Going social is the way forward

Singapore - Social networks will become ‘avatarised', virtual worlds will become more social and TV will incorporate more tie-ins with virtual worlds in 2008, predicts Millions of Us CEO Reuben Steiger at the first half of the Engage 2007 conference.

The ex-Linden Labs (creator of Second Life) evangelist is in town to share his experience of working with brands to leverage on virtual worlds and social networks and gave a presentation on The Avatar Age - Entertainment & Advertising in the Future yesterday.

Steiger says the trick with these platforms is to create something that does not look like marketing and which uses the trusted network of friends to pass the message along.

He reveals Second Life may be the most talked about and interesting virtual world but it houses only a small percentage of avatars in the world. In comparison, the more youth-oriented virtual worlds like Habbo Hotel (32 million users), Stardoll (over 10 million users), Zwinktopia (10 million users) and Gaia Online (8.5 million users) are the ones leading the game.

He also says user generated online communities represent the fastest growing marketing segment totaling 31% of all consumer internet usage, according to Comscore 2007, which means they "deserve disproportionate investment from marketers".

The afternoon sessions at Engage 2007 yesterday also saw Tim Harris, co-founder and CEO of Seven Lights, a gaming company, talk about the power of games as a marketing tool. Aaron Hinchion, senior creative at ad agency Albion took the stage to talk about word of mouth marketing.

"Word of mouth only works if the product is good," he says, "fake stuff don't work"

He advises marketers it is not enough to just talk about togetherness, it's time to "go out and prove it".

"As we come to terms with the evolution of technology, the importance of corporate ethics and the exposure of our brands to consumer criticism, we are in an era where brands need to go beyond offering functional benefits. Leadership brands need to create value in people's lives. We must learn a new kind of creativity and a new kind of balance," Michelle Kristula-Green, president of Leo Burnett Asia Pacific said in a statement.

Engage is a two day event featuring creative thinkers from the communications and brands industry, organised by Leo Burnett Worldwide, Arc Worldwide and Contagious Magazine.