Second Life. Mark Piesing reports on a radical sales pitch Last August, Scion - the Stateside youth-friendly brand of Toyota - online virtual world of Second Life. It was quickly followed by Nissan and computer-generated representation of themselves - an avatar - to walk, teleport, fly and even do business in a computer-generated world, while Last month, Scion launched the facelifted Yaris-based xB supermini and Chicago Motor Show.
But has the online strategy helped to shift cars in the among the highly desirable members of so-called Generation Y, who number 73 million in the United States. This is the generation of Kanye West (born intensely individualistic, with money to burn, but also hard to reach, as myspace.com, which allows you not only to interact and share with others, says Scion spokeswoman Allison Takahashi, but also sell and advertise.
trendsetters Scion is after. Second Life allows Scion to engage with these folks in an environment they're very comfortable with. But a presence in Second Life may mean little in the real world, claims Greg Verdino, vice president of emerging channels at Digitas marketing.
Beyond the buzz, Second Life has delivered little to no real-world results for brands that have presences in the virtual world. So, companies Scion, however, is no ordinary car brand, as its models can be customised , with a generous spec. Limited-edition cars and accessories keep the customers hungry.
They also look very distinctive or, some may say, ugly. Launched in 2003, Toyota's Scion brand started as rebadged cars imported from Japan, the ist and bB. In 2004, Scion launched its first car for the North American market, based on the European Toyota Avensis.
Of 2.5 million Toyotas sold in the US in 2006, 175,000 were Scions. xB boasts, You're either an xB person or you're not.
There's nothing else like it ...
and we're proud of that. Scion's marketing is special too, spending less per vehicle on advertising than any of its competitors, according to Darren Seeman, owner of the the Scion name with cool stuff and not just another brand. From music tournaments.
There's a whole series of events in Second Life, too. So is it all more about generating blog inches than car sales? After all, myspace.
com is so last year and TV last century. Scion is even thinking Takahashi disagrees. Second Life is a great opportunity for Scion to increase brand awareness.
If the Second Life community has a good experience within Scion City, we hope they'll think of Scion when it's time for them to Second Life generates a GDP equivalent to that of Namibia, so it has to be taken seriously, according to Jonathan Reynolds, fellow in retail marketing at Oxford University's Said Business School. But how many members does the Second Life, many are not active users, says Reynolds. Many don't get much past registration.
So it is actually only reaching a small number of people. According to the on-screen counter, some 17,000 to 25,000 users are active at any one time. So a best guestimate of the total number of active users might be 200,000 to 250,000.
These trendsetters, however, are the people Scion wants. But the 300 Lindens Scions cost, is a lot for those who have just signed on. And the firewalls built and their businesses, according to Verdino.
When Nissan entered Second Life it gave away Sentras. Thus up setting the native car builders who charged for their cars, he adds. In the end, with Scion sales rocketing from 150,000 in 2005 to 175,000 last year, it's hard to tell what impact Second Life and Scion City may have had.
But according to Allison Takahashi, response to Second Life from our consumers has been good. We've sold over 500 virtual vehicles since we an xB turned into a toaster. But, admits Takahashi, we cannot track real-world sales.
I would be surprised if many residents were going out of their way to visit Scion's virtual showroom, as they tend to just replicate the real world showroom experience, he says. But we may be asking the wrong question. According to The Wall Street Journal, Toyota wants to cut Scion sales back down to 150,000 to preserve the brand's cool factor.
So perhaps the question should be, Has Scion sexy than sales, but more easily measured.
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