Marketing Magazine Lets Me Look Inside Second Life

The latest issue of Marketing Magazine has a full-page feature titled, Get a (Second) Life, written by yours truly. I was approached a couple of weeks back by one of the editors after news broke that Telus had created a retail environment inside Second Life – the growing online virtual world.
The article is only available online for those who have a paid subscription at: Marketing Magazine – Get A (Second) Life. But, here’s a teaser:
“Why should marketers care? Second Life is another channel that people are interested in and spending money on. These virtual environments provide a place for people to share, meet and grow. The American Cancer Society recently held its annual Relay For Life with a Second Life component and raised US$40,000 just from Second Life.
What’s the point of Second Life? That’s about as easy to answer as what’s the point of life? We’re all still trying to figure it out.”
Immediate feedback from the Marketing Magazine editors was that the piece was truly a “what’s next” story in marketing (the piece was featured under their Top Of Mind section).
My personal jury is still not out on whether or not Second Life will be the prevailing online environment that we all will have Avatars (residents) in. I still have hopes that we will be able to create an Avatar that will be agnostic to platform, be it instant messenger, online virtual environments, etc…