Second Life seems to be all the buzz these days, with companies opening “virtual” stores, hosting holiday parties and having company-wide events. Many in tech and consumer product industries have put up sites as well. And although I am very interested in virtual worlds as a marketing medium, I frankly question the value of the medium today for big brands.

Let me explain my thoughts:

First, let’s look at how major brand marketers might use Second Life.

1. PR – seems like all you have to do is open for business and the PR valve opens up.
2. Sell -- or give away virtual goods.
3. Sell – or give away real “first life” goods.
4. Corporate Communications – have PR announcements in virtual world, etc.
5. Product Development
6. Research
7. Marketing Communications – show the product or service and features/benefits to the consumer, etc.

This all sounds like a perfect “virtual” heaven… but let’s take a deeper look.

1. Second Life has about 2.5 million subscribers, however, when I’m online I see only around 18,000 – 20,000 online at any given time
2. It’s 96 square miles or so of “virtual” real estate
3. Giving it about 23,000 “virtual” people per square mile – compare that to Manhattan that has 143,000 “real” people per square mile in the daytime.

So why would people go to Second Life?

1. Boredom with First Life – you can become someone different for a while. You can create any person your heart desires, allowing you to escape real life boredom. Also, have you noticed that everyone looks thin, and dresses like a runway model. That is virtual!
2. Escape Reality (see above)
3. Start a Small Business – trying to sell product virtually or to a person’s first life. And there are cases where individuals and small businesses are making money.
4. Interaction with People – meet people from around the world who are pretending to be someone else as well.

My experience with Second Life… yes, I do have a Second Life “Persona” has been walking around Second Life for a few months now. I’ve gone to a number of major brand named company stores and this is what I have generally found

1. Help Yourself – like a self serve gas station I didn’t find a single person to assist me with my virtual product or answer any questions. Now if you’re going to open up a storefront representing your brand, spend time and financial resources building the thing, don’t you think you should have someone in it??
2. Nobody home – in a number of large brand storefronts I found (if I was lucky) a handful of people. Many times I didn’t find a single virtual person… which now that I think about it, might explain why they don’t have any sales staff.
3. Content – lots of questionable islands with content that is definitely for the adult crowd. But what is more telling, the Top sites on Second Life are these sites. I’ve yet to see a major brand show up in the listings… compare that with the major internet destinations where major brands do show up.
4. Sales – what kind of revenue are these sites pulling for major brands? It would seem that you have to sell a great deal of product to justify the expense of entry in the world.

I believe that Second Life and other multi-player gaming platforms in the virtual world deserve keeping a strong eye on. As the technology matures, etc. major brand prescreens might make sense. But for now, I’m content to stay on the sidelines a bit longer and wait to see how this new media technology develops.

As always, I appreciate your thoughts…

Scott