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and inclusive research, and social entrepreneurship can all be fostered in vir-
tual immersive communities. This could also lead to co-creation or dual col-
laboration opportunities with creative minds. The result for the brands that
have included virtual worlds in an integrated online strategy will be contin-
ued innovation and a clearly envisaged future that will be defined by a clear
path to success and leadership in their category.
Other business opportunities for luxury brands in virtual immersive envi-
ronments include using it as a collaborative space for internal events such as
trainings, seminars (or, rather, webinars) and meetings. This will also fos-
ter the orientation towards web-based applications and an e-culture within
the internal organization. In addition, product co-creation, particularly in the
aspect of customization and product experience, may be effectively achieved
through virtual worlds. Brand experiences that lead to buzz marketing and
integrative launch events could also be a winner for luxury brands in virtual
environments if executed strategically.
Finally, luxury brands could benefit from virtual immersive environments
in consumer-generated content (CGC) and consumer-generated adverts
(CGA). CGCs and CGAs are already prolific online and consumers are gen-
erating these contents on their own initiative as a result of their affinity for
the brand. Inviting them to generate these contents in an inclusive manner
(perhaps only for experimenting) will yield a brand far better results than sit-
ting and watching while consumers take over the brand image projection of
luxury brands through uploaded self-made videos.
Beyond the social web: what will happen
after the frenzy?
The social web is currently a-buzz with blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual
worlds and all manners of online communities that make up the social web.
This revolution has changed the rules of marketing forever. However, the social
web will keep on evolving and will eventually organize itself in such a way that
clear parameters for each of its segments will be set. This will follow through
a filtering process where the wheat will be separated from the chaff and only
those blogs and networks that provide real value in terms of content will be
sustained in the long term. The emphasis will also move away from quantity
(100 million unique visitors per day) to quality (length of time spent on pages).
Interactive features such as videos and 3-D will also become increasingly
important to convey complex messages that are often lost in text and static
images. On-demand Internet videos will become more popular with the advent
of vlogs and live video events will become the norm, further fragmenting client
attention. Video clips will also be incorporated within text that will be amassed
through search engines like Google and MSN Live. Other extended forms of
instant social media platforms like Twitter (which allows people to follow
