Fashion through the Looking Glass:Investigating the role of “spatial” proximity in brand building in virtual worlds

Fashion through the Looking Glass:Investigating the role of “spatial” proximity in

brand building in virtual worlds

Workshop: Making sense of VWs and user-driven innovationDenmark, June 2010

Robin TeiglandStockholm School of Economics, Sweden

robin.teigland@hhs.se

Serdar TemizRoyal Institute of Technology, Sweden

serdar.temiz@gmail.com

Dominic PowerUppsala University, Sweden

dominic.power@kultgeog.uu.se

Linda Björg ÁrnadóttirIcelandic Academy of Arts, Iceland

linda@lhi.is

We are living in a brandscape!?

“The power of a brand derives from a curious mixture of how it performs and what it stands for. When a brand gets the mix right it makes us, the people who buy it, feel that it adds something to the idea of ourselves.” – Olins 2002

“Successful industries and firms are customer oriented rather than product oriented - there are no commodities only consumer desires.” - Levitt 1960

Brands in action and in space

• Brand building is not just a question of firm centric action…

• Brands are constructed by networks of actors involved in

– Production chain– Construction of origins– Construction of outlet

• There is often a highly spatial aspect to branding and the institutions of brand building

Fashionable places: Place matters in creation of immaterial value

Fashion Industry• Construction of origin

– Clearly not “Made in Sweden” – but “designed in Stockholm”

• Construction of outlet– “These jeans are cool in New York

so they will be really cool in Stockholm.”

Key relationships in brand building

Retailers & shop assistants

Local market & lead consumers

Stylists

Media & information

intermediaries

Rival firms

Fashion: one of the fastest growing industries in virtual worlds

Research Question

• Fashion is based on volatile knowledge that is quickly negotiated and relies upon different spatial relationships.

• RQ: What role do “spatial” relationships play in brand building in the fashion industry in virtual worlds?

Qualitative Study

• In Second Life and Entropia Universe– Interviews with entrepreneurs/designers,

fashion stores, resellers, media producers, photographers, customers

– Observation– Secondary data

• Data from research in ‘real’ world fashion clusters

Additional Questions

• Does “spatial” proximity play a role in trust building between actors?

• What are “localization” and “globalization” in the context of virtual worlds?

• What role do ‘place-making’ and “spatial proximity” play more generally in the creation of immaterial value?

Art produces ugly things which become beautiful with time. Fashion on the other hand, produces beautiful things which

always become ugly with time.

- Jean Cocteau

Join us in exploring virtual worlds!

www.nordicworlds.net