由于最近虚拟购物日渐盛行，一些大型公司开始考虑通过销售虚拟商品来塑造顾客的品牌意识。

在众多想要打开虚拟商品市场的品牌中，北美沃尔沃汽车公司，服装经销售商H&M和MTV Networks也名列其中。

new york times

市场调查公司NPD Group的首席行业分析师Marshal Cohen表示，各知名品牌公司采用虚拟商品宣传的主要目的在于加强与现实顾客的联系。目前40岁以下，具有购买能力的消费群体是各大品牌的重点宣传对象。

到目前为止，虚拟商品交易市场主要集中在小额交易。顾客们一般愿意在FarmVille和Mafia Wars等社交游戏中花费1-3美元来击倒竞争对手；有时他们也愿意买束虚拟鲜花作为礼物，或者收集一些虚拟道具。

据旧金山的一家财务研究公司ThinkEquity的调查显示，今年虚拟交易总计创收达20亿美元。该公司的新媒体和游戏分析师Atul Bagga则在他的研究报告中指出：虚拟交易市场明年的盈利将可以达到26亿美元。

社交游戏开发商Zynga也表示，本公司在去年通过销售虚拟商品和游戏币统共盈利1亿美元。目前，虚拟交易在亚洲、南美洲和中东的去的发展十分迅速。

最初，美国虚拟商品买家主要是以网络游戏玩家为主，如奇幻世界游戏《第二人生》或《IMVU》等。玩家为自己的虚拟角色购买家具，房子，服饰等，这些虚拟交易创下了10亿美元的年收入。

此外，青少年也是虚拟商品的主要购买者。他们热衷于追星，愿意购买与自己心仪明星相关的一些虚拟商品。据说唱歌手Snoop Doggy的虚拟商品公司称，2008年该公司的虚拟杜宾犬销售额高达25万美元。

但增收并不是沃尔沃汽车公司的主要目的，他们甚至免费发放虚拟商品，只希望吸引提高顾客的品牌忠诚度。

在沃尔沃汽车9月份举办的营销活动中，这一汽车制造公司在MyTown上免费发放虚拟商品以塑造自己可靠而沉稳的品牌形象。（MyTown是目前备受欢迎的一款iPhone应用，在游戏中玩家们可以进行土地购买，收取租金等活动。

据其开发公司Booya称，该游戏目前拥有游戏玩家200多万。

与沃尔沃汽车公司不同，MTV则希望通过发放各位名人佩戴的虚拟饰品来为9月12日的2010年音乐录像带大奖招徕观众，譬如在Facebook女性游戏Mall World中发放著名歌星碧昂丝的钻石手链。

服装销售商Hennes&Mauritz（H&M）也计划3月在MyTown展开虚拟商品宣传战。在本次宣传中，H&M公司将展示以牛仔裤和蓝色外套为主打的Blues系列，鼓励MyTown用户积极参与活动并到H&M店购买心仪的服装。

关于新一轮的宣传策略，H&M公司拒绝透露更多的相关信息。但在该公司的首次举办的虚拟商品活动中，总计有70多万MyTown玩家点击了游戏商店，并获得购买虚拟商品的游戏积分。

针对虚拟商品宣传活动，社交游戏平台供应商Viximo公司的产品副总裁Ravi Mehta指出，一个品牌如果要成功，其开发的虚拟商品必须具有两个特点：一，与众不同；二，与现实商品具有某种联系。他指出，大部分虚拟商品的购买者都是因为这种关联性而产生购买意愿的。举例说明，大部分帕丽斯·希尔顿虚拟商品的购买者都是她的粉丝，她们在发型等各个方面都希望模仿帕丽斯·希尔顿。

此外，Appssavvy的首席执行官Chris Cunnigham还提出，品牌公司在推出虚拟商品时必须慎选适合的社交游戏，譬如女性性向游戏变不适宜宣传男性产品，而服装类游戏则不是汽车公司的最佳选择。

Media Contacts（该公司是沃尔沃汽车的数字媒体代理公司）的品牌经理Emily Garvey也表示，沃尔沃公司之所以选择MyTown这款游戏很大原因在于这是一款基于位置服务的游戏，玩家可以到各种商店，譬如一个汽车行选择购买一辆虚拟汽车。”

通过这种方式，沃尔沃汽车可以吸引汽车爱好者，塑造他们的品牌观念，打造沃尔沃汽车运动，有趣，优雅的汽车品牌。

沃尔沃公司拒绝透露这次30天虚拟商品活动的宣传资金。但据Kantar Media公司称，去年沃尔沃的美国分公司在广告方面一共耗资4700万美元。而2010年的前3个月期间，沃尔沃的开销资金则降低到了500万美元，比2009年同期减少了300万美元。

目前虚拟商业还处于萌芽阶段，我们无从得知这些虚拟商品宣传手段是否真的提高了顾客的品牌忠诚度。

Appssavvy公司曾研究Powerment公司的虚拟商品宣传活动。这是一家经营手机，电子书和GPS设备无线充电器的企业，在密歇根和以色列等地都设有公室。今年5月至6月，该公司在MyTown开展了一场为期10天的虚拟商品宣传活动。参加者可以获得MyTown游戏积分，同时也有机会获得一款无线充电器。

在一份针对2900名MyTown玩家的研究报告中，Appssavvy发现其中25%在活动之前就已熟知Powerment品牌，而活动后这一数据上升为70%。

同时该份报告还指出在活动结束后愿意购买Powerment充电器的顾客人数提高了近三分之一，占总调查人数的60%。

针对MyTown这一社交游戏，Powerment的全球营销副董事Beth Harrison Meyer评价它是促进整个虚拟商品宣传活动的一个有趣又引人入胜的社交平台。

Close LinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink INTRIGUED by the willingness of millions of consumers to pay real money for things that do not exist, some large companies are testing whether they can raise awareness of their brands — and sell more actual goods — by creating and offering their own pretend merchandise.

