Software & Services | 12 Nov 2007 :
Tourism Ireland has launched a marketing campaign in Second Life; the first time a real world tourist board has used the Internet-based virtual world to market a real holiday destination. The campaign involves Tourism Ireland sponsoring a range of events and activities in Second Life's replica of Dublin City , which was created by London based Irish developer John Mahon of PickSL until St Patrick's Day 2008.
Since its establishment in 2003, Second Life has grown significantly and now has more than nine million registered users or "residents", 1.6 million of whom use it regularly. Dublin in Second Life and is a well established destination for live music and DJs - It occasionally makes the top ten list of the most popular places to visit in the virtual world. Tourism Ireland partnered with PickSL to leverage the success of virtual Dublin as a Second Life destination, to promote the message of holidaying in the real-world destination.
Tourism Ireland's decision was influenced by the fact that 60% of Second Life's users are from Ireland's four biggest tourist markets - Great Britain, the US, Germany and France, and half those are more than 30 - a key demographic for tourism to Ireland.
These "residents" can explore, socialise, participate in activities, trade items and services using Second Life's currency, the Linden Dollar.
"Our involvement in Second Life is about finding new ways to connect to today's web-savvy consumer", said Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland's director of central Marketing. "The organisation has already doubled its digital marketing spend over the past three years, to 14% of all marketing activity. We made an investment of €6.5 million last year. Tourism Ireland plans to spend close to a quarter of its entire marketing budget online in 2008."
Promotional events kicked off in virtual Dublin on 26 October with the Discover Ireland Festival when five bands and seven DJs played on a stage located on Grafton Street. A fashion show took place on a bridge on the River Liffey, while photographic exhibitions of Irish landscapes on Grafton Street, and big screens showcased promotional videos of Ireland.
Some experts predict that the web will be three-dimensional in a decade's time and virtual worlds such as Second Life give us some idea of what the web may look like in the future. Second Life is one of the biggest virtual worlds in existence and many major brands, including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, IBM, Toyota, Sony and Adidas already have a presence there. Within the tourism industry, Starwood Hotels have used Second Life to pilot the design of a new series of hotels and Thomas Cook offers customers virtual package tours. While some tourist boards have built copies of their destinations within Second Life, none has engaged in pro-active marketing to residents of Second Life as Tourism Ireland is now doing.
"Tourism Ireland is committed to using eMarketing to the best possible effect in promoting the island of Ireland as a holiday destination and Anyone can join in the "Discover Ireland Festival" by getting a free Second Life account through www.secondlife.com or at the virtual Dublin website: http://www.dublinsl.com