Nexeus Fatale

For the past month, Intel has been asking Second Life residents to plant sunflowers in Second Life to help the Conservation International Foundation, and for a chance to participate in the Intel Sunflower Sweepstakes where the winner would receive a Gateway P-171X FX Edition Laptop (more info here).  Today at 6pm PST (9pm EST), the closing party will wrap up where the final tallies of Sunflowers planted would be presented (currently at 76287 - well over their goal!), along with music and one of your final chances to participate in the Sunflower Sweepstakes (update: planting ends at 9pm PST).  The party happens at Intel Island in Second Life.

I went over to plant sunflowers at the Intel Sunflower Field in Second Life (details here, here, here, and my thoughts here) and was shocked!  In just over a week, Intel has had 14,570+  Sunflowers planted in the virtual world.  Let me repeat that because it bears repeating.  Intel has gotten the attention of roughly 162 avatars a day planting roughly 1618 sunflowers per day in the past 9 days (my math may be off).  This also means that the goal of the campaign was not only reached but may double in two weeks.  For those whom believe that Second Life is Not Useful for Marketing this campaign is proving otherwise.  All I can say is… wow!  I wonder if Intel is just as surprised by the promotion (and what their response is.)

The response to the Intel Sunflower campaign caught me by surprise.  The level of response on the opening day reminds me of same level of response that the Relay For Life has. During the opening event, a two hour period, more than 400 sunflowers were planted (which means Intel will donate $400 to the Conservation International Foundation), and I’m told the final tally of day one was over 500!  Wow!  This is only day 1.  With a future event with Cylindrian Rutabaga on March 20th, and a closing event on April 13th, you can help but to wonder what makes this promotion such a compelling promotion and how can you get Second Life residents to continue to push participation (by the way, go to Intel Island and plant some sunflowers!  You can win a brand new computer!)

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