Businesses in Second Life

From Sl Wiki

Revision as of 14:09, 21 January 2007

Real World (or "RL" - Real Life) businesses started to appear in Second Life around mid-2006. While there may be many reasons for their involvement, it is certainly true that one driver for the first wave was PR. These first arrivals sparked off (or rode the tide of) a media frenzy, that has resulted in a huge increase in the number of user accounts, and more importantly, online users.

The following is a (non-exhaustive) list as at mid-Jan, 2007. Please note that, at this time, some sites are under construction.

Automotive

• BMW
• Toyota (Scion)
• General Motors (Pontiac)
• Nissan

Telecommunications

• Vodafone
• Telus
• younevercall (a mobile phone sales channel)
• Comcast
• Pulver (internet telephony and VOIP)
• Argali (white and yellow pages)

Information Technology

• IBM
• Microsoft
• Sun
• Intel
• Dell
• PA Consulting
• Depo Consulting
• Amazon Web Services

Retail

• Sears
• Adidas
• Nike
• American Apparel

Media and Entertainment

• NBC
• Fox Atomic
• Reuters
• CNET
• Wired
• Popular Science
• The Register (the irony! This UK online technology paper has been critical of "Sadville" from early on)
• MTV
• BBC Radio 1
• Channel 4 Radio
• Penguin Books
• Sundance Channel
• Endemol (Big Brother)
• Regina Spektor

Marketing and Creative

• AKQA
• Abramelin Studios (who??)
• Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty
• Leo Burnett
• Crayon Marketing
• Dieste Harmel
• Square One Research (market research)
• DNB Media (Netherlands)
• Text 100 Global PR Company
• Mediacom - described as:
  • "responsible for planning and buying the advertising for some of the world’s biggest companies – among them Procter & Gamble, Shell, Glaxo Smithkline, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nokia, Masterfoods, VW and Universal."

Others

• ING (bank)
• ABN Amro (bank)
• Capozzi Winery
• 4 Unlimited (no idea what this is - but it looks like a large-scale launch due soon)
• Gabetti Propery Solutions (due Apr'07?)
• Starwood Hotels
• Cumbria Tourist Board (UK)