Autoblog

iMagicLab opening dealer megaplex in Second Life

Jonathon Ramsey — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:19:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Lifestyle

On March 1, 2008, Second Life will host the grand opening of the Automobile Dealer Relations Center (ARDC) called AutoLand. While that sounds like the kind of place where you'll have to run for your life from a cyborg Yul Brenner, it will actually be home to a multi-brand showroom in the virtual life sim that was created by customer relationship management software maker iMagic. What's more, you'll be able to chat with up to 50 dealers nationwide about pricing, availability and service issues.

We have to admit that we find the idea of a virtual car showroom kind of funky (disclaimer: this blogger has never been in or on or at Second Life before today). After all, Second Life's graphics aren't cutting edge, so at best you'll only be able to look at chunky representations of the car you're interested in buying. As for chatting with dealers, virtual sales don't affect the brick-and-mortar bottom line much, and if the chatroom becomes a forum to gripe about service issues, we can see things getting testy pretty quickly. If nothing else, it's a neat experiment, and we'll see what happens. And when you get tired of kicking digital tires, you can head on over to Peugeot island and see what the hubbub is about: that company leads all 11 automotive brands in Second Life with more than 9 million accounts.

[Source: AOL Money & Finance]

iMagicLab opening dealer megaplex in Second Life originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More automakers leading a Second Life

Alex Nunez — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:02:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Marketing/Advertising

The virtual world Second Life is a virtual dream for marketers, with branding opportunities aplenty. As the online universe has grown, so too has the number of automobile manufacturers with a presence in the "game," for lack of a better term. KZERO is a consulting firm that helps companies study Second Life and other online virtual communities, and in a blog post that's basically shilling a case study they'd like to sell prospective clients, we're given a glimpse at the number of automakers involved in SL. Unsurprisingly, the manufacturer presence has climbed along with Second Life's subscriber base. We've covered some of them in the past -- Renault F1, for example. Click the "Read" link to check out a graph that shows when various automakers jumped on the bandwagon. We'd create SL accounts and investigate the virtual automotive landscape ourselves, but that would take time away from the second life we already lead called "Autoblog." Sigh. We guess that dream vacation on Peugeot Island's never gonna happen.

[Source: KZERO]

More automakers leading a Second Life originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Renault F1 team goes virtual, opens up shop in Second Life

Sam Abuelsamid — Fri, 11 May 2007 19:04:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Etc., Renault

The Renault Formula One team has decided to go virtual by opening up a space in Second Life. They idea is to give people a behind the scenes look at the workings of a modern Formula One team, and includes a factory that replicates the actual team facility in England.

When I first heard about Second Life about a year ago, I checked it out and the appeal was somewhat lost on me. Having a 3D graphical environment where you could chat seemed rather pointless. Visitors to the Renault F1 space can also try out the team fitness center, though, and test themselves at the driver's training program. It's not clear what the point is of taking a virtual fitness test would be, but the race track at the facility could be fun. Second Lifers can grab a go-kart and race against others for the opportunity to spray virtual champagne from the podium. The Renault Second Life space opens on May 25th. A press release and teaser videos are included after the jump.

[Source: Renault]

Continue reading Renault F1 team goes virtual, opens up shop in Second Life

Renault F1 team goes virtual, opens up shop in Second Life originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 May 2007 19:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redesigned Scion xB and new xD set to debut in Chicago

Damon Lavrinc — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:04:00 EST

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Concept Cars, Budget, Hatchback, Scion

Auto show season is in full tilt boogie and the latest news is that Scion intends to debut two new vehicles at the Chicago show next month.

The first vehicle will be a redesign of the rolling toaster known as the xB, which may share some design cues with the t2b that debuted in New York in 2005. The other vehicle set to be unveiled in the Windy City is the replacement for the moribund xA: the xD. Although Scion devotees were shown the xD late last year, no photos have surfaced. However, one rumor circulating the web is that it will draw on Toyota's Urban Cruiser concept (pictured) that was shown in Geneva last year.

We'll be on hand for the official unveiling in Chicago, but if you'd like to share in the festivities, Scion is holding a virtual press conference in tandem with the real world event in Second Life. So update your avatar, register here and be online Thursday, February 8th at 9 AM CT.

[Source: Toyota/Scion]

Redesigned Scion xB and new xD set to debut in Chicago originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buick admits to teasing us with Tiger vid

Frank Filipponio — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:23:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Buick

I guess we can bill this as Update 2. We just showed you the video of Tiger Woods and the new Enclave and speculated that this "hidden cam" vid might be a fake. Not rocket science to figure that out, but until we had confirmation, we didn't want to call BS on GM. Well, they just called BS on themselves.

