Virtual Goods News

Virtual worlds are a trickier proposition for branded virtual goods than your average online game or social network. A user goes to a virtual world to socialize and communicate, both engrossing activities that leave little attention left over for engaging with all but the cleverest advertising. Gaia deals with this issue by carefully integrating its branded campaigns into the site's game-like experiences. There.com uses a different approach, more rooted in the way branded virtual goods are designed and sold.

There.com Product Manager Huong Duong describes the creation of a branded virtual good as a delicate 8-to-12 week process that results in a brand getting its own specialty store in the virtual world and selling premium items for the Therebucks virtual currency. There.com actually commissions the item designs from users who've already established themselves as virtual item artisans, with everything subject to approval by both the original brand partner and There.com itself.

What gives a There.com branded item its luster-- besides just the presence of the brand-- is that the company is able to build features into them that users normally can't create. There's also a tendency toward playful, non-direct interpretations of what the brand represents.

One of the more noteworthy items from There.com's promotion with the shoe line Hush Puppies was a virtual pet representation of the line's mascot, a basset hound. For the Moen bathware brand, There.com created a shower head that sprayed water in a variety of patterns. Duong says it would be impossible for users on their own to create a non-branded duplicate of either item. 

Of course, Duong also admits that the virtual items that often sell best and are easiest to create are simple apparel items: tops, skirts, pants, dresses, shoes, and other accessories. She cites the Bebe line of designer for fashions for women as one of the major brand successes in There.