Volvo Cars of North America, the clothing retailer H&M and MTV Networks are among the diverse brands entering the market for virtual goods — the make-believe items offered on social-networking games, smartphone apps or fantasy Internet sites.

“It’s all about constant connectivity. People live in real time, and established brands have to find ways to keep in touch,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for the NPD Group, a market research company.

“Brands are beginning to dabble in reaching out, especially to the under-40 crowd — many still can make discretionary spends,” Mr. Cohen said, referring to the consumer.

So far, the virtual goods market largely consists of micro-purchases. Consumers typically pay $1 to $3 while playing games like FarmVille or Mafia Wars, both created by the social-gaming company Zynga, to get a jump on game rivals. Users also can give a gift, like flowers, or build a collection of items — just as collectors do in real life.

Those impulses will be worth nearly $2 billion in revenue or more this year, according to ThinkEquity, a financial research firm in San Francisco. Its analyst for new media and games, Atul Bagga, said his research found that the market could reach $2.6 billion next year.

Social game creators like Zynga, which said it made some $100 million last year, mostly from purchases of its virtual goods and game currency, are cashing in on a phenomenon that has flourished in Asia and is growing in South America and the Middle East.

Initially, virtual goods buyers in the United States were typically playing in online fantasy worlds like Second Life and IMVU, which generate nearly $1 billion annually from player purchases of furniture, homes, clothing and accessories for their online avatars.

In addition, teenagers are avid buyers of branded goods offered by music performers like the hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg, who has made about $250,000 since mid-2008 selling items like virtual Dobermans, according to a spokesman for his virtual goods business.

But Volvo, which is based in Sweden, and other corporations are not chasing revenue. Some companies are giving away virtual items, in exchange — they hope — for attracting and developing loyal customers.

In Volvo’s campaign, which began Sept. 1, the carmaker will try to revamp its reliable but staid image by offering virtual goods on MyTown, the popular iPhone app whose players buy real estate and collect rent on properties. This location-based game attracts more than two million players, according to its creator, the Silicon Valley company Booyah.

MTV has a different goal. The network wants to drum up viewership for its 2010 Video Music Awards, on Sept. 12, by giving away virtual replicas of celebrity accessories and fashion items, like the singer Beyonce’s diamond ring on Mall World, a style and fashion-oriented Facebook application for women. Some 400,000 people visit the site monthly.

The clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz, better known as H&M, is planning a virtual goods campaign to follow its foray in March on MyTown. That campaign showcased its collection of denim and blue garments, called the Blues, and encouraged users to visit an H&M store to buy pieces they liked.

The company declined to talk about its new campaign, but during its first effort, some 700,000 MyTown players checked into game locations like hair salons and spas near H&M stores and earned points they could use to acquire branded items.

To succeed, “branded virtual goods have to be identifiable and have a real world relevance,” said Ravi Mehta, vice president for products at Viximo, a social gaming platform provider. “They are driven by the relevance to the purchaser. Paris Hilton has people who buy her virtual goods because they are fans and want to identify with her, her hair, her place in pop culture.”

Companies have to make sure that the site or game has a social activity that fits, said Chris Cunningham, chief executive of Appssavvy, a company in New York that connects brands and advertising agencies to social media applications on Facebook, MySpace, the iPhone and other outlets.

“A game that appeals to females isn’t the right place for ads aimed at men,” Mr. Cunningham said. “Or a site where people try on clothing, that’s not for a car company.”

Volvo chose MyTown, said Emily Garvey, brand manager at Media Contacts, the digital media agency for Volvo, because “it is a location-based game, where people check into a location such as a garage or auto dealership and opt to receive a virtual sedan, a Volvo steering wheel, tire or Volvo iron mark — its logo.”

The carmaker wants to garner attention, and buyers, for its new midsize sports sedan, which it calls the “All New 2011 Naughty Volvo S60 Sedan.” Volvo is trying to “attract auto enthusiasts —

who are about 60 percent men — to get people excited and to change brand perception so people think of it as a sporty, fun and good-looking car,” Ms. Garvey said.

Volvo declined to disclose the amount of its spending on the 30-day campaign using virtual goods. Last year, the United States branch of the carmaker spent almost $47 million on advertising, according to Kantar Media, which tracks such spending. As of the first quarter in 2010, Volvo’s spending slowed to almost $5 million, compared with nearly $8 million in the same period last year, Kantar found.

Since virtual merchandise is in its infancy, there are few solid measures to pinpoint how much campaigns offering the pretend items build awareness, enthusiasm or loyalty to a company and generate real-life purchases.

Appssavvy tried to gauge such outcomes by studying the campaign of one of its clients, Powermat, a company that sells wireless chargers for mobile phones, e-book readers and GPS devices. The company, with offices in Michigan and Israel, conducted a 10-day campaign in May and June on MyTown to build familiarity with its product. Participants could receive points to use on MyTown, and also enter to win a wireless charger.

In a study of 2,900 MyTown players, some recruited before the Powermat campaign was started and others who received its game points, Appssavvy found 25 percent knew about Powermat before the campaign and afterward 70 percent said they were aware of it.

And the study found the consumers’ intent to buy a Powermat charger rose by about one-third, to about 60 percent, compared with the period before the campaign.

“MyTown provided a compelling experience, an online network and a fun and engaging experience,” said Beth Harrison Meyer, Powermat’s vice president for global marketing. （source：new york times）

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