It’s great to see some coverage of our recent L’Oreal Paris campaign over on the New World Notes blog.
Our campaign for L’Oreal Paris ends this week (so get your skins before they go!) and has clearly demonstrated the benefits of thinking ‘resident-centric’ as opposed to ‘island-centric’ in terms of an overall marketing strategy. Rather than build a dedicated island or take a sampling approach to communicating the campaign, our concept has highlighted new ways of virtual world marketing (No brand is an island). Quoting from New World Notes:
‘Up to now, the standard practice has been to create and launch an SL site fully branded with the real world advertiser’s logos and trademarks. Here, instead, the client’s product is subtly (and playfully) introduced into an already popular site.’
This campaign can be broken down into two key elements:
1. We partnered with existing retailers who stocked the make-up skins alongside their own products (mirroring real-world strategy).
2. To create a link between the real and virtual world we chose the Greenies Kitchen to host a supersized handbag and selected cosmetic items.
On an overall basis, we’ve managed to leverage the brand equity of L’Oreal Paris in a subtle yet effective way, with a ‘pull’ mechanic as opposed to ‘pushing’ the product or messaging to residents. And thinking more holistically, do people (residents) want to experience branded environments (islands) from real-world brands or do they want products and services that they can actually use and enjoy?
New World Notes picks up on another aspect of the campaign – the communication element…
‘…without much fanfare, cosmetics giant L’Oreal Paris had become part of the Greenies universe’
We specifically decided not to fanfare and press release the entrance of L’Oreal Paris into Second Life. That wasn’t what the campaign was about as our focus was on creating relationships (via the skins) with the residents.
In terms of summarising the campaign, Rightasrain Rimbaud comments:
‘So now L’Oreal has gained credibility with many, many early adopters who will share a view on them as being modern, hip and appealing to a dynamic audience.’
Exactly what we were hoping for.
