When the Internet first began to catch on with the public, businesses had to learn to evolve beyond simple store-front and print advertising to pull in customers. As a result, these companies practically formed the Internet as it appears today. Now that multi-user online communities like Second Life are getting more and more press, companies like Church & Crawford Inc. (OTCBB: CCWD) are looking to do the same thing in these virtual worlds, intent on getting a head-start on figuring out what does and doesn’t work in these strange new digital environments.”We’re introducing large corporations and smaller business firms into the growing businesses of these virtual worlds [like Second Life,]” Jeff Reidy, Church & Crawford’s CEO, told MN1.
If you haven’t heard about Second Life yet, don’t worry, you won’t be the last. Second Life is a virtual world – not unlike popular games like World of Warcraft or City of Heroes, only with less boundaries and more user freedom – that is entirely built and owned by its residents. Since the world was first opened in 2003, Second Life has attracted more than 7 million users from across the globe.
Naturally, it wasn’t long before businesses saw the opportunities that Second Life brought. Companies like Nike have already established large virtual “offices” in the expansive digital environment, and the selling of virtual real estate has become a profitable venture for some Second Life enthusiasts. In addition, users can sell things to each other, such as clothes for their avatars, virtual motorcycles, personalized user interfaces, and so on.
As more and more business interest mounts, it only make sense that a company like Church & Crawford would want to get in on the ground floor of what could be an extremely lucrative new business center.
“What we’re trying to do is introduce businesses into this growing world so they can reach an additional market,” Reidy said. “There’s a whole [world of] commerce in there, they have their own currency exchange, there’re people who build and sell products within the world … At any time, there’s between 40 to 50 thousand users active.
Of course, like many new companies in a new environment, the large majority of them flounder or fail within the first year – for example, the dot-com boom in the nineties spelled the doom for many would-be companies that weren’t prepared for some of the subtler aspects of online businesses. That’s why Reidy is intent on examining and discovering what makes these new virtual worlds ‘tick.’
“We’re trying to introduce companies to bring their products into this world the right way,” Reidy added. “Unfortunately, there’ve been a lot of attempts from companies like Nike and NBA – different large corporations – that have jumped right in there and built these elaborate set-ups, and yet people don’t view them. Ultimately, they don’t reach the audience that they’re looking to reach.
“We’re just trying to show people the right way if they want to get into this closely-knit community that it’s not like traditional corporate America where you spend millions of dollars [to] brand [everything] and shove it down everyone’s throat,” Reidy added.
Church & Crawford seems to have a pretty steady start so far. Reidy talked briefly about some of the things his company’s planning on putting in their online shops, such as a way to preview an item and look at it, change its color, and so on.
“Some of these communities … have products, but you don’t know what they are,” Reidy said. “[you] have no way of testing them, you don’t even know if you’ll like them, and returning them isn’t really an option. Before they part with their currency, they want to be able to take a look at the product first.”
But for all their expertise, Crawford & Church aren’t experts – yet. Even though it’s already a few years old, the Second Life community is constantly evolving, meaning that a smart investor or entrepreneur has to evolve to keep up with it. Still, Reidy is confident that his company will eventually be able to give his customers the service they need; he just needs to convince potential clients about the benefits Second Life could bring.
“There’re all sorts of different branches that we’re looking into,” Reidy said. “Right now, we’re trying to get businesses excited about it and show them the opportunity to reach these additional clients. My partner and I have contacted a patent attorney about technology that we’re working on that will help better the actual community. We’re working on technologies to … make the community better [and] improve different functions within the community.
“We’re looking to do some very positive things,” Reidy concluded.