Ten 24 Media

Do advertising and branding opportunities exist in the world virtual world of online games and communities? You bet they do! But where to start right? I know how you feel. Luckily the always excellent TrendWatching.com takes us inside the virtual world with their latest trend report titled YOUNIVERSE.

“Understandably, the focus within virtual communities has been predominantly about integrating offline goods, services and experiences into virtual worlds. As online worlds mature, ‘production’ solely for online use may become the norm, before potentially moving on to invade the ‘real world’. Which means selling opportunities more than anything else. Look at what aforementioned Nike, Habbo, Virtual Kingdom, and American Apparel have planned or have already rolled out, and what other brands like Puma, Nissan are doing in this field.”

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time but havn’t yet taken the time to participate in. That all has to change! While its still early, you can’t argue with the popularity of these worlds (50+ million Habbo Hotel users for example). Real people, many of them yours and my customers, are spending a lot of their valuable time there.

Getting started is going to be the hardest part. There’s a tonne of information to absorb and attempt to understand. Luckily TrendWatching’s report is an excellent primer that helps us dive into the ocean of information, and better yet, try out the virtual world for ourselves.

Be sure to put on your marketing hat for a couple hours this week and check out TrendWatching’s Youniverse Report