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28.11.06

How peculiar at Old Peculier

Up in T’Yorkshire where I live people are very old fashioned and are still suspicious of the T’ternet so I was amazed to discover, via Techcrunch, that Theakstons has opened a virtual pub in Second Life.
Most people in the UK will know that Theakstons is based in Masham and makes a wonderful range of cask ales from Old Peculier (sic) to my personal favourite, Black Bull Bitter.
This company was founded more than 150 years ago and still employ their own Cooper, hand crafting casks in which the ales mature.
Personally, I was always a bit suspicious of Second Life although I could see the buzzy appeal of it for companies like of IBM, Reuters and American Apparel, which were very early adopters.
But the fact that Theakston has opened shop there moves Second Life to a new level, when traditional old world, commodity producers are now convinced of the merits of SL.

Digg!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm also lucky enough to live within easy reach of Masham, a small market town with two breweries.

But I don't get Second Life at all. How will any avatar ever discover that Black Bull is the finest Theakson ale (as you say), and that Theakston ale is usually preferable to Black Sheep?

Do they read blogs (like this) and mimic the opinions expressed? Secondhand thoughts in Second Life?

News Update said...

Hi Richard,

I have to declare an interest first as we once did a lot of traditional PR work for Theakston.
They are now with another agency - and I suspect the move into SL is more for the PR buzz rather than a genuine belief in any business benefits. Like you say an avatar would struggle to savour the taste of Old Peculier. I remain to be conviced about Second Life - and there is an interesting debate about it currently going on at Techcrunch.