Liza Veliz Explores The Mr & Miss Moolto Contest Part 1

Sat 12/12/09

Our main story in the November issue of the Oi Magazine told you about Moolto, the social network and advertising site for avatars and business of SL/RL.

This site doesn’t only provides social networking it, also works in more interactive ways of marketing. The first big event of Moolto is the Mr and Miss Moolto contest, which kicked off on the 15th of November. The list of the designers sponsoring this event you can be found in this info link about the contest. One fact that eager’s designers to join in are that every contester has to wear items from the sponsors in the pictures they send in to enter. Another fact is that their items might get great exposure during this contest and the year after.


Maxes Loon standing by the Mr & Miss Mollto Contest billboard

http://moolto.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mr-amp-miss-moolto-2010

19th of December is the closing date for entries into this contest. On the 23rd of december the ten females and the ten males that have been chosen to be in the semi final are invited to a catwalk show where they can choose clothes from one designer each to the value of 5 000 Linden Dollars. Before the show they will be asked to fill in a notecard with the reasons why they think they are the best to be representing The Moolto brand inside SL and they will be interviewed by the crew of The Moolto team.

There has been a great interest to enter the contest with many eager to become the faces of Moolto. They will be attending the Moolto events and will be featured in advertisements’ for Moolto designers. Its great exposure and a way to become well known. The two winners will be announced at the end of January 2010 at a glittering event where they can choose items from all of the designers Moolto works with to the value of 20 000 Linden Dollars.

I went to the island of Moolto to meet with Maxes Loon to find out how it’s going with the entries into the Mr and Miss Moolto contest so far and what his hopes and dreams are. Maxes told me the winner must be very serious. This commitment requires commitment and availability to attend many different events, the two persons should be marketing specialists and know how to represent a company.

Maxes tell me the contest is a good marketing promotion for Moolto.COM as is has potential to grow the network membership. He informed me that membership currently stands at 5600 members and grows continually on week.

Still.. When I ask him what he would do if Facebook or another biggies in social networking online offers to buy his network he claimed he is too small to be of any interest to them... and admits he has not thought of this possibility. Well it has happened before...

Something tells me he won’t let go of Moolto, since he told me he plans to be running Moolto full time within a year...

Well, when Persia, his partner in SL, joined us at this point he said to me he would give up Moolto for her, but he knows that she would never ask that of him. This is a man who is undoubtedly smitten by his beloved ^^


Maxes Loon & Persia Bravin

Maxes is the CEO of Moolto but ably supporting him is Yusuf, who is the one behind the images and the two of them have been business partners from the beginning. Yusuf will design the decorations for the island for the event of 19th^^


Yusuf Xue from Moolto.com


Today when I visited the island it looked like they were getting ready for a beach party with hammocks strung between palm trees and lots of soft white sand, and yessss... I took a swing in an hammock^^ *loves them*


Me relaxing at Moolto Island

Its bit tricky to get any details out of Maxes... about what response he gets from RL business and where the real money is going to kick in, but he don’t deny of course RL is knocking on the door... but gives me no detail´s...of course *grinz *^^

Well, in his comments to this blog he tells me anyway that the running of Moolto.COM is currently funded by the advertising revenue generated by the side banners on the site. Advertising has a cost to these members who make use of that service, but he points out there is so much else that is free. The banner advertising is fairly expensive in SL™ terms, he admits, but in return for this ad spends the members have free access to the Moolto.COM event island, links to their own blogs or websites and access to the Moolto database.

Most blogs I read on the site is advertisements for business... so it’s an advertising site for sure...for free… except for them banners that are expensive as hell. From an SL™ point of view, anyway. 20 000 linden dollars is about 80 US dollars.

Business inside SL™ has its own economy and when mixed with RL economy it gets tricky… mind blowing in a way…. Guess RL business companies see the potential here, for them this isn’t much for banner on a site of big traffic I guess… but the strictly SL™ business companies maybe will stick to blogs for advertising in the end….

Maxes comments this by agree the fact there are RL companies that see the potential in SL™ and who have expanded their business into SL™, but points out that for the strictly SL™ business Moolto offers extensive marketing and communication services to assist in making their members as successful as they can be.

Ah well, think many is biting their thumbs and ripping their hair off their heads about not thinking of this service before Maxes Loon made it real.

The 23rd I will be at the Moolto to see them finalists chosen for the Mr and Miss Moolto contest. Oi magazine is keeping two black painted dark eyes on this – mine^^^
*smilez and grinz*

/Liza Veliz
For Oi Magazine Blog