Does the Metaverse matter?

A recent Harvard Business Review article, ‘How brands can enter the Metaverse’ has a definition for the Metaverse - ‘The basic idea isn’t complicated. Put simply, the metaverse includes any digital experience on the internet that is persistent, immersive, three-dimensional (3D), and virtual, as in, not happening in the physical world.’

Right now, no innovation is causing more opinion, or investment than the Metaverse with an almost daily rush of brands launching in this space, aiming to attract a growing audience that is keen to engage, explore and, increasingly, shop these experiences. Brands are creating their own digital worlds, collaborating with existing platforms or launching across digital ‘real estate' such as Decentraland, a virtual world that has sold 60% of their ‘land’ for $60M.

There is plenty of debate about how the Metaverse will develop but there is no doubt it will have a major impact on how we interact with brands. And the projections of its future value mean we should all sit up and take notice, with a recent Fortune article suggesting it could be ‘worth trillions and affect the world in ways we cannot even imagine’.

What the Metaverse offers is the ability to create entirely reimagined spaces, allowing potentially limitless creativity, reach, discovery, and play. But creative license aside, this undoubtedly has the potential to become a critical place to extend a brand’s connection with its customers in new, innovative, and commercial ways.

What is interesting is the accelerating development of these virtual brand and retail experiences, which, unlike their physical counterparts, can have almost limitless possibilities and can often be developed and delivered with more agility. How this will impact and influence IRL experiences will likely be the next exciting frontier, leaning into the fact that we’re living in a hybrid digital and physical world, experiencing brands across platforms, places, and devices, all turbocharged by growing 5G and, eventually, 6G capabilities.

Initially, the Metaverse was for gaming and artistic exploration, then embraced by luxury, beauty, and wellness brands, but it is now being widely adopted. This is ultimately a place for brands to connect with consumers wherever and whenever they wish, enabling wider participation with more engaging, creative, and active environments that allow more agility, reacting faster to new demands and trends. As with social media, brands need to be where their customers are, and this is a space to test new creative ideas and content, products, and services, as well as an easier route to launch in new markets and territories.

Spend time exploring and you’ll understand more about how interaction takes place in these spaces, and the possibilities appear endless. It is still early days but the momentum is building and we’re excited about the creative possibilities. As recently commented by Patrice Louvet, CEO of Ralph Lauren, “We have to innovate, experiment, and try new things. This is what we’re doing in the Metaverse.

There are plenty of exciting places to visit, with more arriving all the time. Here are a few that led the way or more recently caught our eye -

One of the first brands to fully embrace the Metaverse was Pangaia and their Antarctica experience - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7oNJ_xlgJU

The Coach x Disney x Keith Haring, a collaboration where art gallery meets shopping experience - https://insidethemagic.net/2021/01/disney-coach-keith-haring-exploratorium-ky1/

Etsy opened its (virtual) doors to a digital home filled with curated shoppable products - https://etsy.me/3iJYrFz or visit the space here https://lnkd.in/dYqzJtrj

Balenciaga’s ‘Afterworld’ saw the brand released its Fall 2021 collection as a video game - https://videogame.balenciaga.com/en/video

Selfridges, Pokémon, Charlie Cohen’s immersive shopping experience celebrates 25 years of Pokémon - https://yhoo.it/3lflOIQ / https://electriccity.co/

And one that really grabbed recent headlines is Nikeland on Roblox, taking the Metaverse even more mainstream - https://news.nike.com/news/five-things-to-know-roblox