I have to say, today was a fun day in more ways than one. My new book Brand Avatar, Translating Virtual World Branding Into Real World Success just launched in Feb in the UK and is due out in the US and the rest of the world on Mar 31.This morning I gave a key-note presentation in Las Vegas to attendees of GlobalShop 2009 (produced by Nielsen Business Media) about the brands within virtual worlds and how vw's also fit into the overall social media and traditional Internet landscape for retail brands - or what I collectively refer to as virtual branding.
Where Internet branding used to mean more or less traditional web sites and ecommerce, virtual branding is the landscape of branding within traditional Internet/e-commerce sites, blogging, social media and virtual worlds. For brands large and small alike, harnessing this brave virtual realm can be challenging, but one of the key points to remember is that whether we're talking Facebook, Twitter or Second Life - none are isolated entities but rather work together in the bigger picture of things. Each of these realms: social media, virtual worlds, Internet sites/e-commerce, even email campaigns require more focus by companies as a collective plan - spokes in the wheel that feed the center of brand building - versus regarded as individual components that exist on their own and in isolation. With the convergence and evolution of these realms becoming more mainstream, knowing your target audience's virtual habits are just as important as knowing your target audience's (traditional) media habits. It's a larger topic I'll cover more in future posts.
But back today. I had the luxury of walking around the exhibitor displays today for GlobalShop and saw a vast array of retail products, displays, shelving - you name it. What caught my eye, however, were two different companies offering a new twist on the branded experience. iDisplay is one company based out of the UK that offers up branded and sometimes larger than life digital displays that can run everything from a product demo (as is the case of the uber-sized Samsung phone with fully functioning, interactive display of phone features) to specially-produced commericals and trailers.
Finally, Fogscreen out of Finland has the projected image experience amped up a hundred fold by projecting images onto finally misted fog (i.e., water) in place of the traditional screen, creating a sci fi-inspired misty effect that is both vivid and etheric. The photo below captures a Fogscreen used for a Playboy event.
Thanks again to DDI retail design magazine and the folks at Nielsen Business Media for a great event.
