Marketing in the 3 rd Dimension: A Bird’s eye view Cameron Loudon

Marketing in the 3 rd Dimension: A Bird’s eye view Cameron Loudon Manager Digital Marketing USQ Marketing and Public Relations

Overview Second Life – Massive Virtual World Questions at the end Live demonstration

A Bird’s eye view - I’m the bird

My Goal 15 Minutes

The Internet - A Very Brief History Static Interactive Immersive User generated

What is Second Life? Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) A massive perpetual 3-D virtual world Total Residents: 9,541,868 Core residents: US$ Spent Last 24h: $1,120,

Why is Second Life Interesting? Gartner.com predicts “80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A ‘Second Life’ in the Virtual World by the End of 2011…” Economy Total Residents: 9,541,868 own economy including land sales, digital creations and services bought, sold and traded with other residents. own currency - Linden Dollars Linden dollars are bought and sold on LindeX currency exchange Linden dollars can be converted to real USD Intellectual Property Linden Lab's Terms of Service agreement recognizes Residents' right to retain full intellectual property protection for the digital content they create.

But is it Real?

Second Life is not a game. The environment is virtual But the people are REAL

From: It's life as we don't know it, chapter and metaverse. "It's better than teleconferences, and instant messaging. With a conference call there is no extra time for bonding. In Second Life you can arrive early for an event and mingle, and then chat again afterwards. You get a feeling people know each other." IBM Ian Hughes, IBM metaverse evangelist. Epredator potato The Australian p. 4 Special report: enterprise software May 29, 2007

Why is Second Life Interesting? Companies in Second Life IBM (committing USD10M to virtual worlds) Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Pontiac, Mazda, Renault, Ford ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Unitrin, Coldwell Banker, Saxo Bank, Visa, BCV, Wirecard Dell Computer, Sun, Microsoft, CNet, Intel, Cisco, AMD Reuters, BBC, Sky News, Channel 4, iVillage, AOL, Weather Channel, Wired Telstra, Telus, Vodafone, Sony Ericcson, Telecom Italia, Comcast Full list

Why is Second Life Interesting? 300+ Educational institutions University of Southern Queensland Australian Film TV and Radio School University of Sydney California State University Duke University Harvard University The Open University UK Full list

What is USQ doing? Terra Incognita Island owned by Lindy McKeown, MPR’s Second Life advisor and USQ PhD candidate. Attracts about 100 unique visitors per week mainly educators (university and private sector) from around the globe and Action Learning research participants. USQ Shop operated by CRMC mainly promoting Post Graduate Educational offerings although all program information available. Second Life Best Practices in Education Conference attracted 1300 unique visitors.

Terra Incognita

Second Life Marketing Male 57% : Female 43% Key metrics -

Second Life Marketing Second Life is: Social Community Interactive About experiences Not constrained by the real world

Second Life Marketing Summarised from Practical Marketing - physical business in nonphysical worlds Difficult to market physical world product or physical world service in Second Life in traditional sense – be careful - think laterally and adapt Provide enjoyable, enhancing and educational experiences or facilities for your target market associated with your product. It’s about delivering value to your customer – some things never change Start with your own community – experiment with a research and productivity approach Your target market may have already organised into their own network - New customers, your customer, competitors customers Integrity is important – don’t succumb to deception or misrepresentation Having a presence means “being present”

K Zero Seven Point Plan for marketing in Second Life 1.This is marketing, so have a plan 2.Keep the builders at bay 3.Integrate 4.Giving is better than receiving 5.Keep the seats warm 6.Stoke the fire 7.Promote and cross-promote About K Zero Founded in Dec 2006 by Nic Mitham, K Zero is a leading metaverse consulting and implementation company.

What will it cost? Basic user accounts are free Extremely low comparative cost USQ Shop building, brochure content, SL note cards, billboards and custom Avatar creation approx $500 Islands are (retail) priced at US$1,675 for 65,536 square meters Monthly land fees for maintenance are US$295

Second Life Questions For a demonstration Cameron Loudon Manager Digital Marketing Phone: Mobile: