Fallon Brainfood: Virtuality

Virtuality
October 23, 2007
::Brainfood::

Copyright ©2007 Fallon Worldwide. All rights reserved.

Introduction

In today’s session of Brainfood, Fallon strategic planners
Aki Spicer and Avin Narasimhan break down the vast and
complex trends of Virtuality and their implications
for brands.


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“80% of active internet users
will have a “second life” in a virtual world
by the end of 2011.

Gartner Symposium/ITExpo 2007


Welcome to the first session of Brainfood.
What can you expect today?

A brief introduction to Virtuality and how we got here.

Virtual Worlds: the most visible form of Virtuality.
Implications and trends in society.
What it could mean for business.

Key takeaways for you and your clients.


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Virtuality: Our lives are increasingly “virtual,”
but we often don’t recognize it as such.


We can trace the roots of our virtual pursuit
back to 1955 when Sensorama recreated the
full experience of riding a motorcycle.


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Flash forward to the 80s and 90s: works of
fiction laid the groundwork for the concept
of today’s visual Web.


The Matrix Metaverse

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And beyond fiction, the work of French social
theorist Jean Baudrillard helped to explain the
basis of Virtuality as seen in culture.


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Virtuality reframes our economy, worldview,
and culture.


As early as the first iteration of Windows, we
began a mass adoption of 3-D virtual surrogates
on PC desktops.


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We trade millions of dollars everyday based on
the virtual values.


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We express who we are and how we feel through
digital representations and alter-egos.


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And many of us, particularly young people, are
turning to games instead of movies and TV,
driving mass awareness and further blurring lines.


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We’re moving away from 2-D MS-DOS style flat
apps towards rich 3D environments that bring
the same data to life.


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Digital prototyping enables the real parts to work
flawlessly before they’re ever made real.


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Virtuality commands real love and attentions.


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We’ve reached the age where what was once
fantasy and “futuristic” is now increasingly
becoming a way of life.


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“Welcome to the desert of the real.”


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Virtuality is no longer nerdy
fantasy. It’s real and it’s
happening all around us.


“ Personally, I feel the vague lineaments of
something beyond Web 2.0, and they involve
some fairly radical steps. Imagine a Web
without browsers. Imagine breaking
completely away from the document
metaphor, or a true blurring of application
and information. That's what Web 3.0 will be,
but I bet we will call it something else.

Stowe Boyd
Social Media/Web 2.0 Theorist

We’ve become beings of a digital world
wherein almost any conceivable life event
can—and largely does—take place virtually.


Virtuality is reality, and it’s the next evolution
of our increasingly digital social lives.


Web 2.0 Web 3.0

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Virtuality is changing human behavior.


“One of the things our grandchildren will find
quaintest about us is that we distinguish the
digital from the real, the virtual from the real.
In the future, that will become literally
impossible. The distinction between
cyberspace and that which isn't cyberspace is
going to be unimaginable.”

William Gibson

author, futurist

Understanding Virtuality can be a vague and
somewhat abstract concept. Today we’ll look at
what is the clearest manifestation of Virtuality.


Virtual worlds have been buzz words in popular
media as of late, and myriad forms exist.

Digital Life

Pure Gaming/Fantasy


Kids Play

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It’s not happening on the fringes of society, but
rather has engaged us globally.

1% of the world’s population registered World of Warcraft residents.

Time spent in Second Life increased six-fold in 2006.

If NeoPets were a country, its population would be the 5th largest
in the world.

Club Penguin has 4M+ unique monthly visitors and generates a
50% profit margin, projecting $30 million in 2007 profits.


Swivel Data Research August 2007
Wikipedia
Social Media Club May 2007

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Second Life populations are sky rocketing as
they become more integrated in our daily lives,
translating into real world commerce.


Blizzard Entertainment March 2007
Blogpulse trend search July 2007
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slowing growth.
Yet, Second Life may be experiencing


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It’s important to remember that we’re still in the
early stages, and so far these worlds are
reminiscent of our first forays onto the Internet.


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Exploring Virtuality through the lens of worlds
that let users fully define the experience
reveals the most interesting insights.


People are people…and even in the metaverse,
we still behave like people.


Linden Labs 2007 Technographics Survey
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We’re creating living, breathing societies with
unique social mores and culture, which embody
the ideals of autonomy and self-efficacy.


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It’s an evolution of the very idea of “face-to-face”
interaction and personal connections.


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They provide a new venue for the exchange of
dialogue and even political movements with no
consideration of physical boundaries or barriers.

GLOBAL IBM CONFERENCE
ADVENTURE
ECOLOGY ACTIVISTS


EXPERT PANEL AT CRAYONVILLE

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More and more we see life imitate art as
Virtuality redefines traditional experiences.

James Cameron’s new movie—Avatar.

Draft FCB mockumentary of Second Life.


CSI:NY will take murder mystery into
the virtual world.

