Avatar _based_marketing.ppt

Virtuality is defined as

"essential nature of being, apart from external form or embodiment.“

The truly odd thing about virtual world, though, you’re not you. You live in a new body and take on the identity of your “avatar” –

Avatar is a Sanskrit word

and the usage of the term means :

A graphic identity you either select from a group of choices or create on your own to represent yourself to the other party in a chat, instant messaging (IM) or multiplayer gaming session. An avatar is a caricature, not a realistic photo and can be a simple image or a bizarre fantasy figure.

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing Sayed Jafar Sadiq Gourav Modh Kavita Patil Mukesh Cheetha Kavita Patil Vikas Khare

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatars Are ?? To be specific Avatar's are  Internet user's representation of himself or herself, such representations can explore the virtual universe  Avatars can be in the form of a 3D model (computer games) or a two-dimensional icon (Internet forums, other communities)  The use of “Avatar” to mean online virtual body was popularized by Neal Stephenson in his cyberpunk novel Snow Crash (1992)

Avatar Based Marketing

Virtuality

&

Avatar

Virtuality and social media are closely tied and involves Platforms, tools and technologies Though, platforms, tools and technologies come and go, Avatars are Liquid Beings that move among them and who reside in the spaces between the body and the mind.

Avatar Based Marketing

Simpson’s Avatar based Movie promotion

Avatar Based Marketing

Theory of self-congruency

Theory of self-congruency, applies for avatar based marketing which says: Individuals prefer interaction partners that resemble themselves. The “birds of a feather flock together” principle decisively influences human behavior in relationships

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar a new Marketing NICHE

An avatar could be presented as a company representative :>  Avatar sales agent generates numerous desirable marketing outcomes. Attractive avatar is appropriate at moderate levels of product Involvement, while an expert avatar is effective at high levels of product involvement. And that makes Avatar a potential dream marketing venue. Instead of targeting passive eyeballs, marketers here have the opportunity to interact with engaged minds.

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar acts as an agent to control offline and real- world decisions and actions (such as buying a pair of jeans because you saw them in a store in Second Life). While we figure out the psychiatry behind avatars and their/our impacts on our reallife/virtual ids, the opportunities which exist by reaching these virtual are massive for direct response marketing in the areas of targeted leads and micro-payments

E-commerce sites, don’t address the social nature of shopping, especially for women. But in virtual world, an avatar could try on –and try out in front of virtual friends –real-world clothing brands or styles her creator typically couldn’t afford or wouldn’t dare to wear.

Avatar Based Marketing

The Market Place Avatar marketing

• Mass

media business (Aaj Tak, Google, Yahoo)

• Automobile Market (Mercedes) • Sports goods (adidias) • Politics

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing

Yahoo Avatars

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing

But: Education for free Professors as Avatars • Example University of Applied Science in Cologne – virtual classes – video / audio streams – tutorials

Avatar Based Marketing

Business Strategies in Avatar Marketing

• Strategies to include ? – Advertisement – Sale of virtual goods – Trendsetting – Market research – Cross media Marketing

Avatar Based Marketing

Virtual crime - The dark side of Avatar Marketing Copy Bots – programs which copy objects automatically • SL worms – self replicating objects Mafia behavior e.g. – blackmail – blocking loading capacities • Child pornographies • Sexual offenses (rape, assault)

Avatar Based Marketing

Virtual crime - The dark side of Avatar marketing

Identity diffusion between „real“ and „virtual“ self.  Increasing societal segregation and deeping of the digital divide.  Distancing of the individual from established social and cognitive experiences  Addiction and real loneliness.

Avatar Based Marketing

Summary and Outlook

Second life as a virtual living place derives its attraction from the myth of autonomous (self) creation: reinventing a new self opens up unlimited powers. In spite of technical problems, the community is growing - „early adopters“ push forward, asocial selection process is underway. Second Life has started as a digital market place, but it will change into a meeting place for digital creations of all sorts. The business side is mostly focused on PR and marketing, but perhaps one day SL will become a virtual „Harrods“! Avatar Based Marketing