Wired, Too, Bearish on Second Life

Last fall, Wired published a huge "travel guide" on Second Life. "[...] This exotic realm can seem bewildering and strange to first-time visitors," the magazine wrote then

The August 2007 issue adds its voice to the growing murmur of disenchantment. Its story "How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life" has a great quote about the preceding SLandrush: "It's as if the moon suddenly had oxygen." Then it goes on about how there's nobody around and there's nothing to do and how advertisers now feel stupid for choking on Wired's own hype.

The article quotes Rishad Tobaccowala, Denuo's chief famous as the ad industry's media futurist.

"Companies say, 'It's an experiment' — but what are they learning?" Tobaccowala asks. "Basically, they're learning how to create an avatar and walk around in Second Life."

Tobaccowala quoted by a blogger last year: "Do not, under any circumstances, cut the 5% of the budget assigned to the experimenters, and do not require them to move a single case of product."

Isn't there a single successful case of bringing a brand into SL? Aloft wasn't bad at all, I think.

Anyway, I've been planning a post with some ideas about how to get your own SL initiative working and now is probably a good time so just give me a couple of days, but here's an advice from the veteran SL resident and land baron Prokofy Neva quoted on AdLab last November (there are many more):

"Don't build a big-ass pretentious build and have a hugely hyped media event with a one-hit-wonder in the RL media and then leave the build out to moulder on an empty sim for weeks later -- it's totally lame. At least throw up some sex pose balls and some freebie boxes."

Joel Greenberg, formerly of GSD&M and now at Electric Sheep, runs an excellent interview with a fellow planner who says:

“You need imagination to understand what a brand experience should be in SL. It shouldn’t be like it is in the real world. Until you get the inventive people working on this, you’re going to see a series of failures.”

I've been plugging my presentation on Second Life ROI before, but here it is again. Another plug: if you are a real-life brand interested in Second Life but want to create something that works, let's get in touch.