Agencies Centric and AKQA Begin Unique Second Life Initiatives
In October Centric, an integrated marketing company based in Los Angeles, quietly announced its Second Life presence. In a departure from its predecessors Centric is located on the Second Life southern continent rather than on a private island. According to Jason Stoddard, Centric’s Managing Partner, Interactive, "We want to be part of the world, not apart from the world. Our location is naturally beautiful, and we want to integrate seamlessly and non-invasively into the world."
To support their strategy, which may seem counter-intuitive for a marketing agency, Centric is removing display advertising from the in-world environment by actively seeking and purchasing small parcels of land that are used for display advertising and then turning them into public parks. If you visit their offices, Centric has a convenient display for easy two-click teleporting to each of their three existing parks. According to Centric they have at least six more in development.
On a visit to their offices I ran into Jason in the form of his avatar, Fallon Winnefield. He cited three things they are currently doing in Second Life: learning from the mainland and preserving it, developing business collaboration tools, and working with a number of companies to develop Second Life presences. Centric is working with entertainment companies to bring experiences to the Second Life mainland and with tech companies who are using SL for collaboration.
Fallon said he is surprised by the capability of Second Life "by at least an order of magnitude of what he expected." And to support their clients, their initiatives and what he sees as the future of interactivity, Centric currently has 4 people in the agency dedicated to Second Life.
On another agency note, AKQA, San Francisco based digital marketing agency, will open its Second Life offices/clubhouse this month with a very different goal in mind. They see Second Life as a way to collaborate with Second Life residents on AKQA's digital projects and they plan to include clients in the creative brainstorming with residents.
Going a step further, AKQA also plans to use the environment to recruit talent - given that Second Life (and other virtual worlds) tend to attract early adopters and trendsetters – apparently the very type of talent AKQA wants to hire.
This is fairly brilliant on AKQA’s part. Those of us that spend time in-world and engage in even casual conversation with its active residents can attest to the stunning creativity and thoughtful insights found there on everything from interacting with information to the future of society. In my own experience I have yet to engage in a first world discussion that can rival the depth of understanding I’ve found in Second Life as to the nature of information in the 21st century. To foster the discussion, AKQA plans to hold their “AKQA Insight” seminars in-world as forums to “share thoughts on brand building in our second lives.”
Read Centric’s press release here and visit their offices on Maui/208/36//.
AKQA’s press release about their upcoming presence can be found here.
November 24, 2006
Linda, thanks again for the coverage and thanks even more for the conversation yesterday. One of your comments led to a realization that's the subject of Centric's latest blogpost--that the level of native intelligence in SL is very, very high. You've given me a lot to think about, explore, and join.
Posted by: Jason Stoddard | Nov 25, 2006 at 01:58 PM
Jason, your blog post, "Finding New Brilliance" is so true - and like you I think this is as exciting as being involved in the evolution of the web.
Most people/clients aren't even thinking of virtual worlds in their communications, but those that are here, blazing the trail in everything from law to education to marketing, are just so darn fun to be around!
Jason's blog post is here:
http://www.centric.com/blog/2006/11/25/finding-new-brilliance/
Posted by: Linda Zimmer | Nov 25, 2006 at 02:45 PM