It’s tempting to be cynical about brands setting up shop in virtual worlds as they often miss the point of places like Second Life. It’s interesting to see however if brands such as Armani can use virtual worlds in an inventive and understanding way to get their message across without seeming opportunistic. After all they tend to have huge budgets which means the potential the produce a lot of excellent work.

For me the key to the success of Armani’s venture into the virtual world is the clothes themselves. If Armani wants to get people to buy clothes in the real world then the virtual items must also match the quality of their real counterparts. You’re not likely to head to the online Armani shop if what you see in the virtual world doesn’t at least compete with the best virtual clothing available.

Unfortunately Armani seems to have forgotten this. Initially finding any clothes in the store is a bit of a task – the layout is exactly the same as the flagship Milan store and it doesn’t translate well into the virtual world. When you do come across the clothes their design is far from inspiring. The limited items for sale are in a separate area of the shop and initial reaction to them has been poor. With plain, boring and badly designed clothes the shop has lead people to comment that more attention has been paid to the taps in the bathroom than the clothes themselves.

This is a shame. You feel if Armani had spent more time understanding the differences between the virtual and real worlds and not just attempted to plonk a real store in Second Life this would have been a lot more successful.