Two ambitious Dutch companies enter Second Life
Soon the entrance of companies into Second Life will not be worth all the buzz that it is now getting in the media. But before that time companies are fully taking that advantage, because it is the only certain return you will get for now. All other projected “revenue” is very uncertain.
This week two big Dutch companies released their plans with Second Life: Philips, the electronics company and ABN AMRO, one of the bigger global banks.
Philips Design
The first to announce their plans this week was Philips Design, part of Royal Philips Electronics. According to the press release:
Philips Design intends to use it’s presence in Second Life to gain feedback on innovation concepts, engage residents in co-creation and gain a deeper understanding of potential opportunities in this virtual environment.
Part of this, the getting feedback on innovation concepts, we have heart before, but the co-creation thing was quite new to me. To quote again:
In this way, Second Life users can have a greater say in the kind of colors, ergonomics, functionality and other features of products they may wish to buy in this virtual world. This will allow Philips Design to find new ways of relating to end users. Having such direct feedback can significantly enrich the design process and lead to innovative and surprising end results.
If I understand this correctly they will be offering “in-world” products as well. I wonder what they will come up with?
Surprising also was that Philips has actually signed an agreement with the design company they are using Rivers Run Red, under which terms, “Philips Design and Rivers Run Red will create a collaborative working space for the real and virtual worlds. Specialists from both companies will participate, providing new knowledge, competences and services to clients such as Royal Philips Electronics.”
ABN AMRO
Today the big Dutch but globally active financial institution ABN AMRO announced their plans with Second Life (links to Dutch press release, English version was not ready yet!)
ABN AMRO is, to my best knowledge, the only big financial company active in Second Life at this moment. A year ago Wells Fargo had some activities, but these were stopped and move to another virtual world.
ABN AMRO plans the following:
- offering information
- a place where (potential) customers can meet
- organising seminars for specific groups, like starting entrepreneurs, students or so called preferred banking customers
- and last but not least it will use Second Life to recruit new employees.
All not really exciting (no financial products…), but considering that we are talking about a financial institution here, it may still be considered quite a (risky) venture.
I wonder what Dutch company comes next?
Related: all my Second Life articles
Technorati tag(s): Second Life, Philips, ABN AMRO
Add to del.icio.us 
| 
posted Dec 1, 11:11 pm on Dec 01, 2006 |
category: Second Life