Not these shorts, though. Here's what we have to report.
-- Second Life apparently preps a roll-out into Asia and hires a PR agency Lewis, writes Brand Republic.
-- It also writes that Bartle Bogle Hegarty's offices "became the victim of a Second Life flash mob, who turned up sporting strap-on dildos and simulating various sex acts."
-- Second Life Herald fumes (not safely for work) over advertisers claiming in-world firsts: "It is a case of a bunch of desperate clueless fucktards trying to show how bleeding-edgy they are, and, given that SL is the bleeding-edgy flavor of the month, they are wraping themselves in the Linden cape of bleeding-edginess."
-- Crackunit.com suggests, "Why aren't advertisers, or people who are trying to 'import' brands from their First Life forced to wear some kind of huge advertising helmet? It'd protect them from rocks thrown by irate Second Lifers as well as marking them out as advertisers."
-- Catherine Smith, marketing director at Linden Lab, offers a piece of advice: "Keep it fresh, build the foundation and let your customers join in creating the experience, keep them involved, offer social context (discussions, parties, games, etc.), create connections to the real world - website, content uploads, social tools for connecting and sharing successes."
-- Here's a June paper from Universal McCann "Parallel Worlds" (list; direct link to pdf). A very interesting tidbit: "Second Life and World of Warcraft are currently working together to form a cross-genre community MMOG, SLoW. It's certainly a risk and is expected to take close to two years to build; the combination will allow hybrid interaction in a world of blended niches. This will be an exciting opportunity for marketers to test out new marketing techniques in an "otherworld" while breaking down the barrier of the fantasy genre." Never heard of this; will be interesting to confirm.
Update (Nov 10, 06): Tony Walsh points out that SLoW is not an official project.
-- Information Week: "Residents are looking for real-world money by setting up stores powered by Amazon.com. Since July, at least three retail projects have been launched in Second Life to sell books, music, kitchenware, electronics, and other items in the online retailer's catalog."
-- New brands in SL: Scion that can be modded by residents, a tabloid (coming soon, claims it's first), a British radio (it, too, says it's first).
