International Business Machines Corporation

Dirk Nowak

Martin Oberhofer

Albert Maier

Thomas Schwarz

Baxter R Yazbek

The present disclosure details a method and system used for turning human participants who control avatars in a virtual world setting into real life marketing leads. In one embodiment, a virtual location is presented within a virtual world to facilitate interaction with an avatar. The avatar is identified within a master data management system, and a profile of the human behind the avatar is created or retrieved. To encourage the human user to provide real-world information through the avatar within the virtual world, an incentive is offered and awarded as necessary. The real-world information about the human user, such as address or demographic information about the human user is collected and stored in the profile, and eventually synchronized with a CRM system. As appropriate, the data collected and compiled in the CRM system may be used to launch marketing campaigns.

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Nierstein, Germany

Dirk Nowak