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Description of Brand Avatar

Brand Avatar is a look at business and branding strategies within the Internet's latest phenomena of virtual worlds. Virtual world web sites such as Second Life and There.com have already garnered millions of users around the world, representing a cross section of ages, ethnicities and purchasing power. Virtual world "residents" use and spend real money within the fictional-turned-real-life economies. Companies as diverse as Adidas, Pontiac, Jean-Paul Gaultier, MTV, and virtual world agencies based on real life ad and web agencies have all plunged into these unchartered waters to give their brands a virtual presence, using varied strategies and tactics. Brand Avatar covers the emergence of virtual world web sites, the culture and psychographic profile of virtual world users, the companies represented and the effectiveness of their business and branding strategies as well as the challenges that have emerged as a result of these worlds such as creating worldwide virtual world standards and intellectual property theft.
This is a must read for any business person looking to gain a quick overview of the virtual world landscape and the value virtual worlds hold for companies and their brands.

Title Information

ISBN:

9780230201798

Pages:

200 pages

Format:

Hardback

Product Code:

264959

Publisher:

Palgrave MacMillan

Published:

27/02/2009

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About Alycia De Mesa

ALYCIA DE MESA is a brand consultant, author, writer and speaker. Her published works on branding news, trends, analysis and commentary have appeared around the world most notably for Brandchannel.com and Businessweek.com's Design and Innovation sections. Her book Before The Brand on the principles of brand identity was published by McGraw-Hill in 2002. De Mesa's client list includes companies across industries from Fortune 100 to start-ups, including Xerox, HP, McDonald's, and the Phoenix Coyotes NHL team. Over the last few years, she has been a key speaker at various conferences including Stanford University's Graduate School of Business Future of Entertainment conference and Paris-based Luxe's Luxury Branding on the Internet conference. More on de Mesa Brand Consulting can be found at http://www.demesabrands.com and Alycia de Mesa's blog at http://alyciademesa.blogspot.com Alycia de Mesa can also be contacted through relevant social media channels.

Contents of Brand Avatar

PART 1: THE EMERGENCE & CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRTUAL WORLDS
The Ancestors: Virtual World Games from 1970's-80's; The Establishers: 1990's VZones, There.com., Worlds.com; The Followers: 2000's Muse, TowerChat, whyrobbierocks.com; The Tipping Point: Second Life, Kaneva.com

PART 2: THE CULTURE OF VIRTUAL WORLD USERS
User Age & Demographics; Common Psychographic Traits; How They Vary by Country; How They Vary by Age; Adopters of Virtual World Business Offerings

PART 3: THE EMERGENCE OF BUSINESS WITHIN VIRTUAL WORLDS
Why Use Virtual Worlds?; Types of Businesses Within Virtual Worlds; Who Paved the Way/Who is Following; Strategies and Tactics from: Adidas, Pontiac, Leo Burnett (global ad agency), MTV, BBC, Duran Duran, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Swedish Embassy

PART 4: THE VIRTUAL WORLDS OF PROPRIETARY BRANDS
Strategies, Tactics and Impact of Virtual Worlds Built Around a Global Brand; Disney's Toontown; Coke Studios; vMTV; Playstation Home

PART 5: SUCCESS STORIES
What's the Measure of Success?; Successful Business and Design Strategies and Tactics; The Role of Co-branding in Virtual Worlds; The Role of Agencies; What Companies Can Learn From "grass-root" Virtual Brands and the First Second Life (real world) Millionaire

PART 6: FAILURE STORIES
Examples of High-Profile Brands Badly Done; What Went Wrong; Lessons Learned

PART 7: NEW CHALLENGES
Technology Glitches; Virtual World Standards (the case of IBM); Intellectual Property Theft; Digital Domain Law; Hijacked Brands

PART 8: THE FUTURIST'S REVIEW
Reflections on Trends, User Behavior and the Impact on Business and Brand Strategies.

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