About the Master’s Thesis

Executive Summary

In today’s over-communicated society we see a constant battle among companies to find powerful ways to catch the interest of consumers. Most recently, consumers seem to be moving away from being passive receivers of TV and print media, to spending more and more time on the internet media. In this connection there has been a growing interest in social media such as MySpace, blogs and wikis, and in recent time we have seen a growing interest in 3D virtual worlds in particular. Specialists suggest that such 3D virtual worlds can be an efficient way to communicate with consumers in the future.

The purpose of this Master’s Thesis is to suggest ways of how companies can use 3D virtual worlds as a part of their brand building process. We use the 3D virtual world Second Life as our case study, but we also consider 3D virtual worlds on a general level. Our findings are based on both a theoretical and an empirical approach. The reader should therefore be aware of the fact that the results can be subject to certain uncertainty and should thus preferably be examined further.

The theoretical framework of this Master’s Thesis takes its point of departure in branding theory and experience economy theory. Thus relating 3D virtual worlds to the selected theories, we suggest a brand building model which is applicable to 3D virtual worlds; the Virtual Worlds Based Brand Building Pyramid (VWBBBP).

The empirical base of this Master’s Thesis is founded on explorative studies, as well as qualitative data. Taking our point of departure in an analysis based on 7 interviews in connection with two cases of companies in Second Life, Mercedes-Benz and Sony BMG, we operationalize the VWBBBP model.

The analysis shows that both cases, at the time of writing, have activities that to some extend explore the opportunities of 3D virtual worlds, however, in general they are not fully taking advantage of what 3D virtual world is really offering.

The results support our findings in connection with the 4 brand building steps of the VWBBBP model, 3D virtual salience, 3D virtual performance and 3D virtual imagery, judgments and feelings through 3D visualization and 3D virtual resonance.

The report suggest that in order for companies to use 3D virtual worlds as a part of their brand building process, they should take advantages of the opportunities of 3D visualization, 3D interactivity and real-time interaction, provided by 3D virtual worlds, in order to be successful. However, it is suggested that it also is important for companies to recognize and respect the limitations of 3D virtual worlds.