Rounding up the year-end trends, ClickZ saw a "reality check" happening for marketers in virtual worlds. It isn't anything we haven't observed, for those of us who have been following the industry this year -- the article correctly points out the sort of manifest destiny "gold rush" to set up virtual world branding outposts without knowing why.

Forecasting the future based on lessons learned, the article pegs quality control as a big trend going forward -- that those advertising ventures that will be successful will be ones whose efforts are married to high-quality product. I'm not a hundred percent convinced that that will be the only decisive factor, similar to the lessons learned in the world of video games, when it was discovered that cutting-edge graphics and numerous gameplay hours don't necessarily compel players. Often it was the lower-res, simpler experiences that triumphed -- just look at the way things are shaping up in the current generation of console wars. The top-selling Wii is the least technically sophisticated, but because it successfully found and targeted a brand new audience, it's been an explosive success. It's not so much about getting everything right, but about knowing your audience and innovating in the area of user engagement.

Of course quality's important, but we've already seen this trend reflect in the virtual worlds space, with a product like BarbieGirls, a very specific type of experience tailored for a very specific audience, garnering millions of users in record time. Now, for 2008, can we get virtual world experiences that both maintain a new standard of quality and meet the needs of their desired userbase?

Strictly for marketers, there's one more key factor that's distinguishing itself. This year, Worlds in Motion spoke to numerous companies working in the field -- we talked to the folks at Metaversatility and Millions of Us about building virtual brand campaigns, we spoke to Makena about There.com's partnership with Trilogy, and most recently we spoke to Trilogy and Coke about the new CCMetro world. Everyone seems to agree that advertising and marketing in virtual worlds is something users want, both to enhance realism and to connect them with their favorite products and clothing styles just as they want to do in their real lives. But the difference between a successful virtual world campaign, and, say, the archetypal "deserted Second Life island" is what it adds to the world, whether or not it provides a new ability, social venue or interactive opportunity for its users.

[Virtual World Marketing Gets Reality Check In 2007 - ClickZ]