Sometime in the not-too-distant future you may find yourself strategizing a campaign where your target audience consists of avatars living in a three dimensional virtual world. According to Paul Kemp, author Avatar-Based Marketing, "Advertising has always targeted a powerful consumer alter ego: that hip, attractive, incredibly popular person just waiting to emerge (with the help of the advertised product) from an all-too-normal self." According to Kemp, the online personae of consumers, represent a huge population of “shadow consumers who can be analyzed, segmented, and targeted.”
SecondLife.com, is the best known, three-dimensional virtual world, where, once you 
download the free software, you can participate in a variety of real world-like activities, such as socializing, shopping, etc. Founded in 2000, SL counts over 1.3 members. Harvard Law School is holding its first class in SecondLife. "Law in the Court of Public Opinion" is open to anyone, not just Harvard law students. There are also a growing number of organizations, from Starwood Hotels, to the Centers for Disease Control, who have established outposts in SecondLife.
Recently CNNMoney proclaimed SecondLife “the Internet of the Future.” It is, indeed.
Illustrations from SecondLife website
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