Culture

Are Virtual World Marketing Efforts Falling Flat?

There is much in the way of fanfare when a corporate entity establishes a presence in the world of Second Life. But according to a report by GigaOM’s Wagner James Au, even the most popular corporate sites fail to stack up to the best of what the "natives" have to offer. The numbers he cites, […]

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There is much in the way of fanfare when a corporate entity establishes a presence in the world of Second Life. But according to a report by GigaOM's Wagner James Au, even the most popular corporate sites fail to stack up to the best of what the "natives" have to offer. The numbers he cites, garnered by Second Life demographics expert Tateru Nino, paint a fairly modest picture.

"So how does anywhere from 6,454 to, well, zero, grab you? That’s the spread of weekly visitors to real world corporate sites in
Second Life... the highest weekly total belongs to Pontiac, which hosts a kind of virtual autobody island where Residents can customize their cars, followed by a site for Showtime’s The L Word (4,687)."

So who's in the weeds? The likes of Coca-Cola, Calvin Klein, and Sun Microsystems, each of which occupies a place in the "sub-500
club." Now, Pontiac isn't exactly what I would consider a sexy brand, but at least its virtual marking effort offers its visitors some sort of interactive expression. I wonder if the aforementioned do the same.

Virtual World Marketing: Lots of Companies, Few Visitors [GigaOM]