THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

Okay, Winfinity is wrapping up their investigation of the events behind Manoa, and it’s time to move forward on our region in Second Life. So, the question is: do we build the normal boring developer sim, complete with conference rooms and meeting pavilions?

I think you know the answer: No.

Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to tame Manoa. We’re going to take this alien planet and turn it into a stunning and successful colony, and we’re going to do it in ways that Winfinity would have never understood. Sustainable, collaborative, and open ways like:

• Carbon-Neutralizing the Sim. Yes, we’re purchasing carbon credits for our sim. More details to follow, but we’re looking forward to being the first carbon-balanced sim on Second Life.
• Working Together Internationally. We’ll be exchanging some space with Metabirds, a leading Japanese metaverse developer we’ll be working with in the future, and we’ll both be working together to make Manoa a great place to spend time.
• Conserving Manoa. Of course, we’ll establish a reservation for the hostile life-forms of Manoa—enter at your own risk! We think the mats are harmless, so you can continue to enjoy their songs throughout the island.

And, in case you forgot, there’s still some time to let Winfinity’s Stratton Briggs know what really went on during Winfinity’s time on Manoa. If he doesn’t pay the L$100,000 reward, we will. He says he wants the last submissions before June 1 “of the current year,” so get them in soon. After that, Centric is taking over—and building a newer, better Manoa for everyone to enjoy.

But in real life, there are.

Yes, we just moved our Los Angeles office. Closer to Los Angeles, in fact. For people who don’t know the LA area, it’s a huge sprawling mess that extends from downtown out in every direction–to the coast on the west, to the foothills in the east, even into the San Fernando Valley. Previously, we were located in Valencia, which is a bit to the north of the San Fernando Valley. A happy enough place, but a little too far for most of our people to truck out to. And a bit far away from Los Angeles in general.

So we moved to North Hollywood. The Burbank studios are a few minutes away, Disney Interactive is across the street, and we’re in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences building, where we can watch red-carpet events happen every week.

Not that we’re all about entertainment, but it is fun to see.

So why does a budding metaverse developer and social media agency need a physical office, you ask? Well, while we believe in letting people work flexibly and virtually, we also believe in having a home base where we can all get together and meet. We believe in having huge connectivity–far beyond your normal cable connection at home. And we believe that sometimes, working together is the best way to get things done. So we traded our far-too-big, far-too-far Valencia office for a smaller, more central, more flexible office that’s only a hop away from the city proper.

And a couple of tiny offices in Shanghai and Tokyo . . . but that’s another story.

You can see some pictures of the mess and aftermath on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/centric/sets/72157600170269733/

What’s happened to our Second Life island? I was looking forward to opening the standard metaverse developer island, with an office and conference center and sleek mid-century modern furniture, but our region seems to have been taken over by a future corporation bent on developing an alien world.

Well, or at least they were bent on developing it. Prominent signs indicate that the Manoa Project has been closed due to cost overruns. The developer, Winfinity, is offering L$100,000 for "the best independent data explaining what happened here."

Strange. But we’ve successfully contacted Stratton Briggs, Winfinity’s Manager of the Manoa Forensic Investigation, and agreed to help them on this timeline.

More news as it develops.

As much as we love Second Life, sometimes nothing beats meeting, as, well, meat. You know, like in the flesh. In person. For one thing, food tastes so much better. For another, alcohol is more predictable. And we don’t have to worry about atomic bombs and flying genitalia. Well, not so much.

So here’s an open invitation to other virtual world aficionados, developers, game creators, Web 2.0-ish people, marketing wonks, media geeks, creative types, studio heads, random billionaires, and all other interested parties: join us on Thursday, April 5 for the first meeting of Virtual Hollywood, our new MeetUp group. There’ll be plenty to talk about: firsthand reports and recaps of Virtual Worlds 2007, trends in Second Life and other virtual worlds, creative introductions from group members, what are the best drinks at the Pizzeria Mozza bar, and (as we used to say in advertising), "much, much more!"

Sign up here.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what Second Life or other virtual worlds can do for your brand or for your productions, or asked yourself "where is this all heading?" or simply want to meet some of the other people shaping the metaversal future, this is the place.

Think fun. Think informal. Think good food and drink.

Think anything you want, but mark your calendar, and attend the first meeting of Virtual Hollywood!

Okay. So you think Centric is super-uber-cool and you want to hear more about what we have to say? Well, you’re in luck. Centric personnel are participating in a wide array of speaking opportunities over the next few months:

Virtual Worlds 2007
Jason Stoddard, Speaker
Ken Brady, Attending
March 28-29, 2007
New York, NY

Virtual Hollywood
Jason Stoddard, Organizer
April 5, 2007
Hollywood, CA

Portland Advertising Federation: Second Life Session
Jason Stoddard and Ken Brady, Speakers
April 25, 2007
Portland, OR

Silicon Island Tech Expo
Centric’s Second Talk Featured
Fallon Winnfield, Adam Rakosi, Neko Longduk, and Weasel Gough, Attending
April 20-22, 2007
Silicon Island, Second Life

Marketing Forum: The Next Generation of Marketing: Social and Virtual Media
Jason Stoddard, Speaker
May 9-12, 2007
New York, NY

Would you like to have us at your event? Let us know, and we’ll be happy to help!

And welcome to “new new” media. Wander around our site, and you’ll find a completely new focus on the leading edge of interactive development. Sometimes the bleeding edge. We’re talking about things like virtual marketing in Second Life, social media marketing from YouTube to Mixi, mashups with Flickr and Google, and even international opportunities in Asia.

“Why would Centric do this?” you might be asking. After all, we came up through conventional marketing, brand-building, and interactive development, so why this new focus on the edge?

It’s simple. It’s because your greatest opportunity is there.

All the rules are changing. Everything we know is being swept away. Your customers’ voices, amplified by blogs, forums, and user-rated news, are drowning your loudest brand messages. Conventional media is losing its effectiveness–and, in some cases, actually disappearing. And there are emerging marketing opportunities in the virtual space that promise to bring even greater opportunity than the internet circa 1995. Your success in the next 5 years will require understanding these new opportunities, taking advantage of the relevant ones, and having the flexibility to accept even more change as it comes, faster and faster.

Consider this:

• Even as consumers spend 25-40% of their media time online, most companies only spend 3-8% of their budget there.
• In 16 months from its founding, YouTube equalled the reach and engagement of a major television network.
• Second Life could be the next MySpace–and the way you interview your next job candidates.
• B2B and B2C alike are struggling to incorporate social media such as user-generated content and user ratings in relevant ways–even as social media itself changes.
• Your biggest opportunity may not be in the United States–it may be in China.

Which is why we’ve taken the position of Agency of Change. We’ll help keep you in front. We’ll help you understand. And we’ll help you make the most of it. With the same plainspoken, direct approach that we’ve always used.

“So, does that mean you’re going to abandon conventional media altogether?” you ask. No. Not at all. Because everything is changing. Even as blogs eat newspapers, even as YouTube gets reach and engagement beyond network TV, conventional media has reach and engagement with certain demographics that can’t be ignored. But to plan conventional media without being aware of the magnitude of change, without being aware of other opportunities–that is madness.

Welcome to the new Centric. And welcome to the era of change.