NAGARE ISLAND --Ever since Toyota introduced the Scion in Scion City with a hot press party in November 2006, car companies have seen Second Life as a way to reach a potential market of customers. Recently, Pontiac previewed the G8 in SL before it was shown in first life, with designer caLLie cLine creating a fashion line that was as sizzling as the G8.

This reporter was set for a hot time at the Mazda Hakaze press launch Thursday. A press pass was dutifully obtained before the launch. Although interview requests could be submitted before the launch, Chief Designer Birty Barthelmess was not available to speak to reporters.

Launch time came and the invited journalists were teleported to Nagare Island, bringing the total attendance to 23. Everyone took their places quietly on chairs that had been arranged on the beach. In front of were three directors' chairs, a podium, three video screens and an oval platform. A road track was visible in the background over the water. We waited. Seated in front of us were Barthelmess as well as Vice President PR MME, Franzl Dagger and PR Specialist MME, Alice Lundquist.

Dagger rose. Silence. He sat and Barthelmess rose. He sat and Lundquist crossed to the podium. Still silence. A Mazda video played, then stopped and started again. Later another started. Neither video played to completion.

Suddenly the Mazda Hakaze appeared on the oval, which had now risen a bit from its previous ground position. It’s a cute little car, has a bit of a smiley face front and I expected cheers, comments, anything. Silence.

It was at this point that I decided something was terribly wrong. There was no audio channel. I had heard people speaking out loud previously. I had even heard someone who had accidentally wandered up by the speakers’ chairs so I knew it wasn’t the “person-in-the-neighboring-sim-I-can-see-but-can’t-hear” side effect. In an effort to ask others how they were dealing with the silence, I turned on the group instant message for this area.

To my surprise, there was conversation. Mazda had been conducting the entire press conference via instant message to the group. The company did not offer any warning that the audience should listen to the group channel at any point. This PR gaffe cost the company at least one potential article.

I managed to catch five minutes of this instant message chat, watching a newbie climb all over the new model car. Members of the audience were allowed to keep the free Hakaze if they could drive it along the test track and make a tricky jump, and there was some movement among the audience to do this when the sim crashed. I didn’t bother going back when I logged back into SL. Lundquist was kind enough to e-mail me a very edited chat log of speeches made by the Mazda representatives.

This causes me to wonder about companies and how they perceive the potential buyers in Second Life. My sense is that Mazda did not adequately research the market, nor think to use common  courtesy in ensuring that audience members were tuned in to  the group chat.

During my short 5 minutes of awareness, I did learn that Mazda acquired the island in January of this year and that Dagger began SL in February. Only three Mazda avatars exist, and no, they really hadn’t explored other areas of SL yet.

My sense is that Mazda doesn’t really know the culture of SL, nor do they know how many events are conducted here. No music was performed; no celebrities or glitz emerged to draw attention. This event could have been executed by a reasonably new user. I expected something a little bit more from a Fortune 500 company tempting us to spend real money. It astonished me that, if executives opted to conduct a press conference entirely via instant message, unprecedented as far as I know, they would let the audience know, and continue to remind them as latecomers arrived.

The Hakaze looks like a cute car. It’s too bad Mazda didn’t do a walk around the neighborhood first, and get to know its new customers before giving them a cold sales pitch.