Agenda Inc:
Companies ranging from Walt Disney to Wells Fargo are seeking alternative virtual worlds with both greater security against hackers and control over such things as brand messaging and participants. After all, the Web-based parallel universe is a messy marketplace where you’re as likely to see a bare-chested, rabbit-headed avatar trolling for adult-themed entertainment or vandalizing a digital store as a corporate suit leading a training session.
And some companies want to target age groups younger or older than the average 30-year-old denizen of Second Life. Even the earliest adopters of Second Life are turning elsewhere. In September, 2005, Wells Fargo was ahead of the corporate stampede into Second Life when it launched a 3D virtual environment, ‘Stagecoach Island,’ in Second Life to attract youthful, tech-savvy customers and teach them about banking.
Now nearly 50 corporations use Second Life, with Royal Philips Electronics, Coca-Cola, and News Corp. among the latest. But Wells Fargo is gone. It pulled its ‘Stagecoach Island’ out and opted to create its own world, a larger, stand-alone online universe that it can monitor more closely and customize. Starwood Hotels & Resorts is getting ready to bail now, too.
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