The Faces of Moolto 2010 !

Mon 3/1/10

The contest for Mr and Miss Moolto is over. RicoRacer Flux and Mina Pelazzi are the winners!


RicoRacer Flux


Mina Pelazzi


And for once it seems the roles are changed between genders.
Mina is the one who chooses to meet me in the Moolto office. She is PR right through.
Rico is the butterfly, the fashion person all through. He meets me in IM before the model fashion show of McQueen where he is modeling instead. Am sure they will be a great team for Moolto.

Maxes Loon was pleased about the jury’s choice.
He is good at picking winners out of the crowd of pixels in this world of ours and had provided the jury with so many skilled persons.
They went through tough premises in the contest.
This time it was their ideas of promotion and ability to work in teams that was challenged, before it was about their personalities.
The red thread through the whole contest was about their ability to promote, marketing and represent Moolto.

When I saw Mina’s video promoting Moolto I just knew that she would win.
(It’s in the Moolto blog btw for Mr and Miss Moolto contest : http://moolto.ning.com/group/MrandMissMoolto)
You can sense it that she is PR all through. I noticed this first time I met her. Diplomatic and very aware of what she tells you,”This contest was not about only beauty, it was about more. That was what made me interested,” Mina tells me in the office of Moolto the morning after she won.


Maxes Loon at the Moolto social Network, Moolto Community Store


“I am very pleased to win this contest, since I work with graphic designs and PR in RL too. It gives me an opportunity to improve myself and add some good things to Moolto. “

Rico was a favorite among many people I know. He is a fashion person all through.
Many companies uses his skills and he writes a fashion blog and used to write for a Fashion magazine called Catalyst of Fantasy Magazine, of which the CEO,Lacie Beningborough is a very good friend of Oi Magazine ^^
I'm not at all surprised Rico is one of the super models in the McQueen Tribute show “For the love of McQueen”.
“I follow fashion shows in RL and I do the same inside of SL,” Rico tells me in IM.
Besides the McQueen show in a few seconds and later there is a photo session for him at another fashion company in SL.

Rico used to be a model in RL during college in catalogues, but he was too short for this to be his main career, he tells me.
You may say he is surely compensating for this inside of our pixel world of SL.
Maxes Loon (Owner of Moolto) joins me and Mina in the office and sits behind his desk smiling.
He knows he got one heck of a great team in his hands, and his plans are big as usual, and will be happening soon.
“The jury made a good choice, am pleased with their decision, “Maxes tells me with a smile.
“We are now sitting down to draw out the lines for this. We have lots of new projects coming up, a base for networking DJ:s, another for Fashion and a third for Photographers.
We just bought the best system for photos inside SL. We will have a gallery and different theme every month. And it will be open for amateurs as well as for professionals, “he tells me proudly.

“I am attending this”, Mina says with a glimpse in her eye.
“Mina is a professional when it comes to photography upon her skills for PR,” Maxes tells me.
Moolto is 70% about fashion, according to Maxes. So am sure he appreciates this side of Rico besides him being good with promotion too.
I can only wish for them the best and am sure it will be of success. ^^
Everything he touches turns to gold, or is it that he has sense for where to find this?
When I tell this thought to Maxes he simply says “haven’t seen any gold!” But am sure he is smiling behind his computer, he knows his skills^^ as an entrepreneur of high class and a network spider for sure!


Liza Veliz
Journalist/Event Blogger of Oi Magazine

Short update on Moolto contest!

Mon 02/01/10

This contest is not over!

Forget the 31st January as date for The Grand Final in The Mr and Miss Moolto 2010 contest.
The final standing before the jury will be on the 27th of February!

So far five male and five females have been chosen for finalists.

Males

RicoRacer Flux

Spencer Christenson

Jarl Soderstrom

Apollo Call

Salvo Waydelich

Females

Haidyn Inglewood

Diconay Boa

Mina Pelazzi

Julia Brand

Suri Alex



Here they are in the order of most popular so far according to the scores they got from the jury and the votes they got from the contests group members at the semi final).

In this next step of Mr and Miss Moolto contest it is told the contesters will have to prove their ability to teamwork and show their creative sides, according to latest news on the Moolto group site for this contest.


