There are a couple of issues doing the rounds at the moment, which initially seem unrelated but at the heart of them there is a link, well I’m going to link them anyway!
The first issue is the Star Trek CBS Copyright infringement thread. The thread has some interesting commentary, in particular on page 4 where KellyO Mayo suggests Linden Lab come to an arrangement with CBS and introduce a system that pays a percentage of sales to a CBS account in return for allowing Star Trek items to be sold on the grid.
Edie Shoreland gives the idea short shrift and suggests it should be residents who negotiate any such deals.
Both of them make good points, but really, there should be room for both arrangements, the glaring problem for a Linden Lab initiative is that the grid is not PG only and many brands get the heebie jeebies about being associated with any sort of image of a female nipple, although they’re happy as Larry to see their brands being perused on beaches in hotter climates where there are female nipples aplenty. I won’t get into a rant on the silliness of this but it does tie in with another issue, the IHeartSL fashion feed has gone PG according to reports, including a report over at New World Notes by Iris Ophelia.
One of the suggested reasons for the IheartSL change of heart …. oh dear… oh where was I, oh yes, one of the suggested reasons for the change of policy is that IheartSl runs Google Adsense and the guidelines for participating are basically that your site should be PG. Which links in with the issue of whether Linden Lab would be able to gain traction with brand partnerships whilst large parts of the grid are not PG.
However, it should be noted that there have been unconfirmed reports of Coca Cola allowing their brand to be used within Second Life. Let’s take a journey back in time, let’s go back to 2007 and the heady days of Vint Falken being an excellent Second Life blogger. Vint received a notification from the then, SLExchange, that a freebie Coca Cola outfit listed on SLExchange was in violation of trademark policies. Coca Cola hadn’t filed a DMCA, but hey, it’s a Coca Cola item and SLExchange felt it was a violation.
The thing was that Coca Cola had ran a campaign in Second Life calling on users to create Coca Cola content. Vint spoke to someone and then a message was received from SLExchange saying the listing was allowed and:
“We have spoken to Coca-Cola and they have released their trademark to SL Merchants.”
There’s an entry on the Second Life Wiki about the Vint Falken incident. Does this therefore mean we can all create Coca Cola content in Second Life? Well, to quote Francis Urqhart, “You might very well think that, I couldn’t possibly comment” Even the wiki article points out it’s an in the contriutor’s understanding. Back in 2007 Vint suggested that there should be an official page listing which brands people are allowed to use.
I’ve banged on before about Linden Lab seeking alternative income streams, partnerhips with other companies do have potential and allowing people to create content using official logos would allow those brands some sort of advertising opportunity, although the market in Second Life is relatively small, it’s still advertising and brand awareness. The problem is possibly to do with Second Life having adult content, but this really shouldn’t be insurmountable as Second Life has classifications for sims and their brands make their way into adult establishments in towns and cities all over the world, day in, day out.
Another issue would be Linden Lab having to draw up contracts, negotiating time and ultimately policing it, they may not have the resources to do this, or they may think the returns won’t be worth the hassle but I believe it’s an avenue they should explore.
“partnerhips with other companies do have potential and allowing people to create content using official logos would allow those brands some sort of advertising opportunity, although the market in Second Life is relatively small, it’s still advertising and brand awareness.”
Three points.
Coke may have “released their trademark”, but that didn’t really benefit LL in terms of alternative revenue. All it did was amount to the possibility of low-hanging “product placement” for Coke in SL.
Secondly, if LL are going to realistically generate income from deals with major brands, it means they’ll have to find a means of charging brands for the privilege of advertising and / or some form of sponsorship of in-world activities. This has the potential for fail on two levels:
– As you say, the SL market is relatively small, so there is really no incentive for a leading brand to invest their time in any advertising deal. Particularly when they can get their product prominently placed on both the large and small screen (often for free) and reach a significantly larger audience than SL can address.
– Sponsorship would likely draw a hight degree of scorn and backlash from SL users who would see it as another attempt to “commercialise” SL or “turn it into a corporate platform”.
Finally, when it comes to franchises like Star Trek, BSG, etc., the name of the game is not advertising – it is licensing. This is really at the heart of the situation with CBS.
As I’ve commented on my own post on the matter, it matters not what was or wasn’t said in the past vis-a-vis the use of Trek copyrights, the fact remains that those holding the Trek franschise have licensed the majority of items we’ve seen made and sold in-world. As such – and here’s the bottom line – CBS must be seen to be protecting the licences they have granted to other third parties (generally at considerable cost to those third parties.
Ergo, for LL to enter into any kind of arrangement with such franchises, it’s hard to see the franchise holders throwing over their licensing model. Plain and simple, they’ll want coin for their rights. That’s not going to generate revenue for LL, it’s going to cost LL because the marketplace and exposure in SL simply isn’t large enough or lucrative enough for a major franchise holder to make it a “special case”.
On top of that, there is also the problem as to how LL, once granted a licence, recoup the cost.
LL do need to find alternative revenue streams, I agree (and they are, via diverisifcation, even if it will take time to build momentum). But I remain unconvinced that trying to borker deals with franchises or trying to promote SL as an advertising platform is the way they’ll do so.
Yes CBS must be seen to protecting their licensees, otherwise why would anyone pay them a fee to sell products based upon their IP, that’s the crux of the takedowns, people were selling items. People can apply for a license from CBS.
I can’t see Linden Lab benefitting from a franchising deal directly, that’s something for a resident to negotiate.In theory Linden Lab could negotiate the deal and then charge people for a sub-license, but that would be a pain to administer, although not beyond the realms of possibility, I’d imagine CBS would charge a lot of money for a deal along those lines, so I don’t think that’s LL’s place.
Sponsorships and logos are a different kettle of fish, we’ve already seen the CSI tie in, I’m not sure how well that worked out in terms of both parties but it was an example of Linden Lab embracing something different, electric sheep were the driving force behind it but LL would have been on red alert.
People always baulk at advertising, City Of Heroes introduced inworld advertising, Livejournal introduced advertising to their site, both were met with scorn but people got on with it. There are parts of Second Life and their website that are ripe for experimental advertising programs. I still don’t understand why they can’t come to an arrangement with the likes of Adobe, who make products that Second Life creators can use.
Given that we’ve not seen anything since the CSI New York debacle (and it was a debacle im terms of how it misrepresented Second Life), I’d say that it didn’t go terribly well for all parties concerned.
I still don’t see sponsorship working on any decent scale which benefits LL for the reason stated, and the fact that to have any perceived benefit to any large sponsor, there would have to be some form of gauranteed return for the effort involved.
Again, as with CoH, it’s potentially better for region / estate owners to work on such deals directly, as they can engage with those markets that match their intent and / or demographic / preferred geographical reach. This would allow considerable flexibility of approach among region owners and avoid finding themselves potentially hamstrung should they wish to go seek external sponsorship only to find that LL has had to agree to a “one size fits all” approach from a given sponsor, should it prove that there is someone out there willing to do a deal – but on the basis of exclusivity due to the small size of the market reach.
Well we don’t know what the targets of the CSI campaign was, Blondin might have as he worked for Electric Sheep, but he’s no longer here.
I really think it’s a horses for courses issue, in some areas it’s better for LL to do a deal, and I really think things like media streams fit that issue, in terms of sales, it’s better for residents to come to their own arrangements.
However here’s the bottom line on advertising, if Cristiano Midnight can get people to part with money to advertise on SLUniverse, even in Linden Dollar form, then there’s no reason whatsoever why Linden Lab, who should have more eyes on the prize, can’t.