Marketing conference tonight in and about Second Life
* * Updated with antidote to mind-twistedness... * *
Walking people through the trends and significance of social media for the first time can be mind twisting enough at times for involved.
Try introducing Second Life into the conversation and you literally see draws begin to drop and
(not literally) steam come out of people's ears.
It's one thing to tell people that a virtual currency in an online game world has a currency. It's another to say that brands like American Apparel and Radio 1 are opening outposts there.
When
you tell them that there's a marketing conference being run featuring the
author of Harvard Business Review article on marketing in this virtual world
(Avatar Based Marketing which is, bless you Harvard, free to view) as a
speaker, it just blows people's minds.
Frankly, it blows mine too.
An online marketing conference at what will be 8 p.m. (UK time) on a sunny evening in Brighton & Hove may not work that well for me. I wonder if there will be a virual camera crew there to film it so my avatar can go back and watch it later?
: : Via: Micropersuasion and thanks to Heather Hopkins who told me about the HBR piece the other day at the top-notch Engagement Alliance event on Wednesday.
: : Suw Charman said in the comments to this post that a video of cute kittens really helps calm PR people down after exposure to Second Life - so I I thought I should put one here in case anyone felt a little anxious:
Glad you found the article. It is a fantastic intro to Second Life. If you see Yasai Lewellyn wandering around, say "hi" to my avatar.
Wish I could make the event - will you blog on it?
Posted by: Heather Hopkins | 23/06/2006 at 10:39
Somehow, I knew you'd be in Second Life somewhere, Heather. I'll not be blogging it - due to the aforementioned anticipated beautiful summer's evening - but I'll keep an eye out for others who do.
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 23/06/2006 at 11:14
Well, of course, you can already make movies with characters out of Second Life and then post them up to YouTube and Flickr apparently so it shouldn't be that hard to record them for posterity surely? Makes sense - I wonder how long it will be before Big Brother sets up a house there and people can watch and vote out avatars in the virtual environment...uh-oh...what have I done just there?
Posted by: Justin Hayward | 23/06/2006 at 11:17
Meanwhile, Justin is on the diary island...
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 23/06/2006 at 11:18
A few weeks ago, I did a presentation to some marketing folks about social software and social networking. I introduced them to Second Life, told them about the Radio 1 gig, and the Harvard lecture... and then had to bring them back from the precipice with some comforting pictures of cute kittens.
It's amazing how effectively videos of kittens playing can restore life to PR folk who've been scared half to death. ;-)
Posted by: Suw | 23/06/2006 at 12:12
Genius - downloading one to my phone for emergencies now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmSIsKckAzE
Posted by: Antony Mayfield | 23/06/2006 at 12:25
Awwwww! So cute!
See, how could anyone remain alarmed in the face of such adorable kitties?
Posted by: Suw | 26/06/2006 at 17:57