Harvard Business Review discusses Avatar-based Marketing

We-Make-Money-Not-Art posted about an article from the Harvard Business Review about avatar-based marketing in virtual worlds like Second Life. The article argues that, while the real-world subscribers to online virtual worlds are an obvious target for marketers, the online avatar, which are essentially alternate identities, “arguably represents a distincly different ‘shadow’ consumer, one able to influence its creator’s purchase of real-world products and conceivably make its own real-world purchases in the virtual world.”

I’m still waiting for the first virtual GIS consultants to set up shop and offer site analyses for the best location of your island, and other real-world type GIS analyses (hmmmm……..maybe we should look into that……)