Case Study: Starwood Hotels

There had been so much coverage on Starwood Hotels in Second Life. It was partly because there's always a big buzz on media whenever a big brand or corporate lauches in SL. But most of all, unlike many other big brands' marketing disasters in SL in the past, Starwood Hotel's case actually seemed to WORK..pretty well!

Here are some pictures of virtual Starwood hotel.

In short, this case was unique because it launched a new Starwood hotel in SL (this part is not so unique..) and tested out a new loft-style hotel with prototyles in virtual world. This means they built a virtual hotel in SL and opened it up to avatars. Then the users would visit and look around the hotel (interior design, furnitures etc) and would comment about them. The hotel closely examined the user's feedback and took them in account when they build a new loft hotel in real world! This is a fantastic example of how a real brand used SL for test market or get some insights and feedback before they do real world business.

Linda Zimmer talks about how providing the "experience" not the product itself if the key to success in virtual marketing, and I strongly agree that is true. What Starwood provided was an "experience" of the virtual hotel, that users could feel, walk around and touch etc. It turned out be very effective not because there was a lot of traffic in the virtual hotel in SL, but also 1) it created so much media buzz and 2) could get consumer's insight and feedbackss through a virtual model of the hotel. It was a win-win case for both marketers and consumers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related links:

(If you want to know the general story about Starwood and its launch in Second Life, read this Businessweek story.)
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2006/id20060823_925270.htm?chan=innovation_branding_branding

(Linda Zimmer talks about how "experience" is the key to marketing success in SL; I Strongly agree.)
http://blog.futurelab.net/2006/10/starwoods_aloft_hotel_in_secon.html

(Some other related blog posts)
http://freshtakes.typepad.com/sl_communicators/2006/09/starwood_hotels.html
http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/verdino1.asp