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The Virtual world had speakers from Second Life, Sulake (Hobbo Hotels), Twinity, all different types of virtual worlds. The topics centered around how these virtual worlds were like and who their audiences are. How brands and advertisers should position themselves in virtual worlds, how they might do so in conjunction with integrated marketing campaigns, and also how to measure engagement level of the audience with the brands. It’s a huge area of the digital space to explore and I’m sure as the Virtual Worlds mature and more people are engaged in them in a meaningful way (exponential growth), we can look at Virtual Worlds becoming more mainstream. Brands and advertizers would then have more incentive to advertise in them.

I also liked the final keynote by various Creative Directors. I especially liked the presentation from Dirk Eschenbacher, who was ECD and Managing Partner at Tribal DDB based in China. He showcased one of his recent McDonalds Campaign – 我喜欢中国赢！- which was a massive campaign that worked tremendously. It was led with a digital campaign and viral in nature.

China as a market had always fascinated me. How the millions of people feel so strongly for their nation while as individual competition amongst each other is huge and they all are dedicated and determined to be better than the other. Rules in China changes rapidly and what works today might not work the next. Working and living in China is like standing on the edge of a cliff. You ever know which way the wind can change (and when you will truly be safe). The other challenge of being in China is the lack of intellectual property (IP) protection. Hence, ideas are rapidly copied and by nature of being in digital, ideas and concepts are even more easily copied.

Tomorrow is the final day of the conference. Hope to get more interesting insights from the speakers and the people I meet.