In September '06, I defended a whole thesis on in-game advertising with half a chapter devoted to ads in Second Life and similar worlds. I've also been following the subject fairly closely and here's a collection of the more interesting posts:
- Wells Fargo Opens Advertising Floodgates Into Virtual Life
- Google Earth Becoming Virtual World
- Second Life Panel on Virtual World Marketing
- Brands March On Into Second Life
- Two Ad Agencies Announce Second Life Branches
- How to Advertise in Second Life, Part 2
- How to Advertise in Second Life
**** the original post follows ****
The second biggest news of the week after Bill Gates's retirement was about American Apparel opening a store in Second Life. The store got ink in Forbes, and other mainstream media are sure to follow soon since in-game advertising is suddenly a hot topic.
So, the store is located on the Lerappa sim (that's "apparel" spelled backwards, see on map). Two floors, floodlights, a terrace. High ceilings to allow comfortable fly-ins.
Winning over the new consumer is what Aimee Weber, one of the store's creators, does best.
Blurred borders: the AA's Fine Jersey T dress on the web, pictured on the display (modelled both in real life and in SL), on the racks and on customer. When you touch the display, a dialog pops up inviting you to check the corresponding webpage. The real life dress costs US $26, the Second Life version costs 350 in Linden playmoney, or about $1.
Changing rooms. I think the images on the walls are rotating, but am not sure. Otherwise, this area seems to be more for decoration, that is, you can't touch anything here and buy it.
The first floor of the store. Aimee said the Second Life outlet is not an exact replica of any particular store because the real-life layout is not very suitable for the virtual world. Makes sense.
The second floor of the store. You can't click on the actual outfit you see on the racks; you need to click on the corresponding displays.
The screens in the left show a looping video of some dude playing an instrument. The credits say the video is AA's copyright.
More coverage and screens:
- 3pointD.com
- Clickable Culture
- SL Forums (and this post in particular)
- CNet
- Forbes
