With some ideas, the more you think about it the less sense it makes. This is true of virtual real estate. And yet an industry has risen from it. Albeit built on virtual sand.
Virtual real estate agents can make up to $150,000 a year in Second Life.
They buy nothing real and selling nothing real.
After all when you are in a virtual world, you are still in the real world. And yet land with planning permission is bought from virtual land owners, virtual property developers build the property with virtual materials and a virtual estate agents rent it to an avatar who is a version of something that doesn’t really exist; an alter ego.
And considering these business’ reputations in the real world, have been built based on the quality of their workmanship, customer service and interpersonal skills – how do they transfer these tangibles to an intangible virtual world? Because they do.
It’s made even more puzzling if you consider how a brand or marketing director would plot this activity on a classic business ‘growth’ matrix. It doesn’t fit the model, it’s beyond diversification. That’s not to say virtual commerce doesn’t fit, but just it needs a little extra thought to figure out how. It’s undoubtedly an unordinary growth strategy. And one that pay dividends without leaving the desktop.
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107800
Posted by Christopher Brooks
Lexden is a marketing strategy agency which creates unordinary propositions to motivate customers and deliver commercial advantage for brands.
For more information on how we can help you, contact christopherbrooks@lexdengroup.com or ajairanawat@lexdengroup.com, or call us on T: +44 (0)20 7490 9123. And you can follow us on Twitter @consultingchris.
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