Category: Branding

Warner Bros. announced that they are going to be venturing into the virtual world space by creating their own 3D-world, T-Works: a place where consumers can create avatars, watch cartoons, play games and interact with Warner Bros intellectual property.

Oh, but that’s not the best part. Yes .. even though I am a fan of virtual worlds, that’s not what made me giddy. This is:
According to Red Herring …

Advertising industry experts have long bemoaned unwillingness on the part of trademark owners to put their brands into the hands of consumers who can use them next to content that might not reflect well on the company. (Think: Tweetie Bird on a MySpace profile page plastered with photos of underage drinkers.)
But Lisa Judson (Warner Animation President) said many knockoff versions of Warner images and videos are already widely available on the Web, so the company might as well offer users the real thing. “We know that people are using our things and so we think we’re just best served by making the legitimate and authentic resources and assets out there and trusting our fan base (ed. emphasis added),” she said.

Now *that* is what I like to hear. Trusting our fan base, our customers. They already own the brand .. let them play with it. Yes, things are going to get messy, but the magic that will ultimately happen – totally worth it.