Archive for February, 2007

Virtual Terrorism - Second Life Virtual Community Suffers First Terrorist Attack

The popular Second Life virtual gaming environment has suffered its first terrorist action. Virtual terrorists bombed a virtual American Apparel outlet and Reebok store. The terrorist plot was carried out by a group of organized Second Lifers who believe, “The population of the world should have a say in the running of the world.” The [...]

The popular Second Life virtual gaming environment has suffered its first terrorist action. Virtual terrorists bombed a virtual American Apparel outlet and Reebok store. The terrorist plot was carried out by a group of organized Second Lifers who believe, “The population of the world should have a say in the running of the world.” The so-called ‘Second Life Liberation Army’, a home-grown terrorist cell of users, staged the online attack calling for democratic decision-making in the virtual community.

Scion Revels in Squareness, Launches Virtual Gaming World

Car maker Toyota quietly launched its own virtual gaming world last weekend where viewers can watch movies, play games, and even win points that can be traded in for prizes, all intended to bring a younger and savvier demographic to its latest Scion car design, the xB.
The brand’s creative agency, Attik, created the Want2bsquare.com Web [...]

Car maker Toyota quietly launched its own virtual gaming world last weekend where viewers can watch movies, play games, and even win points that can be traded in for prizes, all intended to bring a younger and savvier demographic to its latest Scion car design, the xB.

The brand’s creative agency, Attik, created the Want2bsquare.com Web site as a prelaunch for the new car expected later this year. Attik played off the car’s boxy shape and created a “square” universe. Each side of a cube represents a named virtual world with its own theme. Four of the areas are currently available, the other two are still to be developed.

Instead of branding the car throughout the site, the individual worlds have named such as “Wastelands” and “Urban Zoo.” They feature free video games, social networking features and original movies, most of which center around the box theme.

Read full article here

Viacom favors Joost over YouTube

You may not have even heard of it yet, but Joost (formerly the Venice Project . . .from the same people who brought you Kazaa and Skype) is trying to position itself to become a major IPTV provider. They’re taking their time building partnerships, not only with content distributors such as Viacom, but also [...]

You may not have even heard of it yet, but Joost (formerly the Venice Project . . .from the same people who brought you Kazaa and Skype) is trying to position itself to become a major IPTV provider. They’re taking their time building partnerships, not only with content distributors such as Viacom, but also with advertisers.

Viacom partners with Joost

And if anybody happens to have a Joost invite, PLEASE send me one.

Google News - #1 in buzz, in traffic . . . not so much

Good read on how just being associated with the Google brand has helped the perception of Google News far exceed its actual market share.
Is Google News the Tail Wagging the News Search Dog? (ClickZ)

Good read on how just being associated with the Google brand has helped the perception of Google News far exceed its actual market share.

Is Google News the Tail Wagging the News Search Dog? (ClickZ)

HGTV to Launch Social Network

It’ll be interesting to see if they can nurture this enough for it to take off. Vertical social networks have already existed on a more basic level in the forum of messageboards and user groups for awhile now. This is trying to add more Web 2.0-style elements.
HGTV Merges User Content With Interior Design [...]

It’ll be interesting to see if they can nurture this enough for it to take off. Vertical social networks have already existed on a more basic level in the forum of messageboards and user groups for awhile now. This is trying to add more Web 2.0-style elements.

HGTV Merges User Content With Interior Design (ClickZ)

HGTV to Launch Social Network (Marketing Vox)

Web 2.0

This is a very well-crafted video that elegantly summarizes what a lot of this whole “Web 2.0″ stuff is all-about. It’s not some customized network or specific technology that has a pre-ordained launch date. It’s a more nebulous evolution of the existing web that’s already happening. As marketers (not to mention active [...]

This is a very well-crafted video that elegantly summarizes what a lot of this whole “Web 2.0″ stuff is all-about. It’s not some customized network or specific technology that has a pre-ordained launch date. It’s a more nebulous evolution of the existing web that’s already happening. As marketers (not to mention active participants) we need to be prepared to contribute and adapt.

Beyond The Super Bowl Spot - Directing The Engagement Online

At $2.6 million a pop, placing a :30 during the Super Bowl was an expensive venture. Many of these brands choose to use this $2.6 million opportunity as a way to encourage furthur engagement in the online world. ClickZ has a great subjective read on how succesful (or not) each of these brand was in [...]

At $2.6 million a pop, placing a :30 during the Super Bowl was an expensive venture. Many of these brands choose to use this $2.6 million opportunity as a way to encourage furthur engagement in the online world. ClickZ has a great subjective read on how succesful (or not) each of these brand was in this endevor. The entire article can be found here (it is a bit long, but offeres some interesting insight to all marketers trying to merge the user experience from the traditional to the interactive). The article states that over 70 million Super Bowl watchers will go online to find out more about the commercials and companies they saw in these Super Bowl ads. Pretty powerful stuff…

Miles Wright Submits Book Cover Design for Jaffe’s New Book

As many of you know Joseph Jaffe is working on his next book, Join The Conversation. As a way of inviting us to the conversation, Jaffe called for artists to submit their cover design. The designs are now on display in the Crayonville office on Second Life. The photo here is the cover designed by [...]

As many of you know Joseph Jaffe is working on his next book, Join The Conversation. As a way of inviting us to the conversation, Jaffe called for artists to submit their cover design. The designs are now on display in the Crayonville office on Second Life. The photo here is the cover designed by Luckie artist Miles Wright. The nice young man viewing it is my avatar, Megapixel Maverick (I get more exercise in-world than out here). Voting will begin soon and I’ll let you know so that you can drop by and show your support for Miles.

What Works, and What Doesn’t, in Online Marketing

In an end-of-the-year survey, online marketers were asked to look back at what worked for them in 2006. Following is the best and worst for 2006 versus 2005 (via eMarketer.com)

In an end-of-the-year survey, online marketers were asked to look back at what worked for them in 2006. Following is the best and worst for 2006 versus 2005 (via eMarketer.com)