By now you've probably heard about the online virtual world called Second Life, which boasts around 900,000 "residents" and uses virtual money that is based on real money. It's been featured in BusinessWeek and some big brands and ad agencies have jumped into SL recently. A few examples are Leo Burnett, IBM, Starwood Hotels and Sony/BMG.
On October 19, Starwood's Virtual Aloft Hotel will open with a performance by Ben Folds. That same day, Sony/BMG will open it's public space in SL.
IBM is throwing a virtual block party that you can read about here.
It's still pretty hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that people spend so much time "living" in these virtual worlds. But I guess if there's a market, there's a business, and the brands that can figure out how to integrate into Second Life and other virtual worlds will be a step a head of the others--or at least they hope so.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.