Six
article review and summary. From Eve Zheng
The
attractiveness of advertising in Second Life
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
The
article Avatar-based advertising in
second life: The role of presence and attractiveness of virtual spokespersons by
Seung-A Annie Jin and Justin Bolebruch (2010) from the Journal of Interactive
Advertising demonstrates some ideas about advertising in Second Life. At the
beginning of the article the author highlights the fact that Second Life has had
some economic impact through in-world currency (the Linden dollar), advergaming
and marketing communication, and is a growing area for interactive advertising.
The article not only describes the impact of spokes-avatars providing
valuable information to researchers, advertisers and marketers, but also uses descriptive
statistics and t- test results to identify consumer`s evaluation of avatar physical
attractiveness and the value of any advertisement message, revealing a
mediating role of spokes-avatars level of attractiveness (Jin & Bolebruch,
2010).
The article discusses three forms of advertising in Second Life
(No avatar, Human avatar, and Non-Human avatar). The researcher carefully
provides descriptive statistics, t-test explanations and clear tables within
the text. A Path Diagram of Mediation Analysis, figure 1, shows the impacts of
attractiveness to consumers` valuation of the information value of the advertising
message (Jin, Bolebruch, 2010).
The discussion section identifies the key finding
of the whole research, that “avatar based advertising in Second Life can
contribute to increase product involvement and positive attitudes towards a
product” (Jin & Bolebruch, 2010, p.56). From this discussion section the
reader will have a general understanding of different potentials for avatar-based
advertising. Finally, the limitations and further research part listed a shortage
of current research.
Above all, this article is full of inspiration on the
attractiveness of avatar use for advertising and this could be very influential
to people who have the desire to be involved in this research or to use Second
Life for advertising purposes. Personally I do want to see advertising in
Second Life because it is a media building a bridge between the virtual and
real world, and people not very socially active in the real world might find it
hard to be exposed to new products in the real world, so the virtual world can
help them negotiate the real world. However, previous readings have taught me
that it is not a very successful place to advertise, so this article is a bit
more positive.
Reference:
Jin, S., & Bolebruch, J. (2009). Avatar – Based
advertising in Second Life: The Role of presence and attractiveness of virtual
spokespersons. Journal of interactive
advertising, Vol. 10(1),
pp51-60.
New Media`s Influential Power in our World
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
The article Users
of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media by
Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein (2010) from Business Horizons is a very
brief, simplified, clear summary of recent popular internet technology based on
Web 2.0 and tries to define what ‘Social Media’ means. Six different types of
social media are classified: blogs, collaborative projects, social networking
sites, content communities, virtual social worlds and virtual game worlds. The
article aims to advise companies on how they can use social media to their
benefit.
For me, I have no real trouble with defining social
media and thinking about what that is. So this article was not so useful to me
in its description of the different categories of social media, but was very
interesting towards the end of the article when it discusses how different
businesses could use different social media categories to advertise for
commercial benefit. So it is interesting that different categories of social
media have their own potential, such as those that target the right market in
terms of participants, that use businesses’ time well, are wide reaching if
necessary, easily accessible, easy to use, interactive and interesting. It is
interesting for my research topic of advertising in virtual worlds as it says this
type of advertising is full or opportunities and potential. Participants in
virtual worlds live quite similarly there to how they live in the real world
(Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) so this makes them easy to observe and see
whether they are part of the target market for advertisers. Some challenges to
using social media for commercial gain include really being very familiar with
social media and interacting in appropriate ways on social media sites. The
right type of social media must be chosen for successful outcomes, and it must
be used correctly.
Reference:
Kaplan, AM., & Haenlein, M.(2010).Users of the world, unite!
The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business
Horizons, 53, 59—68,
doi:
0.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003
How to make Advertising Succeed in Second Life
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
The article Advertising
Age, How to succeed in Second Life, Coke, Others Plunge in, but If they `re not
careful, Their Virtual plays Will Result in Real-World Headaches identifies
varieties of products and companies, such as electrical products by Sony BMG,
clothes by Adidas and Reebok, and soft drinks by Coca-cola, using virtual world
marketing in Second Life. This article covers Coca-cola`s whole advertising
process in Second Life: the way they prepared before starting to advertise, advertising
costs and the challenges the marketers face. Also, through the article, Second
Life advertising has been compared to advertising in reality, especially
regarding costs. The article shows the two forms of advertising benefitting the
company.
