The land grab for agencies moving into Second Life is officially on. Leo Burnett London announced today that they are opening The Idea Hub for its 1,600 global creative personnel to collaborate in Second Life. This follows the announcement earlier this week that advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty is setting up shop.
While the two are using their virtual spaces for very different things, the one thing they have in common is both have the attitude of "we don't quite know what we're doing, but let's see what happens." IMHO I think this is a splendid attitude and exactly what is needed! I'm especially pleased to see Burnett using the space for creative endeavors.
Quoting from Brand Republic:
"The hub is then free to grow and develop into whatever. I don't know what it's going to become. We will judge commercial opportunities on their merit when they appear." --Jim Thornton, the executive creative director at Burnett
Apparently Burnett's "Music Artists in Residence" program will also be brought into the in-world space where staffers who are members of bands will have a virtual audience, as well.
Ad agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty's early plans are to open virtual agency offices for client meetings and seminars. Read more about BBH at 3pointD.
Photo Credit: kylerroth
I like the idea of client collabaration, especially now with reduced travel budgets at many agencies. I'll be curious to see what the results are of this ad agency 'experiment'
Posted by: Jim Belosic | Jan 27, 2009 at 10:12 PM