VW’s Innovation Awards Categories. And the winners are……

Ending day one of the VW Expo show in LA next week are theVirtual Worlds Innovation . Here’s the categories:

* Overall Innovation, 1 winner

* Innovation in Virtual Worlds for Consumers (Adults), 2 winners

* Innovation in Virtual Worlds for the Enterprise, 2 winners

* Innovation in Virtual Worlds for Youth, 2 winners

* Virtual Worlds Pioneer Award, 1 winner

We’ve decided on all the winners and I’ll be presenting the awards to the two winners in the Virtual Worlds for Youth category.

VW Forum podcast

Yesterday I was interviewed by Huw Leslie from VW Worlds Forum in the first of a series of podcasts leading up to their conference. The discussion focused on the marketingopportunitiesavailablein virtual worlds and an assessment of the ever evolving sector. I’ll also be running a workshop on metrics and ROI at the conference in October.

Here’s a link to the podcast and an extract from Huw’s summary:

In the interview, we discussed the best way for brands to engage in virtual worlds now that the initial hype has died down. There’s no longer a reliable quick PR gain to be had from announcing a presence in Second Life, leading brands to finally think about virtual worlds with the long term in mind. We talked about how brands can measure return on investment, and whether that’s even possible to do at this stage. We also discussed the situation which brands in virtual worlds are enthusiastically working towards: where their virtual presence becomes a lucrative additional revenue stream, as well as giving them advertising benefits.

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Managing your brand in virtual worlds

How do brand managers and marketers manage their brands in virtual worlds? The updated K Zero report, ‘The 5 Rules of Virtual Brand Management’ explains the options available to marketers when faced with virtual environments allowing user generated content. It’s free and available here.

The case study includes the following companies:

Adidas, Oakley, Von Dutch, F1, Apple, Mercedes Benz, Coca-Cola, Pontiac, NBA, Premier League.

Metanomically speaking

I’ve been asked to appear in the last session (is that the end of season finale?) of Metanomics. Metanomics is a organisation run by RobertBloomfieldfrom Cornell University focusing on the business, economic and policy implications in the virtual worlds sector. Interestingly, these events take place inside Second Life, recorded and then made available via the Metanomics website.

As Robert puts it…

KZero’s Nic Mitham wraps up the first year of Metanomics on Monday, August 25th, Noon PST. A strong focus on brands sets KZero at ground zero of the most volatile hype cycle in the metaverse. Join us as we examine marketing hits and misfires of the past, and map out directions for branding as new worlds come on line. We also put ThinkBalm’s Erica Driver “On the Spot” to focus on enterprise uses of the immersive internet, a tortoise that is quietly and steadily overtaking the flashy hare of brand management.

Not sure about the hare comment though. So, should be a good debate!