Fleishman-Hillard’s Next Great Thing Initiative Looking for Avatar Manager

YPulse , a GenY trend and news publication, posted a call the other day on behalf of Fleishman Hillard’s NGT initiative for a “manager of virtual world avatar.”  The job description includes managing the avatar, interacting with players, sending blast emails to members, and being able to “handle in-game requests with the interest of the client in mind.”

Tony Walsh over at Clickable Culture has an amusing response to this career call for an “advertar-puppeteer.”   

On a more serious note, if companies are going to explore virtual spaces, they need to “staff” them.  It is a criticism I’ve made of the W’s Aloft hotel property – there is no one there to interact with.

In fairness to FH, the tasks listed are exactly what educational institutions are doing in “staffing” their virtual spaces…someone to meet and greet, ask questions of, and provide information both in-world and out (via  in-world IM, or via SLMail).

Now, execution on FH's part is everything - and training their avatar managers is key. But if creating community is the new marketing/communications paradigm, then we are going to see more calls for avatar managers.  And we communicators are going to have to learn some new skills ourselves.

Photo Credit: © Roland Csuhaj