Virtual Cheese

On July 4th 6 or 7 years ago I was in a rather slap-happy mood. Hanging out with my wife's cousin Julie, I came up with what seemed to be the most preposterous dot-com company that I could imagine... virtual-cheese. The idea was that we would not manufacture anything, but that people could come to our website and buy our virtual cheese. I didn't expect much in the way of sales at first, but with the buzz that would be created in the media, some large company would come and buy us out for millions. I felt confident that I was on to something real, but everyone else thought I was joking, and for that matter, that I kept the joke up for FAR too long.

Obviously once the dot-com bubble burst, it didn't seem like an idea worth pursuing (granted, it wasn't an idea worth "pursuing" even if the bubble hadn't burst).

Well, two things have been in the news recently that makes me think I should have stuck with it.

1) Check out www.cheddarvision.tv. Some cheese makers in England decided that people might want to watch their cheese be "made" on the internet and that it might drive real-world sales. Not a bad idea, but if you check out the site you'll see that making cheese is akin to watching paint dry - only much slower.

2) Scion is providing virtual cars to one of the on-line virtual worlds. Presumably, they are hoping to convince teens that driving Scions in the virtual world is cool and that will translate to real world purchases. But can it be far off for all major brands to look for placements in virtual gaming - why not buy Kraft Mac & Cheese in the on-line world?

Since Scions are apparently "selling" for about $1, I don't see why I couldn't have a buisness model that sells virtual cheese. And once the standard virtual world market is exhausted, maybe we could branch out to market to Webkinz, or Club Penguin (hey penguins love virtual cheese). Gotta expand and keep the shareholders happy. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.