a turning point for corporate culture?



Reallusion, a company that offers software for 3D filmmaking of a virtual kind, demonstrated the ease with which avatars can be created at the Virtual Worlds 2007 convention in NYC this week.

Virtual reality is the next great digital divide. The companies that will successfully navigate this challenging new phase of global commerce will be those that dare to traffic in the stuff of dreams.

While countless opportunities for fostering the evolution of consciousness through virtual worlds exist, it comes as no surprise that the first annual virtual worlds convention is entitled, "The Future of Marketing and Media."

There's a gold mine waiting for the companies clever enough to seize the opportunity, like MTV. During the convention today, Executive VP of MTV Networks Jeffrey B. Yapp said, "They [young people] no longer watch television. Now they live it...they become the stars."

Avatars are consumers who will theoretically become so engrossed by the experience of "customizing" their relationships with a brand that they will want to embody that brand's identity instead of, say, cultivating their own personalities. Pepsi, for example, offers an array of status symbols such as branded hoverboards for avatars who ascend the ranks of Pepsi "skill ladders."

Certain corporate executives argue that various brands are facilitating the growth of avatars, and that the process is therefore beneficial to young people, especially those who once sat plastered on their sofas for hours, passively snacking on soda and chips while watching television. While the snacks remain, young people now have the option of creating their own dramas while becoming immersed in the products offered in the virtual worlds they inhabit.

While many companies may end up finding ways to bolster the bottom line with this model, progressive companies will embrace the creative potential of virtual reality. This change will be forced eventually, because marketers will be faced with the inevitability of immersed consumers scrutinizing products for real world value in a "brand" new way.