OTO One to One Interactive

OTOi, a One to One Interactive Company, along with Millions of Us, supported Comcast Corp in opening a destination in the online world Second Life. Comcastic! Island, a virtual theme park, gives visitors an array of activities that highlight the company’s services. It also affords a chance for Comcast to interact with Second Life residents.

Objective:
Comcast was looking to expand the reach of Comcast’s core message of speed, innovation, and entertainment via a unique channel that demonstrated a high composition of key target segments:
•    Early adopters of technology and entertainment
•    Casual & Hardcore Gamers

Second, Comcast sought to be the first U.S. major Cable/Telecommunications Company in the United States to establish a presence within SecondLife to:
•    Own the experience relevant to Comcast’s core message
•    Reach and influence current and prospective customers before their competitors
•    Capitalize on market buzz
•    Get an early start on learning the correct approach to marketing and communications within Virtual World environments.
•    Establish a viable virtual world platform that affords Comcast the ability to extend their position as a leading entertainment company by hosting concerts with media partners such as HBO and Sony Music; incent development of machinima content for distribution via major video streaming/social network sites such as YoutTube, Ziddeo, and MySpace; and explore distribution of traditional cable entertainment content into virtual world platforms.

Approach:
The first step OTOi took in developing the strategic approach to Comcast’s foray into SecondLife was to validate how many residents fell within the Companys service footprint.  Cross referencing the SecondLife subscriber database against 18 of Comcast’s key DMA’s, the firm discovered that there was a 33% overlap which provided the business justification to move ahead with Comcastic! Island.

Following that exercise, OTOi met with Comcast senior marketing and product personnel to determine a phased approach to building out the desired experiences for visitors to their Island.  This exercise established three phases that was tightly aligned with Comcast’s brand strategy and subscriber goals across their product portfolio.  Phase 1 (current phase) would support Comcast’s High Speed Internet offering and support their national strategy of owing “Speed”.  Phase 2 would focus on Comcast’s Digital Video product.  Phase 3 would round out their investment in Comcastic Island with a focus on their Digital Voice Product.

Upon the launch of Comcastic! Island, a national press blitz and a calendar of events was scheduled to help stimulate ongoing interest in the island.  OTOi and Comcast meet every 2 weeks to review traffic trends, discuss ongoing avatar engagement strategies, and track progress against the planned phases for the Island.

OTOi worked with Millions Of Us, a leading Second Life Architect agency to help design and implement Comcastic! Island.  Since Phase 1 was focused on supporting Comcast’s High Speed Internet offering, OTOi and Millions of Us collaborated on the components that would make up the island’s initial functionality.  On June 14thm 2007 when the island officially launched, the following tactics made up the first phase of Comcastic! Island:

Comcast Race Track: The Comcast Race Track was placed in the tallest and most central building on Comcastic Island.  Upon entering the racetrack, avatars are able to acquire for free a custom Comcast racing suit.  Each suit represents a color in the Comcast color palette and includes Comcast and Faster logos.  The suits were designed in a way to allow Avatars to wear them outside of Comcastic! Island, extending Comcast branding into other areas of Second Life.  One suited up, Avatars select a Comcast/Faster racecar and begin to race.  Racers learn their time and the end of the course and can share the results with their friends.

Comcast Jet Ski Course:  Designed on the waterway surrounding Comcastic! Island, the Jet Ski course provides avatars with a branded Comcast/Faster jet ski where they can race their friends and monitor their speed in real time.

Comcast Jet Pack Course:  Here avatars can acquire Comcast jet packs for free and fly at high-speeds through a floating ring course located above the actual island.  The branded jet packs were another digital artifact that avatars could take with them outside of Comcastic! Island as a mode of transportation.

Comcastic! Skydiving: High atop the Race Track steeple, avatars are provided Comcast branded parachutes that allow them to jump and experience high-speed free fall before the chute opens automatically.

Comcastic! Expo Center:  This is a gather place on Comcastic! Island to help facilitate avatar social networking.  The café includes a seating area and a rocket shaped Faster and PowerBoost Soda dispenser.  Each soda has a unique high-speed effect on the avatar.

Comcastic! Labs:  To foster exploration and adventure, a secret Comcastic! Lab was placed in the basement of a Soda Fountain on the island.  If avatars were able to find this lab, they were provided access to many fun and entertaining “Faster” experiments.  They were also provided a teleport machine that took the avatar on a trip around the world in 1 minute, allow them to see Paris, Moscow, New York City and other major attractions.

Comcast Entertainment Center:  The Comcast Entertainment Center serves as the hub of the island where Comcast and their various entertainment partners are able to offer ongoing unique experiences for SecondLife residents.  The first major use of this venue was collaboration between Comcast and HBO and the promotion of the Justin Timberlake “Futuresex/Loveshow” that aired during Labor Day.  Avatars were granted VIP access to the HBO Justin Timberlake screening room located in the Entertainment Center.  Starting on 8/31/07, they were able to watch behind-the-scene special features and exclusive video footage.  New content was added daily, all leading up to the first minutes of the show on 9/3/07.

Results:
On June 14th, 2007, Comcast announced the opening of Comcastic! Island within Second Life.  Media outreach for the press announcement generated more than 35 placements with more then 11 Million potential impressions, including:

Comcastic! Island has received nearly 5,000 visitors since its launch in June.  To date, the average user spent 11.6 minutes interacting on Comcastic! Island.

Comcast is extremely pleased with the results for Comcastic! Island.  It tracked at 125% of goal regarding visitor traffic and interaction.  Furthermore, it has produced 137% of all press/blog mention goals.

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