In Translation : This is your life 2.0

In late August, in Chicago, almost 1000 members gathered to attend, in the first person, the third Second Life Convention. It would have been quite an intriguing couple of days when virtual did meet reality, and avatars would have been measured and found willing or wanting.

The fundamental human

"Every human being is interested in the two kinds of worlds. The primary, everyday world which he knows through his senses and a secondary world or worlds which he not only can create in his imagination, but which he cannot stop himself creating."

Clustered around this virtual community are many other groups trying to make sense and/or money from what they think could happen. Academic and market researchers are having a field day: It is, as John Cooper Clark used to say, a sociologist's paradise. Naturally there is little certainty or consensus of opinion on the longer term possibilities of Second Life even from those closest to this social network.

As reported by Caroline McCarthy (News.com) from the Second Life Convention, its founder Philip Rosedale, observed that: "Second Life is still very early and very small," hinting at his disapproval of the media buzz that swarmed the virtual world several months ago. "Everyone in the media [jumps ahead] a lot more than the people here."

But in the same address he ambitiously declared, as he often does, that "this is something that everybody on Earth is going to use" and that the virtual world will be "bigger than the web".

As McCarthy notes, "It is that disconnect between enraptured mass-market idealism and a 'wait, don't over-hype us!' cautiousness that makes the current state of Second Life somewhat difficult to grasp."

Many global brands do, or at least feel the need to, advertise on Second Life, from Coca-Cola to adidas to IBM and Reuters. There is again much conjecture as to the real effectiveness of such investment in an environment where its participants are creating a world different from their current personal and commercial realities.

In the real world, where most people seem to be seeking real and authentic experiences with other places, people and brands, I am not sure how profitable it would be to build long-term brand equity with a community based on simulated fantasies.

Nor is the fact that 85% of the avatars created on Second Life have now been abandoned - not exactly an encouraging business model for advertisers.

Wired magazine's Frank Rose observes:"The internet will eventually be full of such 3D environments; Second Life might even be one of them. But in the meantime, it's just slurping up corporate dollars and delivering little in return."

The UK's Marketing Week makes a similar observation, that Second Life is just the first step for brands in virtual worlds.

Advertising creative and media placement in the online and video gaming market is probably the best example of how to connect brands with markets, but there is a backlash from gamers for brand and intermediaries such as Google to not to get too close to the world they wish to escape to.

Of course this highlights amazing new opportunities for media segmentation and planning, and perhaps one day soon it will be the media strategists and planners that are lauded more for their imagination than the creators of the ads themselves.

Murray Campbell (balmain@xtra.co.nz)