Brand Avatar : translating virtual world branding into real world success / Alycia de Mesa.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

He emergence & characteristics of virtual worlds -- The early worlds -- The adoption continuum -- The establishers -- The culture of virtual world users -- Adult user profiles and habits -- Teen user profiles and habits -- Kids & teen worlds -- The emergence of business within virtual worlds -- Why use virtual worlds? -- Types of businesses within virtual worlds -- Strategies and tactics from real-world brands -- The virtual worlds of proprietary brands -- Strategies, tactics and impact of virtual worlds built around a global brand -- Disney's toontown -- Coke studios -- vMTV -- Success stories -- What's the measure of success? -- Examples of co-branding in virtual worlds -- What companies can learn from 'grass-root' virtual brands -- Failure stories -- Failure defined -- What went wrong -- Lessons learned -- New challenges -- Virtual world standards (the case of IBM) -- Intellectual property theft -- Digital domain law -- Hijacked brands -- The futurist's review -- Reflections on trends, user behaviors and the impact on business and brand strategies.