The 13th-27th of February the voting for the group members will open again.


/Liza Veliz
Oi Magazine

Part 3 : Reporter Liza Veliz Explores The Mr & Miss Moolto Contest !

Mon 1/25/10

The Moolto contest for Mr and Miss Moolto is now going into its final. The 29th it is going to be over and done. At the event the 23rd of January a jury asked the contesters tricky questions such as “If you could relate your experiences in SL™ to a Shakespeare Play which would it be and why?” Mina Pelazzi answered “to be or not to be”.

I met Mina Pelazzi at the end of the party in her dress from Alatiel. She looked marvelous.

When asked why she chose them particularly, she told me that she wear stuff from all them designers and she was proud to represent ate Alatiel, but it was not of her own choice – the Moolto team picked her to be their model.

So I guess this is another part of this contest and this business idea, them sponsors getting value for their investment by the ability too choose models too.

Another interesting person I run into was Minx Glaz from Violator.

He is from Berlin in the RL and has together with his friend an art and design project inside SL™ that they actually are able to live out of. They combine art and clothes in design and charge expensive prices for their exclusive products.

It seems everything Maxes Loon touches is turning into gold, or maybe the successful and skilled business people is carefully chosen by him. The egg or the hen... which came first^^^

Sonatta Morales had fashion show Sunday afternoon. It was very exclusive and impressive. This was part of the fashion week inside SL now and it was on Moolto land of course.

Another of them benefits the sponsors gets, the ability to throw such things in a luxury environment at no more cost then them 20k a month for the banner at the site.

For you that weren’t there here is the links to Moolto site where you can read all of what happened, all those questions and the answers from the contesters, and also Maxes Loons own view of this event.

In the newsflash is the fact the members of the group on Moolto was also in on choosing who to win. Yes, you read that right.

The finalists will be presented in a list with the jury ranking and the number of public votes the 29th of January.

Friday this week we will know which two people are going to be Mr and Miss Moolto 2010.
The finalists will be presented in a list with the jury ranking and the number of public votes the 29th of January on the Moolto site.

I will bring you to the glittering final event 31 of January where the overall winners will be announced.



/Liza
Oi Magazine investigative reporter

Liza Veliz Explores The Mr & Miss Moolto Contest Part 2 !

Wed 12/30/09

So…. The 23rd of December passed and Mr and Miss Moolto got not 20 but 26 semi finalists in the semi final^^^ apparently it was too hard for the jury to choose only ten females and ten males. It was not an open event this one so I cannot tell you about them cheerful and happily bouncing avatars that got chosen by eye view ^^ but I can tell you them were very happy in their comments on the Moolto® website anyway^^^

So now we await the great final events in end of January, and there I will take you to by mine blog anyway **smiles**

Instead I will now let you meet an SL™ designer of fashion to let you in on her visions of SL and fashion.

This is about mine meeting with one of them designers that are sponsoring the contest.

SL designers are special in their own ways and its not exactly same rules of design and fashion inside of SL as in RL, for the good and the bad, of course.

Sonatta Morales is creating vintage fashion and we met for a short talk in her work study, where it was lag free and cozy^^


Sonatta Morales

She is a fashion illustrator in RL these days and has many years in the world of fashion behind her.
Originally from London she also lived in Paris, Mexico City, Sao Paolo and Miami and has seen the most of the scene and knows a lot about fashion of course.

Sonatta Morales has a theory about the difference between design fashion for SL and RL; she tells me SL is having its advantages before RL since SL isn’t as depending on the sell factor as RL. A new creator gets a chance in here when they have not too easy time in RL.

