It is becoming increasingly common for "real" brands to do marketing experiments in virtual worlds (more on the reasoning behind this strategy in an upcoming post). One catch phrase for it - which doesn't really catch it all - is the term "advergaming". One of the latest examples is by the casual clothing brand American Apparel, whose style can be characterized as a kind of "the cooler Gap" maybe. American Apparel will open a retail store in the virtual World Second Life next week.
Some Details here at Mark Wallace's weblog 3pointD. Additional comments can already be found on some blogs on virtual fashion (yes, there are already quite a few of them). The best might be the Second Style Fashionista blog.
American Apparel will sell virtual clothing, which is modeled after their offerings in the "real world" for Second Life Avatars in its new shop. This is hardly a profitable business for such a brand. It is a nice marketing/PR stunt, though, that will probably will make a few waves in the fashion industry. It is not hard to predict that a few more brands - especially "hip" brands - will do similar moves in the very near future.
This is especially interesting in so far, as fashion is maybe the biggest industry in Second Life currently. Having professionals coming from the outside into this segment of the virtual business is welcomed by some, heavily advocated against by others.
Technorati Tags: net business, net life, second life, web 3.d
Fashion is clearly the #2 industry behind land development. They challenge is that individuals want fashion customized to the individual. No one company will be able to satiate, since each individual will seek a one-off dsign. The next trend is the resurgence of making your own clothes. Watch for it - give it 5 years!
Posted by: Randy | Friday, 23 June 2006 at 15:59
Hi Randy, while the land industry gets the most PR (especially one certain avatar), it "only" accounted for some 12% of inworld transactions, the last time the Lindens published such data. It is hard to prove because there is no hard data available but from personal experience I would estimate the fashion industry to be #1 industry; or maybe a very close second place - the (second) life is a vanity fair. ;)
The mass customisation you mentioned is certainly a possibility. I would not overestimate the trend to actually "making" your own clothes. Producing quality fashion (quality in design and workmanship is *not* a simple task, neither in First nor in Second Life). Many people - myself included - are just not talented enough for that; and frankly: I just don't care enough to sacrifice the time.
Posted by: Markus Breuer | Friday, 23 June 2006 at 16:22