Last fall, Madison Avenue joined the corporate ranks rushing to Second Life to open virtual branches. Leo Burnett Worldwide, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and AKQA were among agencies
setting up shop in Second Life to assist clients, attract tech-savvy new employees and spur digital creativity. Above all, it was a way to showcase their Web 2.0 with-it-ness and willingness to
experiment with new media.
Since then there's been a broader backlash against Second Life as an overhyped virtual ghost town.
So how have the
agencies' "in-world" outposts worked out? To date, they seem to be little more than digital sandboxes as agencies struggle to find their footing in Second Life.
One
hurdle cited by agencies is a difficulty doing business because of security and privacy concerns. Leo Burnett, which created an "Ideas Hub" to foster collaboration among its creative staff worldwide,
hasn't held the large meetings it planned in Second Life for fear of compromising confidential client information.
British agency Bartle Bogle, which opened a full-service
office in Second Life last year, declined to comment on its experience so far.
In a recent advisory, Gartner warned that discussions involving confidential and commercially
sensitive information shouldn't take place inside Second Life or any other virtual world. It suggested companies consider more heavily moderated and targeted alternatives such as There.com, Kaneva and
Activeworlds.
The report also noted that considerable skepticism remains about the practical benefits of virtual worlds.
In that vein,
agencies are also hoping for Second Life to provide more tools for simulating actual meetings such as whiteboards, and messaging and calendaring applications. "I wish there were more developers
figuring out ways to allow for more business-to-business features," says C.C. Chapman, a spokesman for creative shop Crayon, which has its own Second Life island. For its part, Second Life creator
Linden Labs says that companies can restrict access to their virtual islands to employees and invite individual island "residents" to meetings. The company is also developing a voice application for
Second Life, now in beta, which it expects to help make meetings and other corporate activities more productive. But Linden Labs has no immediate plans to open up its API to third-party developers
à la Facebook.
If nothing else, agencies say that creating their own Second Life extensions helps them to better advise marketers exploring virtual worlds. "The
strongest point has been the ability to fully immerse our teams in a 3-D Web development environment without any restrictions," says Abby Lovett, a spokesperson for Leo Burnett, whose Detroit office
helped Pontiac launch its presence in Second Life late last year. "Our island gives us a place to experiment and try out ideas for the benefit of clients."