Scion, a division of Toyota that sells “trendy” cars targeted at Gen Y in the United States, was one of the earliest companies touting its wares in Second Life.
In 2006, Scion became the first car maker with a Second Life presence, offering residents customizable versions of the Scion xB. Fast forward nearly 12 months and many of the great and much hyped corporate outposts in Second Life are closing up shop; Scion on the other hand is actually expanding their presence. The company has added additional islands (sims) to its Second Life HQ and the company has now officially launched the second gen Scion xD in world.
The Scion xD II launch party saw several hundred Second Life residents visit over a couple of hours. It was also the first opportunity for residents to view and utilize the expanded Scion Island.
So what’s so special about Scion’s Second Life presence that sees the company buck the trend?
In part it’s a branding statement. Second Life is (according to some) a hip and trendy place from which to target brand wary members of Generation Y; Scion in return trades on this perception in continuing to build a position statement for the Scion Brand. Also in fairness, whilst the viewer numbers are poor compared to a traditional advertising campaign, the costs of maintaining a presence in Second Life aren’t huge, if you ignore the fact that per viewer they are exceptionally high.
So does maintaining a presence in Second Life result in increasing brand exposure and car sales? I went undercover again to see whether I could find what the magic ingredient for Scion’s expanding presence in Second Life was:
Why build a virtual test drive facility when you test drive a car to get a feeling of how it handles?
Not that I’m a Second Life user myself or that I would ever buy a Scion, but the unavoidably boxier-than-in-real-life look of the car, the shite handling which you mentioned and the awkward attempts at getting a 360 degrees look around would probably turn me OFF that car, rather than tempt me to book a test drive.
A better route would probably be to give a high quality 360 video of it, a way to look at pictures that weren’t rended by the SL engine and possibly show real-life interest to get a call from a Scion sales person.
Bah, sounds like it’s doomed from the start. What a stupid idea!
virtual doesn’t like reality
In the early early days of second life, when I was a user (I still feel lame for that) I had a nice ride on a huge Train, so I don’t think it’s anything special..
P.S. an old school irc junkie
oh……..
at last i will notice that
Biggest waste of marketing dollars ever. I just don’t understand the clamour to be involved in Second Life. Its nothing but a hook to generate PR eleswhere, but thats got to be wearing off. Do something original
I would have modeled the car with more detail, and included exploded views that pointed out the features. As usual, there’s nobody on the island as well. Why not get together with other car manufacturers on the same island to encourage more people to hang around, and encourage some competition? People can race different models of virtual cars. Though it would probably be more like a demolition derby
Also, why not let people customize their Scions? You know with four foot spoiler wings and spinning flashing wheels and stuff like that?
If every company on Second Life gets a free write up on techcrunch then it is probably worth the marketing dollars.
The engine just does not do any justice to help present a good marketing platform to attract users to it. The engine when it was first released back in beta was decent for its time (Havok 2.0) but now people are going to except that certain amount of eye candy to help them get attracted to a product, epically in a VR world. The second reason why I feel SL is a failing market, is becasue it does not do a VR or metaverse world any justice by making it a closed market for Linden Labs Servers only. I am waiting for the day for a open concept market to provide a standardized platform that can co-exist with many worlds hosted on many servers around the world, so then we won’t have to deal with streaming slowdowns when connected to these universes.
There is really more to life than our bland first life. Everyone owes it to themselves to check out the possibilities in second life.
I think Ben’s got a very good point. The fact that Toyota is getting a lot of free press on Scion and people people are talking about the brand in numerous blogs are reasons enough for establishing a presence in Second Life.
That being said, Toyota can make things more interesting by making virtual driving more fun.
please, no more posts on second life. I am yet to see somebody who really likes second life. Just the investors creating hype.I had been there few times but couldnt stand for more than few minutes. It is just that people are checking out, out of curiosity and investors and media hyping it up.
Sure, people will notice. You just gave them thousands of dollars worth of free advertising.
Hi there,
This is Peter Teiman from Norway. I agree with the other writers in that Scion might first and foremost be a marketing tool for Toyota.
Peter Teiman
Great headline!
shooting down critics like an ak47! here we go!
the cars are completely customizable – everything can be tinkered with
I like second life – been resident since 2005 – it’s a fun game. spend more than 10 minutes in world before you pass judgement – it has a steep learning curve.
the cars handle _very_ well – espcially at high speed – at some of the racing sims I pull better lap times than F1 vehicles
people like the scion alot – it creates brand awareness – money well spent.
Last but not least – after playing with my SL scion and when considering a real vehicle – I went and testdrove one that looked like my SL model.
It should be called “get a life” not “second life”, if these people spent their time improving their real life instead of living in a fantasy world… this world would be a far better place. Sad to see people waste away the gift of life in such a meaningless way.
Jon
What’s next for Jobs, an idildo?
what the hell was that gy talking about?
Quote:
Jon
August 30th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
It should be called “get a life” not “second life”, if these people spent their time improving their real life instead of living in a fantasy world… this world would be a far better place. Sad to see people waste away the gift of life in such a meaningless way.
Jon
(/end quote)
Hrmmmm it’s almost as much as a waste of life as some forum troll reading about something that he thinks is a waste of life; then wasting time commenting how much he thinks it’s a waste of time..
I
I found Second Life to be a cold, empty shell of a world. Some parts were beautiful, but anywhere someone new like me could afford a plot of land was ugly, congested, and spam-filled like I didn’t even know was possible.
It seemed like a desolate wasteland of abandoned spammy buildings for the most part. The only popular areas I found were people having lame sex parties. There were some OK seeming driving courses, but wouldn’t islands like those be far more interesting in a dedicated game?
Some people have created some beautiful 3D worlds and objects in Second Life, but I think it’s a pyramid scheme doomed to go bust sooner or later.
I do recommend SL if you want to further appreciate that “virtual reality” right outside your front door. A fresh breeze never felt so wonderful after the time I spent in the stagnant pool of SL.
*iZaBaeL
I’m a writer, marketer and entrepreneur in real life and am now doing similar things in Second Life. My first experiences on SL were terrible, but then I saw the potential for extending my real world work into a virtual world in exciting new ways and am finding a lot of success. I’m also meeting many interesting people from around the world and participating in events in Second Life including conferences and panel discussions that I would not be able to do in real life due to financial and travel limitations.
That said, I think that Second Life is an interesting marketing and communications tool worth exploring for any company looking for new ways to reach potential customers. I have purchased things on Second Life and looked for the real world version to purchase as well. Can’t say that right now I’m in the market for a car, but if it wasn’t for Second Life, I would never have even heard of the Scion and as an owner of a 1997 Toyota, it isn’t far-fetched that I may be purchasing a car in the not so distant future. Companies are smart to create “branding” experiences in SL – I actually notice them far more than I ever notice an ad in a magazine or a commercial on TV (I don’t watch TV).
I do question, however, the gobs of money they are spending. It doesn’t have to be that expensive to market in Second Life.
I have to agree with Aliza.
I think Second Life is – and can be – an interesting marketing and communications tool. I’m not so sure anyone has really tapped into the strength of it’s potential. The projects I’ve seen and read about are just scratching the surface.
I’m a creative director for a non-profit, and regardless of the fact that folks are pulling out of SL, we still think that with the right approach, this is a worthy landscape to explore.
well i seen some great concept cars in secondlife and racetracks .. Like in 2Raw great place