While the 60-second YouTube clip appeared to be a bootleg, the Buick logo at the end was a big tip-off. According to The Detroit News, Buick spokesman David Darovitz admitted that "the video was shot two weeks ago in Los Angeles to build excitement for the Enclave's world introduction Nov. 28 at the Los Angeles Auto Show."

"We wanted to do something different," Darovitz said. "The idea was to make it look like a video stolen from an advertising shoot. We knew we weren't going to fool anybody. We just wanted to do something different that would create buzz."

With more than 9,500 hits, we'd say mission accomplished. This does show, however, how automakers are getting more creative in their marketing, trying to tap into non-traditional media outlets. Pontiac and Scion are in Second Life, and now Buick has a YouTube viral. We understand that these are two signs of the Apocalypse.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Buick admits to teasing us with Tiger vid originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man survives 7 Days in a Sentra

John Neff — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:27:00 EST

Filed under: Budget, Marketing/Advertising, Nissan

No, this isn't an inspiring story about a man who survived being trapped in his Nissan Sentra for a week by eating forgotten french fries that fell beneath his front seat. Rather, it's part of Nissan's clever marketing campaign for the new Sentra, which goes a fair bit beyond the traditional TV and print ads. In order to attract attention to its newest small car offering, Nissan stuffed a Sentra with aspiring comedian Mark Horowitz and told him his new address for the next seven days would be wherever he could find a parking spot. There were rules by which the young Horowitz, who appears to be the love child of Dane Cook and Napolean Dynamite, would have to abide if he were to get paid at the end of the week, which include the following...

Must live 7 straight days out of the Sentra. He is free to come and go from the Sentra.
Must not return to his apartment at any point during the 7 days.
Must assume his normal day-to-day responsibilities, including work and scheduled meetings.
Must personally prepare at least 4 meals within the immediate vicinity of the Sentra.
Must go on at least one date. Hopefully more.
Must not let anyone else drive his car during the 7 days.
Must sleep in a different location each night. Once the location is chosen he must not move.
Must not set foot outside of the car for any reason from 12am - 5am.
Must host at least one "social function" in the Sentra.
Must maintain the highest standards of personal hygiene.

Aside from producing a quirky marketing campaign, we're pretty sure FOX could turn this into a sweet reality show. The rules gaurantee that Horowitz won't make it through the week easy, and indeed he doesn't. Fortunately, he blogged about his travails on this site, as well as produced a series of videos so we could watch him fumble through the week. Nissan let us have at the newest video that isn't officially released yet, in which we discover that meter maids don't care about Nissan's goofy marketing schemes when they're writing parking tickets. Yeah, we've tried the whole, "I'm part of a marketing campaign for a major automaker, I have to park in the fire zone" excuse before too, it doesn't work.

We also discovered that Nissan has already entered the world of Second Life to market the new Sentra, whereas we reported yesterday that Pontiac was planning to give away free land in the game starting sometime in November. We like Nissan's presence in the virtual world of Second Life more because it set up a virtual dealership and is giving away Sentras free in the game! The Second Life presence ties in with the Horowitz thing as well, since you can watch all of the comedian's web videos inside Second Life while choosing the color for your free Sentra (Check out Nissan's press release after the jump for details on nabbing on your Second Life Sentra).

[Source: Nissan]

Continue reading Man survives 7 Days in a Sentra

Man survives 7 Days in a Sentra originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pontiac buying property in Second Life

Frank Filipponio — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:26:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Pontiac

Pontiac is set to become the first major automaker to establish a presence in Second Life. Second Life, in case you aren't familiar, is that privately-owned, partly subscription-based 3-D virtual world, set up by Linden Lab, that allows residents to live a double digital life free from the constraints of the corporeal. There's no real aim or objective in the game except to go about living, which has led participants to do just that and set up a virtual economy with currency, trade and manufacturing going on in bits and bytes.

According to its press release, Pontiac will enter the Second Life world in late November when it opens a land mass called Motorati Island. But here's the fun part, Pontiac will offer free "land" for Residents who want to help "create a vibrant car culture within the community." Entrepreneurs and artists who wish to create their own projects devoted to car culture will be provided with parcels of land around Motorati Island by Pontiac. "Our mission is to work with the Second Life community to create a place for car lovers that doesn't exist today," said Mark-Hans Richer, marketing director at Pontiac. And, of course, you will be able to visit a Pontiac dealership on the island where you can customize a Solstice GXP and then even drive it on a high speed test track. The island will even have its own microsite at http://www.motoratilife.com/.

Full press release after the jump.

[Sources: Wikipedia, Pontiac, Linden Lab]

Continue reading Pontiac buying property in Second Life

Pontiac buying property in Second Life originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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