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Joel Burslem, on his blog the Future of Real Estate Marketing, posts about Coldwell Banker opening up a virtual branch in the mega-hit online community Second Life. If you don’t know about (a) Joel Burslem or (b) Second Life you should definitely click the links to learn more about both of them.
Second Life is an online virtual community of millions of people who live out "second lives" in a virtual world full of everything that we have here in reality and much, much more. If you are internet impaired think "chat room with characters representing people". This is the latest rage on the internet and marketers are trying to capitalize on the captive audience. Range Rover, HSBC, and other big brands are making Second Life marketing part of their online marketing mix.
Coldwell Banker has now also opened up a virtual branch in the game to help people buy real estate. They are managing virtual homes, giving tours, and even tossing in "free furniture" for home buyers as a closing gift.
This is truly amazing to me. I’ve tried the game, and it takes a lot of work to get involved in the ebb and flow of "life" in Second Life. There will be some dedicated Coldwell Banker marketers spending lots of time showing virtual homes and making virtual sales - all to extend the Coldwell Banker brand. It’s an interesting concept; however the return will be difficult to measure. Can you imagine walking in to a Coldwell Banker branch and on the questionnaire "How did you hear about us?" seeing "Second Life" as one of the choices?
My next question: Who’s going to handle the foreclosures when the Second Life bubble bursts?
