Weird Wild Web | Internet Marketing Blog

Bruce Willis adopts Second Life for Die Hard promo

Bruce Willis chatted with movie fans in Second Life to promote his upcoming Die Hard 4.0 release in a move that is being seen as good example of virtual world marketing.

capture: Dave Brown

by Robert Andrews 04 June 2007 12:13pm 1 comment

Google points to VW.com over cloaking

Volkswagen's US marketing web team has made changes to the way its pages are constructed following an intervention from Google.

VW.com had been featured by Google's Enterprise blog last week for making search front and centre of a new design.

by Robert Andrews 08 May 2007 10:11am 4 comments

'Parasite' invites advertisers to game Digg

A new 'black market' service that allows advertisers to pay for influence on social networks has attracted criticism from the blogging community.

Subvert And Profit is quite upfront about its business model - advertisers pay $1 per vote on the Digg social news bookmarking site. Such activity can attract considerable attention for products and services.

by Robert Andrews 03 April 2007 11:07am 3 comments

Second Life safaris for UK marketers

Advertising consultancy K-Zero is offering UK marketers a 'safari' through the virtual world of Second Life.

The agency is offering guided tours through the 3D environment for companies whose interests have been piqued by recent press coverage but who don't know where to begin in SL.

by Robert Andrews 03 April 2007 11:02am 0 comments

Sexy Amsterdam sells for $50k on eBay

The virtual Amsterdam, that is. An adult entertainment company has just off-loaded a Second Life recreation of the Dutch city.

Complete with tram-lined waterways and public squares, the Amsterdam sim is actually a dedicated sex haven occupied by lady avatars of the night and stores selling sexual merchandise.

by Robert Andrews 30 March 2007 10:22am 0 comments

Sorrell settles 'mafia' blog libel case

WPP boss Martin Sorrell has dropped a libel action against two employees he claimed had used an anonymous blog to slur his character, instead opting to settle for £120,000.

Marco Benatti and Marco Tinelli, heads of a WPP Italian subsidiary, were alleged to have likened Sorrell to a Godfather-type mafia boss and published "grossly offensive" images of the advertising chief and an ex-lover.

by Robert Andrews 29 March 2007 10:22am 1 comment

Thresher virus 2.0 unleashed

Web marketing innovator Hugh MacLeod's latest voucher virus has again become contagious amongst British wine lovers.

Last December, a voucher giving 40% off all Thresher wines for 10 days appeared on the web, driving £15m sales for the off-licence after being reproduced by bloggers and website owners and passed around in emails 800,000 times.

by Robert Andrews 23 March 2007 09:43am 1 comment

Ask.com admits to secret anti-Google campaign

Ask.com has launched a guerrilla-style marketing campaign designed to encourage British internet users to broaden their choice of search engine.

In the last couple of weeks, posters featuring a megaphone, a link to information-revolution.org and the slogan "stop the information monopoly" began appearing on tube trains, lamp posts and elsewhere. They warn libertarians about Google's 75% UK market share, although the name of the organisation behind the campaign was not disclosed.

by Robert Andrews 16 March 2007 09:28am 1 comment

Zooppa gives cash for consumers' ads

A new website invites users to make their own video ads for big-name brands, and get paid along with the deal.

Zooppa harnesses the trend in consumer-generated ad campaigns that has been increasingly in vogue.

by Robert Andrews 02 March 2007 09:41am 0 comments

Second Life comes to Brighton

Second Life creator Linden Lab is looking for staff to fill vacancies at its new British base in sunny Brighton.

Linden developer Jim Purbrick revealed the new location to web hackers gathered at BarCampLondon2 this weekend. Now the virtual world is hiring software developers.

by Robert Andrews 20 February 2007 08:30am 1 comment