Edelman’s Second Life Presence is Missing Edelman

During a week in which there have been some truly interesting Second Life business happenings, I’ve been holed up finishing an article for an industry publication about business happenings in Second Life.  It’s really difficult to write for a long-lead print pub when things are happening in the hyper-lifetime of SLT (Second Life Time).  I’ve therefore been a bit delayed in my typically more timely commentary.  There are many good sources for the breaking SL news so I’m sure you have missed nothing.  I prefer to spend time looking beyond the headline, anyway.

Which brings me to the announcement this past Monday that independent uber-PR firm, Edelman has officially entered Second Life.  In case you are not in the PR industry know, Edelman Public Relations’ Me2Revolution division and their partner in this venture, The Electric Sheep Company, announced the opening of Edelman Island around a business plan competition for Second Life entrepreneurs.  The grand prize is $350,000 in Linden dollars, 6 months' use of an SL island and both PR and technical assistance from the partners Edelman and Electric Sheep Company – totaling about $3500 in U.S. dollar value.  They will also be debuting a machinima news blog sometime soon called The Grid Review to promote resident journalism.  Mark Wallace over at 3pointD is acting as a key advisor on the projects.

I attended yesterday's in-world event at Edelman Island to hear the panel of venture capitalists, who were there to discuss business plan best practices and designing business models for those interested in joining in on the competition. Susan Wu and Jon Goldstein of Charles River Ventures and Catamount Ventures respectively, were the VC panelists.  Rick Murray, President of Edelman’s Me2Revolution, and Sibley Verbeck CEO and founder of The Electric Sheep were also on the panel.  I’ve been since searching for the promised podcast of the audio conference call that was piped into the virtual event, and as soon as I find it I’ll link to it here.

Sibley of ESC added the few real insights about Second Life or SL business to yesterday’s panel discussion, either through the audio conference call or through the always more-interesting in-world chat back channel.  The VCs on the panel were seemingly talking more among themselves  than engaging the real audience represented by all those attentive avatars.

The business plan competition is an experiment according to The Electric Sheep Company.  And although there are some potential logistical issues surrounding intellectual property protection for the entrepreneurs who enter, I think the idea has merit and I applaud Electric Sheep for bringing it to the table behind Edelman.  It did strike me during the panel discussions, however, that the VC judges don’t really understand the social network and virtual world “environment” except on the "analyst level" (to be expected), but if this project can help an entrepreneur get his or her idea into the virtual or real marketplace, there is value in it and to the VC attention.

But most surprisingly, even during this live event, Me2Revolution's Rick Murray offered almost nothing about Edelman’s Second Life presence or the project.  And its absence - from a communications company/new media division that is supposedly doing this to connect with the SL residents, explore SL as a medium, and add value to the community - was deafening.

It is obvious that the virtual world developers, The Electric Sheep Company, is the true investor in this venture, even if it is funded by Edelman.  The ESC stamp is all over it – and I don’t mean just the inviting virtual space of Edelman Island.  Other than a blog post by Edelman’s Steve Rubel,  I’ve been hard-pressed to find any official statement or press release by Edelman PR (please point me to it if you know of it).   

The Electric Sheep appears to be doing all the PR heavy lifting and communicating about the venture via their blogs, including joining in on the conversation and commentary in the rest of blogosphere.  And, ESC is doing an admirable job in spite of the absence of PR support from their partner.

For Edelman, they would have better served themselves as communicators by framing their involvement as “sponsors”  because right now from them this just feels a lot more like “Me2” than “Revolution.”

See Edelman Island at: secondlife/Edelman/198/114/26/.

Get more information on the business plan competition here.

November 18, 2006

Comments

[Giff Constable / Forseti Svarog]

Linda, it's a good post, and the zinger of a closing line must have been fun to write, but I am left with a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" feeling based on your post.

Companies get hit for coming into SL too "me me me me me" and Edelman did not want to do that. They wanted to create something that added value to residents. The business plan and the forthcoming Grid Review are attempts to do that, without being heavy handed with branding or spin or "message". Yes, on both of those projects The Electric Sheep is co-sponsor, not just "producer", but the Edelman team is very involved.

[Linda Zimmer]

Giff, I appreciate your "damned if you do, damned if you don't" feeling. I really do, because in writing this I can see both the sides of the coin that you brought up.

But in my mind, and I'm sorry if this didn't come through better, the two projects are good - both aimed at trying to provide value to the resident. My fault is with Edelman's communications strategies - not the projects. They are simply lacking.

Just because they engage in communications about their presence does not make it spin or "messaging." What is social media if it isn't sharing viewpoints?

For example, Sun Microsystems and IBM have been quite chatty about their initiatives and the result has been communicating a sincere interest in where SL or virtual worlds is taking business. I've seen no "me me me" attitude in their communications.

Edelman isn't even a part of the conversation. They aren't sharing their views of SL or their reasons for pursuing this. They are leaving the impression they are exchanging money (sponsorsip) for engagement - which is a much bigger resource investment, IMO.

I have nothing but enormous respect for ESC and a team like Edelman and ESC should be killer. Great development integrated with social media/communications strategy. I just happen to think Edelman hasn't held up their end of the partnership in the case.

[Taran Rampersad (aka Nobody Fugazi)]

link 'potential logistical issues' seems hosed - I get a 403. I'd really love to read that aspect.

I am intending to submit a business plan on this because if even I don't do what I'm submitting, it would be nice to see it evaluated by VC.

I've heard some negative things about Edelman - and not from the usual suspects, but from the greater blogosphere.

I don't see that dwelling on those things will help matters; it seems apparent that 3 people could benefit from this. I suppose time will tell. Edelman may take a PR bath, but do we want the winners of the competition to do so as well? Separating Edelman from the contestants is something not being done.

Good article. Would that everyone wrote with a rapier instead of a shotgun... :-)

[Linda Zimmer]

Taran, I updated/corrected the link. Just in case it is:
http://blog.rebang.com/?p=1089

Good luck in the competition - knowing you, you have a winning idea!

I think the winners stand to gain a lot more than the $3500 U.S. in prizes - and that includes the expertise from two good companies. And the process alone is valuable.

I wish everyone the best in this competition - including Edelman.

[Giff Constable / Forseti Svarog]

Thank you Taran -- it's funny how few people have picked up on that! You can actually have your business model reviewed not just by SL-knowledgeable people, but by a Charles River and Catamount Venture Capitalist. There are plenty of entrepreneurs out there in the real world who would *love* such an opportunity.

I really would like to convert this concept into an ongoing venture fund, rather than a small-scale business plan contest, but one step at a time. There are even more significant risks for investors in SL than there are in the real world.

As for csven's comments about IP, I just posted a comment to his blog which has to go through his moderation process, but I don't think entrepreneurs have too much to worry about.

Don't get me wrong -- I certainly understand the dilemma -- in the real world more than once I have had venture capitalists take my business ideas and gossip them to a competitor. But you know what -- you do it anyway, because building a business in a closet gets you nowhere, and seed capital can be incredibly useful to getting a business off the ground. Ideas are important but execution wins the prize.

However, unless you are talking about a web service like SL Boutique (owned by ESC) and that ilk, none of the judges involved here have any financial vested interest in any existing SL businesses. And if someone does submit a web service-type plan, I promise here and now that ESC will recuse itself from reviewing and judging the plan, and leave it to the other SL and non-SL judges.

[mmorts]

Great post