Metaverse: A New Digital Frontier

The Metaverse is the new digital frontier, and it's quickly becoming a popular attraction for marketers and brands that are active in the digital sphere. with some companies trying to create buzz around its possibilities. The idea of an online world where you can socialize and interact with others is nothing new for gamers who have enjoyed playing video games for decades ago, not so long ago gamers were playing World of Warcraft, 40 people teaming up using their avatars for a common goal and using TeamSpeak or other software to communicate verbally.

It seems that this type of enthusiasm, towards these kinds of experiences, shows up especially high among young players. According to data from Newzoo, 38% of gamers between the age of 10 to 20 in key video game markets have played a proto-metaverse game in 2021. This makes the average metaverse player significantly younger than the average gamer.

What Metaverse offers that is different from other online experiences is the ability to not just interact with others but also to do so in a physical space. This means that you can actually meet up with people in the Metaverse and explore together, which creates a much more immersive experience. For businesses, this presents a whole new way to engage with potential customers and create loyalty among their existing ones. The three-dimensional virtual world has the potential to reach $800 billion in market opportunity by 2024, according to Bloomberg.

Metaverse is currently seen as a space where e-commerce can be activated, activities will range from online shopping and entertainment to business meetings and conferences. It also offers a level of interactivity that is different from the physical world, making it an attractive proposition for both users and businesses alike. The whole thing is still in its early stages of development, but it has already caught the attention of some major players in the tech industry and the race towards launching a Metaverse has begun with some companies already established in the digital frontier like Decentraland, The Sandbox, Meta’s Horizon Worlds & Microsoft. Shopify will also play an important role in monetizing the metaverse, as the platform has plans to be responsible for digitalization of assets, currency and the ability for content creators to get paid.

What's Next for Marketers?

Marketers can start identifying the metaverse platforms that provide the best opportunity and brand fit. Now is the right time to adopt a test-and-learn mindset, to experiment in the metaverse, move on quickly from failure and capitalize on success. It is also important to think about the long-term when it comes to Metaverse and not just treat it as another short-term fad. With the right strategy, Metaverse can be a powerful tool for brands' marketing arsenal and help them reach new heights.

Brands Exploring Metaverse

Last year, Gucci drew 19.9 million visitors in two weeks when it launched a metaverse version of its real-world Gucci Garden on Roblox. Gucci has also partnered with the fashion-focused metaverse Zepeto, announced to expand their Gucci Vault to The Sandbox, and created assets for games including The Sims, Pokémon GO, and Animal Crossing.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Pokémon partnered with Selfridges to build a virtual city called Electric/City where fans could shop for exclusive merch. Visitors were able to create custom avatars and dress them up and view them using AR body tracking Snapchat lens.

Nike created "Nikeland" within Roblox, and it’s modelled after the company’s headquarters. The virtual land includes entertaining mini-games and Nike has plans to have a digital showroom that will involve products and athletes' engagement.

Other brands like McDonald’s, Victoria’s Secret, and L’Oreal have already filed trademark requests for online retail services featuring virtual foods, brand names, product names and more.

Advertising on Metaverse

Metaverse presents a new and exciting opportunity for businesses to reach younger consumers in a whole new way. The question remains on how to monetize users’ attention in this new form of media? Advertisers are already looking into different ways and exploring similar traditional types of placements such as the digital billboards, or setting up an interactive brand booth. Metaverse advertising could be placed in a unique playful way to make it enjoyable for users. It's still early days yet, but the potential is there for Metaverse to become a major player in the digital landscape. only time will tell how big it will become, but one thing is for sure: Metaverse is here to stay

What are your thoughts on the Metaverse? Have you had any experiences in it so far? Let me know in the comments below!