a relevant way for the people involved.

Are brands applying the same strategies in the virtual world as they
are in the oxygenated world? In the oxygenated world brands try to
connect with their audiences for the purpose of creating a
relationship and a call to action: buy. Do their audiences exist in
the virtual worlds, and if so, is it a place they want to see you?
These are the types of questions that must be considered before
entering virtual worlds.

Is the rush of brands into Second Life a bad thing? If you look at
life as a great philosopher once said, “There is no good, there is no
bad, there just is,” then you must simply look at what is taking
place in Second Life as natural progression – a virtual evolution if
you will. Soon, the original residents that don’t like what’s
happening will move on to find or build their next Utopia. Second
Life may become a hotspot for many new residents. I will be very
interested to see statistical data that shows the average number of
visits from residents and window shoppers in Second Life, and the
average time spent there. Like research in first life – what are the
residents doing and where are they doing it? How do we reach them in
a way that positively affects their Second Life and impacts our
brands in their first – which is where, we all know for the most
part, they buy our goods and services? These questions and answers
are what will truly inform if, and how, marketers move forward in a
world without oxygen. I’m watching, and listening, and holding my
breath.

Pro tip: take your flying avatar out of the picture — he looks like a dork flying there and it’s a sort of newbish giveaway. To get your avatar gone, use the alt button on your keyboard — hold it down while you left-click with your mouse on any object you want in your picture — then using that combo of held-down alt and left-click zoom around the camera angle to get past your avatar. Makes for a cleaner photo.

I know I look like a dork. Besides the fact that I am a dork, I didn’t wear my suit and I still have to buy a decen skin. :) I’ll work on that. See you around in SL maybe :)