Virtual World 2007 Conference: Learnings

The theme of the recent Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference in NYC was “The Future of Media and Marketing.” 

I’ve been musing and then musing some more about the conference, wondering what jaw-dropping insights I could share.  I see that others did the same.

I purposely did not blog the conference, hoping to absorb it all and then distill it into some kind of virtual world Wisdom Soup.  Well, that and the fact the wireless connection there couldn’t sustain all the connected people a conference like this tends to draw.  I resorted to Twittering instead which proved to be a fun, humorous and an often more insightful back channel to the conference.

What became apparent though, ten minutes into the affair, was that there were two quite distinct groups there – 1) the virtual world platform owners / developers;  and 2) the content owners (marketers / educators).

Urizenus Sklar at the Second Life Herald calls them 1) "the philosophers;” and 2) "the marketing guys wringing their hands about ROI and looking for quick answers.”   Unfortunately in his estimation one group “gets it” and the other doesn’t. 

Actually, VW2007 was a classic paring of two populations who simply do not speak the same language.  At times, the frustration was quite palatable – and even visuals and sign language didn’t help any. 

That said, here are my personal take-aways and commentary about VW 2007:

VW developers and owners currently dominate the public conversation surrounding virtual worlds. 
I have huge respect and liking for these talented and visionary people.  However, more voices need to be brought into the conversation to broaden the perspective for every stakeholder, current and future.   Translators will emerge and both groups will learn what is needed from the other. VW developers have a vital view, but it isn’t the only vantage point on the landscape.   Audience members, in fact, provided some of the most insightful questions and challenging perspectives.

Marketers are hungry for metrics and demo/psychographics.
A concrete manifestation of that was the nearly 150 requests I received for a copy of the Real Life Brands in Second Life research study and the First Opinions Panel demographic survey I presented in my five-minute (well, maybe 8 minute) panel talk.  Contrary to popular wisdom, it is possible to apply success measurements to a vw initiative.  It doesn’t have to be just about “marketing R&D.”  While it is true that we do not yet have sophisticated metric tools specific to virtual worlds, we do have very sophisticated metrics for our other marketing initiatives.  By integrating VW initiatives with some more mature metric systems marketers can at least partially satisfy this real business need until vw metrics mature.

There is some real marketing, sociological and psychographic research being done in virtual worlds – and it is not well known or publicized.  Market Truths and Reperes are just two companies that can provide marketers with the intelligence and credible research marketers need pre- or post-vw initiative. 

Marketers expectations of their VW developers are too high.
Marketers expect their VW developers to have all the marketing answers.  They don’t.  They can’t.  Marketers need a team approach and a real commitment (not necessarily monetary) for a truly successful vw initiative.  Integration is key. Social media marketing concepts are key.  My suggestion for a success team:

• Marketing and PR staff / agency
• Social Media specialist / consultant
• Virtual World Developer
• Virtual World and Real World market researchers (maybe)
• Platform Owner (perhaps)
• IT Group (if appropriate)
• RW & VW Customer

Intellectual Property Rights Conflict Lost in Translation
This was an area in which the two populations at VW 2007 were particularly linguistically mismatched. I’m the first one to agree that marketers have spent millions and millions so that consumers will make a brand part of their identity, and therefore it is not surprising that when avatars are re-creating themselves in virtual spaces they naturally want to integrate the brands they identify with.  It is an absolute fantasy for any marketer.

The prevailing advice from several panel members was to allow or even encourage customers to “play with” the brand, be the brand, mashup the brand or take some kind of personal virtual ownership of the brand. 

The problem for the marketer is current trademark and copyright laws aren’t in line with this.  If a brand allows unlicensed, unstructured and free use, it will in practice be putting the brand/marks into the public domain and the brand owner may lose its right to claim it as a valuable IP.  A real big, real world issue for business.  Not a simple conundrum.

Trademark and copyright laws will need to be revised to address the collaborative digital mind.  In the meantime, marketers need to employ smart strategies that protect both the identity with the brand - and the brand identity.

Virtual worlds have a future.
Even as they are evolving, the enthusiasm for and potential of virtual worlds are driving factors.  A path has been set for their growth and eventual entry into mainstream use. Some panelists predicted five years; some said ten. How far that is away and how we define “mainstream” is to be seen.  We still have millions unconnected to The Network, much less the Metaverse.

But if they follow the evolution of everything else - and there is no indication they are any different - virtual worlds will not progress linearly.  The momentum behind them is undeniable, however, for the Future of Media and Marketing - and a whole lot of other things.

April 8, 2007

Photo credit:  Dedric Mauriac, Snapzilla

Comments

[Tom Hood]

Linda,

Love your blog and your group on SL - thanks for organizing it.

It was great to meet you in person at the conference and thanks for the marketing research you shared with everyone. I have been "experiementing" with SL as a way to connect with the "new generation" of CPAs. We are moving forward with CPA Island which is now under construction.

I think virtual worlds offer tremendouse potential for small businesses and even non-profits like us to use SL to build ommunity and connect with customers and members in new ways and with a really cool experience. Keep up the great work!

Here is my post about the conference http://www.cpasuccess.com/2007/03/create_high_per.html