The Chief Revenue Officer of Kaneva Jeffrey Longoria explains, “Kaneva is a social entertainment world that is really focused on the fusion of traditional social networking and 3D virtual worlds. There are plenty of people out there that love the 2D world, but there’s this emerging 3D place and companies are trying to figure out the magic formula….The focus is now to provide that fused environment for brands looking to find a unique engagement model for their fans. Virtual worlds have been emerging onto the scene for a few years now, but most people don’t understand them yet. That’s really what we’ve been working on.”

Kaneva has not commented on the 2D vs. 3D use breakdown of its 1.5 million users, so it is unclear how well their virtual world is doing. In the greater context of virtual worlds, we have seen a slow down of large brands entering and perusing marketing endeavors. In times passed, brands failed where they were solely presenting their product in the same ways they do in the real world and expecting users to engage. That was moderately successful two years ago, but obviously that model no longer works. Brands that are seeing success today in virtual environments are ones that are offering unique opportunities for brand engagement.

Kaneva is pursuing an interesting strategy for brands and advertisers, where they are offering a range of sponsorship options. As Virtual World News reports, “At the low end, roughly $5,000, brands can introduce branded goods into Kaneva. At the next higher level, they can get a branded hangout with the look and feel of the brand, but no significant customization. The high end includes completely custom-built destinations, which could range into hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

It will be interesting to see the response of brands, especially given that advertising and marketing budgets have been slashed in recent months. At the same time, the range of options and sliding scale may be appealing to advertisers.

So, what is Coke saying? We’ve all had a digital representation of ourselves for quite sometime. But, the majority of those have been text based. User names, emails, et cetera. Are we moving into a time where we are all represented by avatars. 3D ones. Well, if Coke says we are, then we must be. What do you think?

MINI found a great novel way to engage with potential customers – the car company is running the first-ever augmented reality advertisement in several German auto magazines. The print ad for their Cabrio convertible, when viewed through a webcam, creates a beautiful fully-rendered virtual model on screen. You can download the ad here (German website) to try it out yourself, or check out the “making-of” video below. Nice one, MINI.

[via PSFK]