One of the earliest adopters of Second Life in the PR community was the Text 100 agency who established their virtual presence three months ago.
Interesting to read CEO Aedhmar Hynes’ recap of what she sees that her firm has gained and learned from their experience there, and her broader view of this new business environment.
Some of her comments that caught my attention:
- It’s been three months now since we set up Text 100 Island in Second Life and it’s interesting to reflect on how it seemed crazy to many that we would embark on such a venture.
Second Life is not a game, simply because its use is not determined by any game script. But also the impressive investments of major corporations such as IBM, Sony BMG, Dell, Sun, Toyota, Nissan, Starwood and Reuters clearly indicate that they don’t view it as a playground. They are there for many different business reasons, like getting closer to customers, better understanding digital natives, accessing a new tech savvy audience, testing new offerings, showcasing company innovation and more.
With IBM’s Sam Palmisano making his appearance in Second Life virtual worlds have been visibly put on the business agenda.
Having now held a series of Text 100 internal meetings – like our 25th anniversary celebration – in Second Life, we have experienced first hand that the quality of interactions in virtual 3D worlds is engaging in a unique way. For many of our people who are dispersed across the world, they’ve felt it’s been the nearest thing to generating a sense of camaraderie without physically gathering people together in one room.
Second Life holds a lot of potential for real world companies as a tool for education, collaboration, innovation and marketing. But I caution against entering this space without an engagement strategy. Being first is not enough.
Nissan has already begun to integrate its TV commercials with its island in Second Life where you can test drive a Nissan car and simulate what happens on its commercials. It has close to 4,000 people (avatars) per day test driving its cars. Now – that’s cool marketing.
Do read the full post. And take a look at the excellent video about Second Life (voiced by Aedhmar Hynes) that Text 100 produced for their launch.
Insightful commentaries.
- Related: Business Week feature “Second Life Lessons” in its November 27 edition.
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Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.
Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.