-Sonatta tells me:
“As a SL® designer, I keep my eyes peeled for what happens in rl and I frequently identify parts of my SL work that went to rl later. For instance in a recent Haute Couture show from a major fashion house I saw a model wearing a leopard hat exactly like one I designed in the beginning of 2009.”
“I am not saying I was copied; fashion is this spirit, this muse that inspires us all at same time. But it's nice to see sl walking in front of rl for a change”.
”We are always trying to be realistic here, sometimes reality comes after us too. I was saying that fashion in sl has its own challenges, we have the freedom to create whatever we want, but it's not that easy to make it happen on our avatar bodies, we have some limitations, attachments, movements...This can be a funny game, when you manage to achieve a certain effect it's like a victory. It’s very hard to overlay, to build new shapes, but we have some advantages too, unlimited use of material for instance”. :DD (she tells me with a big big smile to this)

-She continues:
“I like to see people wearing vintage fashion, fashion has such a rich past, it's an endless source of beauty and elegance.
As I make illustration for magazines I normally see fashion under a different light, it rarely surprises me I kind of know what to expect from it in rl. In sl it's different, fashion here is free and you can always be surprised with something different, rl fashion is kind of... tied to market rules. We dare a bit more around here. If I make a design and I don’t sell it, it won’t ruin me; rl has to sell and to sell well”.

”Market laws are different here and fashion in sl has so much potential to be explored, it’s exciting to imagine what will happen in the next years. We are at the forefront of a revolution. We can make our own laws”.

Sonatta Morales has a theory about fashion in all, how it works, and where sl is a futuristic factor in this in another way as well.

She says:
”I will tell a personal view of mine. Fashion got fragmented in our century, I can wear 40s and ignore the rest of the fashion world AND I will find hundreds of people into the same trip, the idea of tribes evolved, one can be part of a tribe and consume the fashion one desires. This is something typical of our times and sl fits this perfectly, so were ahead of rl fashion in this aspect”.
“We can wear Goth, Steampunk or just be trendy. We have all the designers here. It happens in a smaller scale but it will increase with time, there will be a mainstream and other streams will get more and more established”.
“I have friends who wear only 50s gear both rl and sl but there are no retro fashion magazines in rl. I believe this will change”.
“I don’t necessarily think sl provokes these changes, I believe sl announces them”.
“SL is relatively new, but we do things here first, this is a fact. It's a perfect platform for new creators. New creators aren’t very well received in rl. When rl brands drive test creations in sl they are trying to see if we are ... touched by them, after all we are used to lots of new things. Bear with me, in one hour here you can see amazing things, our avatar eyes are spoilt by choice :))”

Sonatta Morales appreciates the fact we have got retro fashion press inside of SL, she thinks its fantastic to see it maturing into real information and that we need this, we need an active press in sl, to inform and analyse.

She quotes:
“We should be prepared for bad reviews, she comments, when I tell her she can actually say no to let a sl magazine publish anything negative about her, as a change to the rl world of press”.

“I am human, sometimes I create things according to my taste and people simply don’t get it. I am very sober with colour for instance”.
“I like blacks, greys, dark reds, I rarely go out of this palette, but how many times people came to me asking for coloured versions of certain outfits. I am relaxed about it, I don’t do it but I don’t get angry with the request”.
“There are so many brilliant designers in sl and they use all the colours possible, I just want to carry on with my blacks and reds, she says with a smile. I have some exceptions of course, but in general I am into dark colours. I think the give us power and enhance our beauty”.

When I tell her its cool she stick to her own style, its one good way of making a strong brand, She agrees:
“That’s true”.

When I ask her if she is about to start an empire of her own vintage fashion, she smiles and say “no-no” …. She doesn’t own a sim yet, only some shops.


Me at one of her shops(Sonatta's)

She continues:
“I am making pretty things for me and for the select group of people, who like my things, let’s see what happens in the future ;) I am curious too”.

When asked if it is a kind of dream to be one of them designers them contesters chose collection from for the big price she just tells me she never expect these things to happen.
She says about it:
“I don’t like frustration, she says with a big smile. I prefer not to think about what could happen. I think Maxes is a clever guy and I wouldn’t say no to his idea. I trust his touch”.

Well, well…. We will see. Sonetta Morales makes a special collection of clothes of vintage model. Maxes Loon’s Mr and Miss Moolto contesters will have 25 new outfits of hers to decide from. She has been very busy lately to create them in time.
She is a specialist and it wouldn’t surprise me if her brand is going to be really big inside SL. I don’t know who she is behind her avatar, but talking to her is like talking to Cay Bond – the fashion guru- in RL Them fashionistas knows trends for sure. **grinz**

See you in next blog related to this event of Mr and Miss Moolto contest,

Liza
For OI Magazine Blog

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