Financial Companies Urged to Reallocate Marketing Funds to Virtual Worlds

A report released in July by the global consulting and research firm, TowerGroup urges financial institutions to consider reallocating funds from existing marketing, advertising and R&D budgets to  put themselves on the forefront of the “emerging MMORPH/VSW market.” MMORPG (pronounced More Pig) stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games; VSW is the acronym for “Virtual Social Worlds.”  Second Life falls into the VSW category, but many also consider it a MMORPG.  But I split hairs.

The point is TowerGroup analyst Rodney Nelsestuen reports there is opportunity – to the tune of $2.5 billion in 2006 in this arena.  He predicts that by 2010 the market will grow to 40 million people spending $9 billion annually.   

In examining the opportunities for financial institutions, TowerGroup notes these environments have “characteristics of complete economic and social systems, replete with virtual currencies.”

Nelsestuen admonishes the industry saying that most financial services institutions “have either ignored these thriving marketplaces, or have relegated marketing efforts to banner advertising or online links."

The full report is available to TowerGroup clients only, but Insurance Networking News has a short article about the report here.