Corporate tip-toeing inside Virtual Worlds

There is growing evidence of corporate tip-toeing inside and around virtual worlds. Corporate brands are testing the waters of YouTube, Blogs, Mataverses, Online Games, and such. The new virtual spaces are growing, in population and popularity. If left untouched, the savvy competitors may steal a march on you -- in the virtual world. In political marketing, the risk tolerance of some players is high. The outlier political candidate can hope to create a stir not just in the new but perhaps in the mainstream media by opening up a front on Second Life (SL) or similar space.

For major corporate brands, the risks of being in the virtual spaces are as high, if not higher, than the risk of avoiding such spaces. After all, a common denominator of the new virtual spaces is user-generated content. In virtual spaces, corporations run the risks of their brands being smeared, attacked, parodied or worse. But not playing is risky too, especially for the Merchants of Cool. In SL, BMW and Pontiac have experimented with virtual billboards or kiosks, sometimes as a way of giving the e-cognoscenti a peek into new models or future technologies.

Maverick creators of virtual objects, of course, enjoy a great latitude in their marketing strategies on SL. They do not have to worry about their SL objects being unfaithful to, or less capable than, the real life brands they represent.

For example, the virtual morphing vehicle Elemental received a far more spirited coverage and discussion in Second Life Herald than the review of BMW site on SL (and the interview with the BMW corporate executive screen-named Munich Express, virtual champion of the brand in SL). In fact, the discussion of Elemental turned virulent at times, with gamers and creators and sideline watchers pitching in with their animated views of that particular object and other similar virtual vehicle-like objects. By contrast, the comments about the BMW presence on SL were tame and unexciting, a bit like BMW's virtual SL representations.