MarketingVOX: Hoping to boost business in the real world, Leo Burnett Worldwide is setting up shop in a virtual world.

Burnett, which has recently lost major accounts, including Cadillac and the U.S. Army, is opening an "ideas hub" in Linden Labs' virtual world Second Life, where nearly a million people interact, AdAge reports. Burnett says it's the first ad agency to buy virtual real estate in the virtual realm, where marketers such as American Apparel and Adidas have been testing virtual wares to boost their brands.

"I don't want brands shackled by geography," Burnett's chief creative officer Mark Tutssel is quoted as saying. "It lets all of our (2,400) creatives live in the same place," breaking down physical barriers to interact and share ideas, Tutssel said.

Meanwhile, CNET has apparently also set up a virtual outpost inside Second Life, according to Micro Persuasion. The "property" looks like CNET's San Francisco offices and has an amphitheater where CNET will host events and its reporters will conduct interviews.

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