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“There's real money to be made in the
marketplace. People actually earn part or
all of their real-life income from such
businesses as party and wedding
planning, tattooing, auto manufacturing,
fashion and jewelry designing, real estate
development, architectural design,
bodyguarding, publishing, and private
investigation.”
—Patricia Duebel, PhD
The Journal

What could it all mean for business…and brands?


As with most emerging technologies, the
potential for business application is often hard
to see at first glance.

HOW MIGHT OUR BRAND FIT IN HERE?


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Kid-centric fantasy may be perhaps the easiest
in-roads for brands…


Answers.com via Wikipedia
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…as youth today are rapidly embracing Virtuality.

2007: 24% of U.S. child and teen Internet users visit virtual worlds.

2008: 34%

2011: 53%.


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Even for today’s youth, branded virtual worlds
are providing a level of engagement that static
sites can’t compete with.


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Companies eager to jump on the virtual
bandwagon have learned cost of entry is
more than just “showing up.”

Wells Fargo—Departed. American Apparel—Barren


Business Week Online May 2007
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The right to participate needs to be earned.

The NBA understood this imperative and truly offers a unique
experience and commitment to residents.


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With or without brands, resident entrepreneurs
are reaping lucrative rewards through their own
creations.

Alan Graief Anshe Chung Philip Rosedale Reuben Steiger Sibley Verbeck
Land Baron Land Baron Creator: SL Consultant Consultant
+$1M revenue +$1M revenue $19M in VC +$6M in fees $15K per project


Kevin Alderman Alyssa LaRoche
Adult Entertainment Clothier
$50K and up $30-$100K fees

BW Online April 2007
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Many of these content creators are extremely
protective and skeptical of those who would
intrude without respect.
The influx of real world brands is sometimes met with discontent
and other times overt hostility.


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Brands that add the most value to the user
experience are the future—not just of virtual
worlds, but of the social web and how we live
our lives.


As an example, the desire for connections and
companionship in these worlds have spawned
new industries.
In-world engagements like sldogs.com allow us to buy and
accessorize a pup to accompany us in digital life.


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And worlds like Neopets attempt to redefine the
idea of pets for the digital space.


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As interest in Virtuality grows, some innovative
companies are cutting out the middleman and
building their own worlds.

JC Penneys (Forterra) Novartis (Prontomedia)


BusinessWeek Online May 2007s
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Virtuality soon demands reappraisal of our
socio-political assumptions.


Life’s eternal questions still linger…and take on
even greater significance in Virtuality.


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And these questions spark the collective curiosity
of burgeoning societies and new communities.


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The complications of digital life has spawned
ethical debates of copyright, decency, freedom
and access—since the 90s when the Internet
was in its infancy.

…and they continue still, without clear resolve.


DISPOSABLE FAD?
IMPRACTICAL?
DEHUMANISING?
UNNECESSARY?

A HAVEN FOR PORN?

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As with any emerging tech, there are bumps in
the road—and even predictions of impending
doom.


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“For virtual worlds and metaverses to achieve
greater potential in the marketplace and
grow beyond early adopters, the experience
must be untethered to meet the needs of the
Anywhere Consumer.”

Yankee Group
Analysis of Second Life, 2007


While virtual worlds may not be the final
chapter, Virtuality is the OS of tomorrow.

Boot up.


We’ve covered a lot today. Some key takeaways…

Virtuality:
Life Remixed: Extension of our real lives.
Worlds Unbound: Expanding global culture.
Spawned Industries: Entirely new economies.
Engage Me: Fueling participation, not just consumption.
Control and Protect: Creative self-expression/control of ideas.
First Life Beta: A new level of try before you buy.
Visual Web: A richer 3D experience.
Half Life: Blurring lines between real and virtual.

…leading us toward a broader ubiquity of Virtuality.

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Continue the conversation on our blog:
http://fallontrendpoint.blogspot.com

Participate
The Sims
Fantasy Spawned Industries
Customization
Co-Created
Digital Life
Gaming Neopetz
Avatar Kidz Play
Self-Efficacy
There.com Humanized
Google Earth
Webkinz
Digital Self Visual Web Autonomy Parallel Life
Emoticon Instant Message

Virtuality
Slurl 3D
Residents
Postcards from Second Life

Borderless Age
Life Remixed Habbo Hotel Virtual Worlds
Life Beta
Youth
Escapism Early Adopter
Metaverse
User Defined Experience
Entropia

Test Drive
Engage Me Control and Protect Virtual Life
In-World
Zwinky Playdo
Connections
Brand Evangelists Sacred Creations
Playstation Home
Tech Savvy
Virtual Culture Futurist
Worlds Unbound Business 3.0
World of Warcraft
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And look out for the invite to next month’s
Brainfood session.

Brainfood is an executive digest of Fallon Planner’s strategic
intelligence and bridges the gap between trends, business issues,
and actionable opportunities for its readers.


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Fallon Brainfood: Virtuality

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