LONDON October 3rd, 2008 — Twofour, one of the fastest growing broadcast television, business communications and media technology companies in the UK, is working with the highly anticipated 3D virtual world, Twinity, the brainchild of Germany’s Metaversum, to build to scale replicas of the world’s most vibrant cities. Twinity offers companies innovative new ways to showcase brands to real people in real virtual cities and will be showcased at this year’s Virtual Worlds Forum in London from 6-7th October 2008.
Twinity enables users to explore real virtual cities with their personal avatar, creating their own 3D home anywhere in the world, chatting with friends, working, or simply having fun, making it an ideal place for creative marketing ideas. For example, retailers will be able to open replica to scale 3D stores in Twinity creating a real shopping environment, which unlike conventional e-commerce, users can experience together.
Twinity will also have its own virtual real estate market just like in the real world where Twinity members can rent, buy, and sell property. Real life estate agents and travel agents will be able to take house hunters or holiday makers on virtual tours of destinations anywhere in the world.
Twofour, Twinity’s UK development partner, is currently in talks with brands interested in real v-commerce opportunities in virtual London, which is due to launch online soon. Virtual Berlin successfully debuted in public beta earlier this year and has attracted numerous local and national partners which have recognised the marketing potential of having a presence in virtual Berlin. Partners include one of Germany’s largest media organisations, Tagesspiegel Group, Germany´s largest cinema group, Cinestar and many of Berlin’s shops, restaurants, bars and galleries as well as the city’s official website www.berlin.de.
Olivia Yabsley, Manager, Convergent Media, Twofour, said: “Twinity isn’t about escapism, it’s about connecting with real friends, buying real products and creating a hub where consumers can work, rest and play in one place. Twinity enables brands to connect with their customers in a completely new way. For brands, it’s about raising awareness, building communities and providing other avenues for increased revenue in the real world. It’s taking social networking to the next level – in Twinity anything is possible.”
“Virtual Berlin was the first step towards realising our vision of building real cities within a virtual world. We now plan to roll out many more of the world’s most exciting cities as quickly as possible. London was the obvious choice to follow Berlin,” commented Mirko Caspar, Chief Marketing Officer of Metaversum. He continued, “We are now inviting local partners to join us in time for the launch of virtual London, and I look forward to some stimulating discussions during the forum.”
Download the press release as PDF here: English version