Reuben Steiger in NYT: No one wants to hang out in an ad.
The Times’ Louise Story quoted our CEO Reuben Steiger in writing about the new Coke “CC Metro” campaign in There.com.
Story, whose pointed (rather than needlessly melodramatic) coverage played a big role in helping Facebook course-correct after its Beacon misstep, captured the essence of the message that Reuben has delivered for a long time now: “The [virtual world campaigns] that are going to prosper are going to be the ones that don‚Äôt feel like advertising. No one really wants to go hang out in an ad.”
In writing this post I racked my brain for a counterpoint, imagining that there must be some vintage, sexy, campy or outlandish ad that I would want to hang out in if I could. Unfortunately, even this one didn’t make the cut, so I guess Reub is right. I think hanging out in any ad, however much fun or irony it delivers, would give you a headache pretty quickly.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I’d be prepared to suffer living in this one…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0PBPeyHDc
December 7th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Well, most aren’t as fleshed out as, say, Orangina’s Naturally Juicy campaign…
December 26th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Love it Shep.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Maybe it’s the demographics. I liked flying around in that Splenda build — when Second Life gives me lemons, I make lemonaide : ) I also liked the ad agency Leo, they had the flying pencil, the cage, the awesome trees, those sorts of ads seem to work.
I didn’t want to live in that ad that Shep had though, I would find it creepy having a roomie read me sports scores at night and have a football field underneath my balcony. As I said, it’s the demographics. I like all the MOU builds, they’re fun : )
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:51 am
I believe that Ruben is correct, in that most people don’t want to hang out in an ad. That being said, I don’t really hang out at any one spot much, but spend time exploring the new builds that show up in SL every day. If a build (as an ad or otherwise) is brilliant I do tend to go back, and take people with me. I have taken friends to see many corporate builds, including the one that was an ad for the movie 300. I didn’t hang out there, but I did enjoy seeing it. People naturally hate commercials, but if they are done well, they become part of our culture. I worked in the GEICO marketing department for a year and a half and they have created several Icons (”But I have some good news”, The Cave men, and the Gecko)(Note: GEICO works with the Martin Agency). I am also a fan of the ESPN commercials, which don’t run on any other channel, and serve little purpose, but are still a joy to watch. So my point is this, if one creates a space in a vitual world that is little more than an ad, Ruben is correct that it will likely be unpopular and not well received. But if it is an ad that is also brilliant or funny, then it is possible people will still come. The trick is to be brilliant.