More than 30 companies are working on projects for Second Life, an online virtual world with more than 1 million participants that enables computer users to create a new and improved digital version of themselves. But now the fake world is taking on a real-world twist: big business interests are intruding on digital utopia. Real companies populating the world of avatars that fly around, walk underwater and look like anything they wish include Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Nissan, Adidas/Reebok, Toyota and Starwood Hotels. They sell digital as well as real-world versions of their products. This week, performer …

Tom Tiller, CEO of the Polaris brand of all-terrain vehicles, is challenging his rivals to a driving contest to determine which truly makes the "world's toughest" ATVs. Any competitor who accepts is being asked to ride his top-of-the-line model on a track in Las Vegas on Nov. 16. A Web site, www.polarisduel.com, chronicles any news on the event and features the track design, the vehicles that will be involved, and a blog site. It also includes, as an online game, "Declare-a-Duel," which allows users to engage in an online ATV riding challenge against each other. As unlikely as …

Call centers are increasingly using "speech analytic" and "emotion detection" systems that record and transcribe phone calls and categorize them by words and phrases. The technology--developed originally for eavesdropping--allows marketers to analyze millions of phone conversations between customer service agents and consumers in an effort to better digest and organize what customers are saying. It can, for example, make it easier for marketers to figure out if a complaint is isolated, or part of a systemic problem. And more subtle systems are designed to understand that "this is the last straw" means the caller wants to bolt, allowing a …

Grammy-winner Justin Timberlake took over Social Hollywood, one of Hollywood's hottest nightspots, for the runway debut of his William Rast clothing line Tuesday night. A-list celebrities and spectators packed into bleacher seats to watch as models--with their hair styled into pompadours and makeshift Mohawks--previewed the spring 2007 collection dubbed "Street Sexy." There were skinny jeans for men and women, topped with tanks or muscle shirts. There were also country-inspired checkered shirts for men, decorated with ruffles or leather details. Some were shown with ascots. Women's styles included cropped cardigans, shrunken sweater dresses, and puffy-sleeved blouses with bows at the …

As part of an ongoing effort to build a family-friendly image for Magic Mountain and its 29 other amusement and water parks, Six Flags announced new rules requiring shirts, "appropriate footwear" and considerate conduct, among other things. The parks have a reputation for attracting unruly teens, but a Six Flags spokeswoman says the new code of conduct is not an acknowledgement of trouble at the turnstile. Six Flags wanted to standardize varying codes at its parks to create an inoffensive atmosphere, she says. A frustrated group of investors led by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder won control of Six …

Rapper and entrepreneur Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter not only appears in new marketing and promotional efforts for Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser Select, he is also collaborating with the brewer on marketing strategy for the brand. The alliance launched on ESPN during "Monday Night Football," with the debut of two versions of a video supporting Jay-Z's new single, "Show Me What You Got." A-B said the deal marks the first time the company has signed a celebrity to actively participate in the development of one of its beer brands. "His approach to reaching people in creative, groundbreaking ways that transcend cultural boundaries makes …

The music industry is taking a different tack than just suing individual downloaders and file-sharing services for music piracy on the Internet. It's joining them by planting fake--or "decoy"--files that contain promotional material. An eight-minute video clip from a Jay-Z concert at Radio City Music Hall, for example, includes promotions for Coca-Cola. It has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times. Other music groups have placed snippets of a song into decoy files with the promise that a stream of the entire song will be "unlocked" for everyone once the promotion is forwarded to enough people. Right now, …

The best way to get people to buy your product in a store is to give them a taste of it. Some 52.4% of adults 18 and older said they were either "influenced" or "greatly influenced" by in-store product sampling, compared to 43.2% who cited product labels and 39.5% for shelf coupons, according to the recent Simultaneous Media Usage Survey by BIGresearch. Following the top three, the most influential in-store media by percentage are: Special Displays (35.5%); Store Loyalty/Card (33.1%); Coupon on Register Tape (28.4%); In-Store Events/Contests (28.1%); Parking Lot/Sidewalk Events (18.2%); Floor Graphics (12.5%); In-Store TV (10.9%); In-Store …

Ford executives say the teardrop-shaped Edge, the latest entry into the crossover market, is crucial to helping it reverse a market share slide from about 26% in 1995 to around 17% this year. But Ford's President of the Americas Mark Fields cautions that Edge alone can't save Ford. "This is not the silver bullet that the company is looking for because in this day and age, you need to have lots of products," Fields says. Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates, says the Edge's body styling and other features should make it …

Pepsi is putting the final touches on a big-budget campaign that hark back to the "Catch That Pepsi Spirit" ads of the late 1970s. BBDO reportedly has produced at least five spots, including an anthem commercial that one source says has an inclusive tone that evokes an emotional tug similar to Coca-Cola's "Hilltop" spot. The spots seek to forge a new bond with consumers and remind them of "the Pepsi feeling, imagery and icon," says an executive who attended Pepsi's annual convention last month, where the ads were unveiled to bottlers. Although none of the attendees wanted to …