Are People Happy or Unhappy About Brands, er, Period?
Friday, May 4th, 2007So, by now, everyone’s heard of the Komunjity data that says 72% of avatars surveyed are unhappy with brand presences in Second Life to date. Adam’s already commented on it with his acerbic, “It’s the Experience, Stupid.”
But at Virtual Worlds 2007, Linda Zimmer of Marketing Communicators of Second Life presented some Market Truths research that seems to conflict with Komunjity’s results. In her presentation, 77% of avatars surveyed said they would welcome brands into Second Life.
Sounds Like a Conflict–But It’s Not
Look at it this way: Market Truths’ data says that people are cool, in general, with brands showing up in Second Life. Metaphorically, the welcome mat is out.
Komunjity’s data says that people, while cool with the idea of having brands in SL, think they haven’t done such a great job to date. Metaphorically, they haven’t wiped their feet on the welcome mat, they haven’t learned that people take off their shoes before they set foot on the carpet, and that, as guests, they are there at the pleasure of their hosts.
Now, this isn’t surprising, either. In marketing, everything is changing. It’s difficult for brands to understand how to behave outside of the old, old models of buying media and placing ads. They’re stepping into a whole new world, so we have to cut them a break.
The Same Story, Told Once Again
In fact, I’d bet that if you ran a similar poll, in, say, 1995, about Internet users’ perception of corporate web presences, 72% or more would say they were unhappy with the the brands. The only difference is that, back then, we didn’t have the social media and instant many-to-many communication we have today to spread the data far and wide.
Heck, I’d bet if you went back 40 years and polled TV viewers about television commercials, 72% or more would say they didn’t particularly like them, or that 72% or more of them were crap.
So, here’s a question for a smart research firm: has anything changed in Second Life? Is the overall perception of brands, marketing, and advertising different in virtuality than in real life? Or are communications forms like social media and virtual worlds simply making people’s true feelings more transparent?
A New Model?
What can brands learn from this? It may be that the old models are changing. Or it may simply be that smart brands that treat everyone like adults, give us relevant stories, content, and tools, invite us into the dialogue–or even to the product development table–will be welcomed in any media environment, real or virtual.
