Online Net Meeting

American Idol, one of the only television franchises that’s truly interactive with its audience, is getting a brand extension through of a deal with the teen social network service Habbo. The match makes a lot of sense if you look at the demographics of the two products: teens love American Idol, and Habbo is built for them. When I talked with FreemantleMedia Entreprises (which owns the American Idol franchise) SVP David Luner, it became clear that the demographic overlap was the driving factor in this deal.

“We were looking for a virtual world,” for American Idol, Luner told me. None of the full-motion, fluid worlds, like Second Life, were right for the franchise. Luner cited safety as the primary reason. Habbo has controls designed to make it a safe environment for teens. It’s also a “two-and-a-half-D” world, meaning the graphics and blocky, and the perspective never moves off the isometric. It certainly works as a framework for a social site, but it’s hard to ape dance moves in the system.

American Idol in Habbo also lacks snarky judges and singing, two of the franchise’s biggest features. It does, however, let users engage in some “mini contests,” as well as chat about the show. Users will also be able to buy virtual branded items that have appeared in the show, and they’ll be exposed to crossover advertising from the series.

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American Idol branding lands in Habbo

LOS ANGELES, CA, November 22, 2006 –By implementing MegaMeeting.com’s browser based video and web conferencing services, American Lighting has realized a substantial savings in conducting overseas sales and company meetings, as well as greatly reduced expenses related to quality assurance and diagnosing issues.

American Lighting places high emphasis on developing new products, using trend-setting technology and a new blend of finish and glassware. They provide coast-to-coast warehousing in North America, manufacturing facilities in China and Taiwan, and overseas offices in Hong Kong, ShenZhen, Mexico, and coming soon, Canada.

American Lighting currently uses MegaMeeting.com’s browser based video and web conferencing services in its Training, Marketing, Sales, Accounting and Purchasing departments, as well as for its Administration, Executives and Board of Directors. Johnathan Tom, who works in the E-Commerce, Sales and IT departments, stated, “MegaMeeting helps us by allowing our company to hold meetings with our various offices located in different parts of the world. It saves us travel time and long distance bills to overseas offices.” He went on to say, “This service provides an efficient means for companies to effectively communicate with each other, especially ones who have offices in different countries. Another plus is that the price is per month and we have unlimited minute usage.”

Prior to implementing the MegaMeeting software, American Lighting relied on costly video conferencing which only allowed them to conduct conferences “one-on-one”. MegaMeeting allows up to sixteen individuals to be seen on each computer monitor simultaneously.

The specific features of MegaMeeting that American Lighting implements most often are the video conferencing capabilities that allow meeting attendees to see each other, the ability to share a PowerPoint presentation via the Internet, and screen sharing capabilities.

American Lighting chose MegaMeeting over other web and video conferencing systems because of the less expensive price they received with MegaMeeting and the fact that MegaMeeting provided them with the specific tools that they needed to conduct their business.

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MegaMeeting.com Video Conferencing Helps American Lighting Reduce Overseas Expenses