17 Jun 2009

3D web marketing is now

Sit back and relax has become lean forward and engage. Streaming video and music will generate more than $78 billion in network-derived and content-derived revenue over the next six years in the United States, according to a recent study by The Insight Research Corp. Streaming media refers to the transmission of digital audio and video files over an IP network or wireless network in real time or on-demand, while prohibiting users from storing the files locally.

The study also estimated the revenue from the various types of content-derived revenues, along with associated advertising revenue. The streaming market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 27 percent over the next five years, driven by on-demand audio, on-demand video and the accompanying advertising revenue. "Over the past seven years, as we've tracked the developments in streaming it has evolved from an esoteric niche to a mainstream market," said Robert Rosenberg, Insight Research president. "What we predicted way back when is coming to fruition. The advertising revenue that long supported traditional TV is gravitating to this new medium, putting downward pressure on traditional TV distribution schemes.”

While ad spending has been affected by the recession, this figure below is of great interest to note: Spending on in-game advertising will reach $1 billion by 2014, media analysis group Screen Digest said in a new report. For me, there is not much of a jump from in-game to in-world, and the 3D immersive one Second Life is.

“The ever-changing landscape of new platforms and technologies that enrich interactive advertising guarantees this growth trend will continue.” IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg mentioned a few years ago. What PookyMedia is doing encompasses fully the new new media platform and technology such as Second Life.

PookyMedia is creating digital product: delivering engaging and targeted video which is dynamic and extremely cost effective. Entertainment, which captures either a live show where the audience is literally at the edge of their seats, or in meaningful video, that has the look and feel of something new, special and beautiful. Plus real people can take advantage of the very local destination known as their home to log into Second Life. It becomes relevant, easy to access and fun. This is a remarkable combination to offer people. The flat 2D web is rapidly becoming passé. The new 3D immersive environment is where consumers and thus advertisers are moving too. We have a unique opportunity to offer people something special to really make this kind of community resound. We must know the best way to do this.

A recent study from Forrester research found that 57 percent of advertisers plan to spend less on TV and more on web advertising such as online video and visually, socially, and interactively rich media. With more and more money transitioning from offline channels like television, online marketers have an opportunity to show how online video can provide measurable results. It is more than just “watching” that the public wants. They are going where they are involved, evolved and in control. The more of this you offer the more likely the public is to return. We must tap into the zenith of user generated involvement, and we can do that in Second Life.

A few years ago JWT CEO Bob Jeffrey was quoted as saying “Time is the new currency,
Our job is to ensure that more people spend more time with our clients’ brands. We need to create ideas that people want to spend time with. The better the idea the more time people spend with it.”

Media content and distribution companies realize that the one thing that seems to matter the most in the 21st century media environment where attention is sliced at near atomic levels, is association with a brand. But we are at saturation level for images, how can commercials or marketing messages be edited any tighter?

How do we tap into marketing here without being clicked off, avoided or negatively portrayed for leaving no vestige ad-free? One way is by involving people in the product itself while giving a reward for that involvement. Rewards can be defined in many ways even beyond entertainment. Tapping into meaningful dialogue, relevant social issues, charity, group activity and yes of course traditional laughs all are possible, it is what PookyMedia is doing. Being able to do this in a 5 minute video extends the depth of a 60 second commercial, being able to do this in a 30 minute game show is memorable fun and having a community built up for a cause or focus brings hours of engagement. Plus the costs of doing these things is lower by many factors of 10. Worth it? You bet.

The drive to monetize social media is something that everyone is very interested in. According to a very recent Nielsen, social media has overtaken email as the most popular online consumer activity, giving it exceptional reach — increasingly among users between 35-49, and 50-64 years of age.

Relationship-wise, social media enables a broader array of personal connections and peer contact, giving users reason to visit such sites regularly and over an extended period of time. Finally, the content and desirable connections compose social media's personal relevance to consumers — making it ideal for advertisers who know how to target their markets. People go to a social media site and offer themselves to some extent as the ‘brand." Lets face it –it is their own lives and the lives of their friends or people who appear interesting that they are involved with. The internet is a tricky place to advertise though. Facebook isn’t making any money really and MySpace just laid off 30% of it’s workforce. But it does support the view that social media type places – the gathering wells, the online destinations, are a good place to reach people. Not so much water cooler as watering hole, where people go for some refreshment, and can spend hours of their time in a socially stimulating environment that also offers opportunities for advertisers and consumers alike to interact and be enriched.

Social media is not spliced at the near atomic level. Social media gives the consumer, the person after all, a chance to interact with the people, information and page displays they want at their own pace. They can control it. In a world of increasingly less personal power, being able to leisurely flick through others profiles and information is a very compelling function. Being able to turn off the increasingly chaotic stream of messages which barrel through the TV and now outside in Outernet advertising has become the last refuge from being treated like consumers

We might have gotten to a point where we have just been oversold, and we aren’t going to buy it anymore. Coupled with an increasingly dire economic outlook, advertisers are going to have to seek meaning once again with their, dare I say it- “constituents.” When you view the people who are going to cast their increasingly valuable economic vote for you, as constituents, you must look at them differently.

I believe it is time for the world of marketing, which is fueled by advertising and products, to take a deeper look at these trends. Second Life provides a perfect opportunity for this because people are able to get there for free, from anywhere in the world, any time they want to enjoy the social experience of real time interaction. What the marketing community must realize is that Second Life is a social media platform, and that in order to tap into this they must offer something to spend time with.

This is what PookyMedia does with the original shows which are produced and broadcast into which branded content, product placement and audience involvement can take place. We also create series of shows and commercials which companies can brand as their own, again serving as a vital way to engage targeted customers. PookyMedia can also craft a branded community on Second Life around an event or series of events which enable and record people actively engaged with the product. This becomes part of peoples' lives and reflects back onto that which they are involved with.

Personal interaction extends the branding identity and grows the community which sponsored it.The 3D web is the future of audience interaction. Viewer log in entertainment, being a part of a community and identification with it, is what will work in this century. It’s right here, right now and PookyMedia is able to deliver this to you with a wealth of experience in production. We are surfing the zeitgeist. Catch this wave.