Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Automakers Join Second Life
It looks like more and more automobile companies are entering Second Life. As we discussed second life and were given a tour of it in class I fully understood why companies would want to have accounts with second life and even offer their products both in real life and second life, this is because it is a whole new medium for advertising and sales. I thought second life was pretty cool but I didn’t feel the need to try it because I wasn’t interested in buying jeans or sunglasses or anything like that. Then I read a blog from one of my favorite blogs sites, (www.autoblog.com) and I learned that even automobile companies are joining second life.
Most create their own island and offer virtual renderings of there current line up of cars and also concept cars. This interests me because I am a big car guy and like the thought of cursing around a virtual world full of the latest automobiles and getting my information about them like that rather then reading about them.
I don’t think advertising in second life will put some car companies over the top, simply because they already advertise everywhere but I think this is a cool idea for them. It’s something new and seems like it costs them nothing and if they get a few more sales out of it then it has paid off. Second life seems to be the future of advertising but its time is not now, considering only 2 million active users daily. It is interesting however that as the users increase in second life, so does the interest in these companies. Maybe it will catch on more, as more companies join up to offer cool things.
Here is a link to a graph showing the current automakers involved in second life and also the cars they offer in second life.
Labels: auto, autoblog, Second life
Second Life is just a tiny place in the grand world of the mass media. But it seems to be growing and their is a lot of hype.
Is it a vision of the future? Will millions join it and other virtual realities.
Certainly marketers are getting in on the ground floor, but they are just experimenting, exploring the possiblities.
It remains to be seen if avatars and virtual reality are going to be as popular as the traditional mass media. Online gaming has a young demographic hooked, but will they mature into a generation of second lifers? Car companies would like to know.
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