Playboy Comes to Second Life
I first met Marc Girolimetti at a Second Life event in Boston and we instantly clicked. We are certainly kindred spirits and are developing a great friendship. So many months ago when we had lunch at China Sky in Wellesley and he told me the secret about bringing Playboy into Second Life I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. But, as a good friend I kept the news to myself. Even when I saw the teaser banners recently I didn’t say anything.
At our last lunch he mentioned how he’d LOVE to be on a podcast sometime and of course I’m not going to miss an opportunity like that!
So last week we got on the phone to talk about the changes his company Green Grotto Studios is going through, how they got Playboy , New England sports, Curt Schilling’s Blog, Babson and new media in general. It’s about an hour long, but a great conversation about a variety of topics.
The island opens today at 4 pm SLT and there will be some fun events to kick it all off. Enjoy!
Call anytime into the comment line at 206-309-4729 and leave a message or e-mailing me an MP3 works as well.
More goodness at Managing the Gray if this gets scraped or you find it somewhere else.
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Awesome interview with some incredible points. I absolutely love his way of thinking of customer engagement. Yes, SL has smaller numbers, but compare the time a customer is engaged with your brand. Seconds for a TV ad, much less for a web banner, to a 30 minute per person average with your brand in SL.
C.C., this was a very interesting discussion, particularly as it pertains to a brand like Playboy that has had such a distinct image over many, many years. It’s great to see them making a commitment to an experience like SL.
I do have to wonder, however, about one issue you and Marc discussed. I believe it was Marc who mentioned that the first thing people think of when they hear the name “Playboy” is “tits and ass” or centerfolds, or what have you, but this SL Playboy experience was not going to be that. My thought is: if this IS in fact what people think of first, how will you account for this when you don’t offer that to the citizens of SL?
Certainly, I can understand it if Playboy wants to change the expectation and/or perhaps reinforce the idea that they are the classy, refined choice for adult entertainment - certainly. And as you said, there are scores of other establishments in SL for raw adult content doing quite well for themselves. But what about that audience who WILL show up who represent those who read Playboy for the centerfolds and NOT the great interviews?
I’m just curious how that will be accounted for while still holding true to Playboy’s goals as they pertain to their image.
(I’ll admit, I have not been in to visit the space yet since the launch, so I haven’t seen it for myself.)
Also, C.C., you dropped the ball by forgetting one important question: will we see Hef and the Bunnies themselves in SL?
yeah… playboy in Second Life. Because the one thing that the internet is lacking is pictures of naked women.
[…] check out the Playboy sim in Second Life and please tell Doug what they heck they are doing there (CC Chapman does have some […]
[…] Transcript for Managing the Gray #36 “Playboy Comes to Second Life” Originally posted on June 12, 2007 […]
[…] check out the Playboy sim in Second Life and please tell Doug what they heck they are doing there (CC Chapman does have some […]