Good to see both Coca-Cola and Xerox getting their entry right in SL today. Each have taken very different approaches given their motivations for entering SL with Coca-Cola a B2C and Xerox a B2B play. However both have shown how they have learned from those who have gone before them and demonstrating what living the brand within The Living Web is all about.
Coca-Cola have a higher hurdle to clear than most given the expectations for them to do something truly special. Michael Donnelly RL / Mickey Douhet SL, Director of Global Interactive Marketing, has not disappointed. He brought Crayon and Millions Of Us on board to conceive their Virtual Thirst competition with the talented Britney Mason acting as SL spokesperson. Providing entry opportunities across a multiple of social media platforms – MySpace, YouTube, a drop box in world and email – enables customers to join the conversation and personalize the experience.
Xerox have been working hard over the last 12 months since their call to arms internally to get on board with social media. Extreme Offices and Frugal Color are statements of intent to reposition the organization internally and externally for the 21st century.Virtual architects Beta Technologies have shown what can be done in two weeks building Xerox Innovation Island.
As part of the launch festivities Linda Jacobson moderated a lively virtual world’s (VW) panel discussion with Seth Witte describing the VW lessons learned at IBM about self organizing, Bob Moore outlining the opportunities VW’s presented Xerox to reconnect with its customers, Gwyneth Llewellyn speaking about how VW are enabling the fun to be put back into fundamentals of business and Eggy Lippman talking about how VW’s enable e-motive experiences. Hat tip to Julia Jua of Text 100 for organizing the event and making everything run so smoothly. Lots of lessons were learned by all including how-to-make-an-entry 101 by SpinMartin. 🙂