Making More than Pretend Money

I watched a new commercial from IBM last week, which made me chuckle and I have been trying to find it for a week now to show my colleagues. In the 30 second spot is shows a mid level employee explaining to his manager that he just created an avatar to interact with others inside a virtual world.

IBM and it’s employees have always been early adopter to many new technologies. They are (of course) submerged in the technology of computers and the Internet. They were one of the first companies to actually hold virtual meetings inside simulated worlds like Second Life. They also have invested around $10 million this past year fueling an expanded presence within Second Life and the development of its own 3D intranet. Oddly enough though this commercial poked fun at the world of 3D avatars pointing out “the benefit of business is to make real money, not pretend money.”

So why would IBM make fun of a Internet strategy is has been closely engaged with? I think the commercial is pointing out two very important topics we marketers see today:

1. Are virtual worlds good for my business?

Probably not for many people. I have blogged about Second Life in the past and companies inability to use the virtual worlds to enhance the brand instead of just copying it in pixelated form. If you are considering setting up shop inside Second Life or one of the other virtual worlds ask yourself what is my objective? What are the goals I am trying to achieve? IBM does in fact used Second Life for employee interactions and meetings, but they are not trying to sell virtual computers : )

2. Web 2.0 technologies - what will make money and what is just a trick or treat?

There are new technologies popping up all the time, from virtual world avatars, niche social networks and microblogging twitter feeds. The important question is how are you going to leverage these new technologies? Can you invest the time (and money) to be authentic with them or are you using and abusing - like a digg account where you only digg your own stories? Not every new tool is right and some will not work for certain situations. Many of the new tools were born out of the desire to to use the Internet to connect and be more social. These channels that connect and communicate have marketers salivating over new opportunities to put product messaging in front of potential customers. I’d advise you to evaluate your marketing plan and see if these new communication channels will give you the kind of return to deem successful.