TMW Ideas

The Chicago Tribune online comment on Kraft becoming the first FMCG brand to open a supermarket in Second Life. (Sorry if I've gone all American, but this is another article I read from a link on the IAB newsletter. I thought it was interesting for those of us who work on FMCG brands and those who work on digital brands - so basically interesting for all of us.)

Northfield-based Kraft said it will become the first foodmaker to launch its products in this emerging Web-based environment, joining other companies in testing a new way to reach consumers. Instead of being fed 30-second messages in TV or radio spots, consumers can create an experience at SecondLife.com, in this case by trading recipes or downloading product information to cell phones.

I thought it would be an interesting story for us to follow and see just how far Kraft go to exploit Second Life. Kraft intend to use the environment to enable consumers to engage with new products, but what I think would be interesting would be to see if Second Life could be used to trial new products prior to launch. So could it reduce time to market or even help develop new products? Imagine if you sell something on Second Life only and if it sells well you launch it, if it bombs, you don't? Possibly this has already been done by another brand but I think it would be quite cool. You could drive around in a car of the future, listening to a brand of the future, running on a fuel of the future and see if any of it would ever work in our first lives… well I think you could and I think it would be cool.