Is Second Life Really Worth It?

Second Life (SL) has been the topic of a number of discussions that I’ve had with marketing/branding pros over the past few years. At first, it seemed like it was the next hot place to advertise and develop a brand. I remember the proclamations that SL would change the way conventions, corporate meetings, concerts and classes were held. I never bought into that, but at one time did want to examine our marketing options in the virtual world. The promise of reaching up to eight million people in a hot demographic sounded great to me.

And I wasn’t alone. A lot of companies (both big and small) have spent a tremendous amount of money trying to extend their brand into SL. Virtual stores, hotels and islands promoting brands seemed so promising.Then reality set it.

A recent Chicago Tribune article sheds some light on what’s really happening in SL.

• First of all, there aren’t really eight million people milling around the SL world. In fact, it’s estimated that there are probably 100,000 hardcore players and 30-40,000 on at peak times according to a researcher at Forrester. That’s a pretty small audience for the investment required to establish your company in SL.

• Second, SL users don’t really want to be marketed to – they are logging on SL to live another life, away from the realities of their “first” life and according to a another article, 70% of users are disappointed with their experiences with companies in SL. That’s apparent when you see that many branded areas are ghost towns and some companies are cutting their losses and closing their virtual shops.

• Third, the Tribune article points out that users are quite interested in the risqué elements of SL – night clubs, strip clubs and even brothels. Those are the places that are crowded. Apparently you can even purchase genitalia. Interesting…

Does this sound the like branding panacea that many had thought and hoped for? Clearly not. While SL doesn’t look like a great branding opportunity now, I can see why many companies rushed to jump on the bandwagon. SL was hot and was gaining thousands of new users each day. Sadly it was just a fad that had a relatively short “life.” I think the smartest companies are those that realize this and are scaling back or cutting off their SL campaigns.

What really confuses me is that there are still large companies opening up shop in SL, even after the realities of SL were quite apparent. Are they just slow to react? Or did it take this long to get corporate approval? Whatever it is, it seems like a huge waste of money, time and effort.
Labels: branding, internet, internet marketing, second life