Advertising in metaverse

We’re living in a more and more digitalized environment from one year to the next. And this brings with it a lot of changes in all the environments where people perform their personal or professional activity. Who would have thought that today we will end up talking about metaverse? Metaverse is a network of interconnected virtual communities where unlimited users can participate, it is a network of real-time virtual worlds in the third dimension.

Advertising is a promotional activity that aims to sell a product or service to a target audience. Now, when we put “advertising” next to the word “metaverse”, things are getting interesting. Advertising and marketing in the metaverse can be defined as a persistent, 3D, virtual space, where users can spend their time and be targeted with brand-related content and sales enablement tactics. Basically, it’s the next big thing after social media, where users can log in, engage with friends, react to what they see and while they’re doing this, they encounter brands, advertising, sponsored content and calls to action. Just as social media has evolved to feature online stores, where you can pay for products online and get them shipped to your address, so the metaverse could have 3D “stores” (which may or may not exist in the real world) where you can do more than just watch the ads - like trying products and making purchase decisions.

Understanding the full potential of the metaverse means that digital marketers have to be kept up to speed with the latest technological developments. Gen Zers and millennials are those generations that grew up with technology "in their hands". This may mean that they are among the most open and curious when it comes to technology innovation - maybe companies would want to keep that in mind. All those brands that integrate metaverse in their marketing strategy, in parallel with everything they do on social media and in the real world, complete the experience of their audience.

For example, Balenciaga launched its Afterworld game, showcasing its futuristic clothing line. Fortnite, a player-versus-player game played by hundreds of millions in the Gen Z age group, collaborated with Nike to promote its new Jordan sneakers and teamed up with rapper Travis Scott for a virtual gig to an audience of over 10 million - as you can read on adage.com.

Another example is Samsung, which built the concept “837X”, where you can experience new quests, music events and live content, through “Decentraland”.

Types of advertising in the metaverse

Virtual reality billboards and ads, sponsored content in social spaces, product placement in VR games and virtual influencers are just a few examples of the wide range of options that will become available in the metaverse. Brands can create experiences and stories that allow users to interact with their product and make them purchase it right there, without leaving the network.

Metawork

We know a lot of people are overwhelmed by the subject of metaverse (and there’s a high probability that in a few years, metaverse will become something usual, like Facebook today), but there is also a subconcept, called “metawork”, which refers to working from 9 to 5 in the metaverse. Along with the changes in our way of working in recent years, the metawork is providing us virtual space for collaboration and communication - so, we could see a complete virtual avatar of someone and interact with it like, as if it were a real person (the problem of facial expression was taken into account).

Advantages and disadvantages

Metaverse would give us the possibility of infinite space (that exists in real-time and it’s always active) for developing ideas and sharing them with as many people as possible. It could also be beneficial for the environment, reducing the amount of pollution and materials that are wasted, together with the fact that we could have access to the same information and content without being physically in the same space with other people. But all these need a platform that can sustain a great, fast and efficient technology. In addition to this, there will be concerns about the privacy of employees when they work in a virtual environment and also, about how information is shared and protected. But before reaching those points, it is highly probable that companies may need to invest a lot just to have the opportunity of entering the metaverse.

It is very likely that more and more brands will come up with an idea that includes metaverse. The question that remains is what will life and the world look like, once people are more and more involved in the metaverse? What changes with this new network called metaverse? What are your thoughts on this?