Highlights of MCPC 2007 in Montréal, Canada

 What follows are highlights of the MCPC (Mass Customization and Personalization Conference) business seminar recently hosted by My Virtual Model and held at HEC in Montréal, Canada. My comments focus primarily on areas of interest for Virtual Fashion Technology Education. (Note: I arrived at the conference after it already started – here is a link to multiple viewpoints and the MCPC Blog.)

I really looked forward to the Avatar Marketing: An Extreme Makeover of the Self panel since avatars related to fashion education are my primary research interest. Not all the presenters spoke directly about avatars and some that did, did not focus on the direct impact avatars have on the marketing sector. One such presenter was Christospher Colosi: Second Life: Colossus Linder, Business Development.

Chris spoke primarily about universal avatars. Quite honestly, this Second Life presentation was a disappointment to me. The title of this panel presentation was “Avatar Marketing” and this is exactly the focus of my professional research. Mr. Colosi proceeded to make a very general presentation about what an avatar is and how they can be modified. He also alluded to the emerging partnership between I.B.M. and Linden Lab that I had read 10/10/07 in the NY Times story “Free the Avatars,” that will open standards to allow avatars to roam from one virtual community to another. He did not go on to discuss the potential impact that avatars that can freely move from one virtual world to another can have on business. The company he represents – Second Life is a rich visual 3D virtual world – and he was the only presenter without visuals. 

Sean Ryan: CEO of Donnerwood Media Inc. (Meez) had a highly informative presentation about Meez.com. I wrote about Meez in an earlier blog entry relating to the e-Me site they developed in partnership with MVM for Sears.

Sean stated that in 2008 Meez will give users tools to modify and upload content, he also added that the staff adds 40 3D items per week – 5000 were added so far. He announced that Meez games were launched at the beginning of October 2007. He seemed very pleased that there are about 400+ Meez on U-Tube.

The results of a recent survey surprised him by revealing that mothers are the top user group. He was disappointed in the research feedback that the 3d web is still considered hard to do but was pleasantly surprised at how readily users accepted an integrated activity like Meez.  

Gregory Saumier-Finch: Project Manager – MVM.com and Lousie Guay: Founding President of My Virtual Model spoke about user centric mobility – and the current industry need for a seamless experience. MVM had the technology to be seamless in the past but the industry was not ready. 

MVM’s  latest product BrandME, I am the brand lets users display several brands in their virtual wardrobe and post them on their personal page where visitors can comment on them. Lousie Guay states that BrandME is: “a new tool that gives users the power to personalize and tailor-make their own look by manipulating collections from major brands such as H&M, Levis, and Adidas.  This tool is part of the current transformations that are reshaping retail trade.  Now everyone can follow fashion in their own way.”

She also spoke of the expanded uses of avatars and her presentation seemed to highlight the content of the “Free the Avatars” article in the NY Times. She spoke of the near future where users will own multiple avatars and move seamlessly throughout the virtual worlds.“ She feels that young people are not “stuck” with a perception of reality”

The primary presentation of interest from the Extreme Makeover for Product Creation and Merchandising panel was from Mr. Yoram Burg, President of OptiTex. But the OptiTex product is far to expansive for detailing in this summary and it deserves more then a mere mention. I will submit a separate entry focusing only on the OptiTex application.   Without a doubt, this product represents the future of fashion product development. In Mr. Burg’s words, “3D is not just a tool but the future.” I very much agree with him. The OptiTex product includes PDS – 3D modules – marker – modulate – interfaces (open architecture). 

Some examples of OptiTex partnerships can be found on Brides.com  where the user can create customized bridal gowns. Another on the Virtual Product Presentation  site where the user can order customized patterns. OptiTex worked with Nike to develop the Nike Team Uniform Builder site and the Nike Shoe Designer site. 

The conference was short, and jam packed with interesting presentations highlighting the latest developments in mass customization and personalization. Someone mentioned at the conference that an obstacle preventing wider scale use of mass customization and personalization was a system to input and save standardized measurements. As I listened to these comments I remembered that such a system was recently developed in Korea called i-fashion. I will submit a separate entry for it.