At the end of this article, varieties of experienced
people have made thoughtful, direct, and also quite recent ‘DOs and DON`Ts’
comments or recommendation for people who still want to advertise successfully
in Second life.
Reference:
Capps, B. (2009) How to Succeed in Second Life. Advertising age. Online available. http://adage.com/print?article_id=116913
Advertising in Virtual Worlds
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
The article Virtual
Worlds as a Medium for Advertising describes the virtual worlds as a
potential media for marketers and advertisers, especially Second Life, as this
particular game orientated virtual world, among hundreds of virtual worlds, has
the largest amount of users. Many different advertisers are shown to have made
contributions on v-commerce or e-commerce through virtual e-worlds. The populations
of v-users or e-users still grow rapidly. This article summarizes the art of
advertising in virtual worlds, and also made some suggestions for further
research in the field. To gain more researchers interested in and involved in
this particular field is one of the purposes of the article.
In the article, growing relevant literatures are
shown to have examined the way marketers use online avatars in marketing to have
a positive potential to influence gamer `s trust and buyer`s shopping intentions.
There are hundreds of different brands of products already having virtual world
marketing experience.
Reference:
Barnes, S. (2007)Virtual Worlds
as a Medium for Advertising. The Data base for Advances in
Information Systems,
38(4).
Rule
Regulation issue in the Virtual world
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
This
article is about Rule regulation issues
in the virtual world. It is generally argued that the activities I the
virtual world also need to be regulated and certain activities will even have
to be restricted in a similar way in the real world. The basic principles
behind this argument is that people in the virtual world can do things to
effect the people in the real world, such as the psychological aspects of the
people in the real world. This is applicable to my proposed Chinese restaurant
advertisement in the virtual world. If someone wants to destroy my business in
the virtual world with illegitimate manner, the business in the real world
might also be impacted as well. The author of this article proposed several
means to establish a virtual world regulation system: 1) to regulate virtual
world provider; 2) to constrain regulatory dynamics; 3) to use defensive
posture to restrict permeability; 4) to seek real world assistant to help the
virtual world self governance. As for the item #1, the virtual provider should
be the front line to ensure a properly regulated virtual culture since they are
the creators of the virtual world and regulatory rules will be much easier for
them to implement and execute. As for the item #2, it is important to ensure
that most virtual world communities will share the common ground in terms of
regulatory issues, such as ethical standard, etc. This is very similar to that
in the real world that it is important to avoid culture conflicts when
different cultures encounters. The item #3 actually means it is important to
ensure that the real world regulation is dominating the virtual world
regulation. The item #4 emphasized that it is still up to each individual to
carry an appropriate ethic standard in the virtual world.
Reference:
HeinOnline (2006) Napster's Second Life. Real World or Virtual World, (1818-1825)
available online: https://www.copyright.com/ccc/basicSearch.do?
&operation=go&searchType=0
&lastSearch=simple&all=on&titleOrStdNo=0029-3571
Avatar
based marketing exploration
Article
review (Eve)xin zheng
This
article (Hemp, 2012) introduces one of the most important aspects of virtual
world: business development. One major form of advertising, avatar based
advertising is heavily discussed. It is a general truth that even in the real
world, market advertising can take different forms and avatar based marketing
can also be found quite often as well, such as having the experience tour of a
new model of automobile or sitting in a tightly sealed cage to tour a wild
place full of dangerous animals. In the virtual world, avatar based experience
can be much easier than the real world, and thus it can give business a new
option to promote their products and services. This article categorizes avatar
based marketing into two different types: combat focused and social interaction
focused. The combat focused avatar based marketing is actually focused in
virtual world whose sole purpose is gaming such as World of Warcraft. In these
types of virtual world people are actually looking for simulated experience of
combat. In the social interaction focused virtual world, the people are
generally looking forward to experience a versatile and different life than in
the real world. As for my proposed Chinese restaurant advertisement, I should be
able to find opportunities to make advertisements in both type of virtual
world. In the combat focused virtual world, maybe I can put my advertisement in
a supply store to remind the customer that if they really need food at that
moment, they will know our number and to make orders. For the customers in the
virtual world, I can put interesting signs to let them know what is going on
the real world about my Chinese restaurant, so that they can have obtain a
sense of connection with the real world while wondering in the virtual world.
Reference
Hemp, P.
2012. Avatar-Based Marketing. Harvard
Business Review. Accessed from
http://hbr.org/2006/06/avatar-based-marketing/ar/1
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