Metaverse for the masses

So how can brands find a way in that makes sense for both their mission and their audience?

According to Fill, there are three ways brands can access the benefits of the metaverse. “There’s real-world products and the brand enhances them in some way using technology,” he says, using augmented reality (AR) as an example to see a product along with its price and material information, and be able to change its colour or see all sides of it.

Secondly, brands can create products for the digital world. “This means that for the people who are already playing Fortnite, the brand can create products for them within that world,” he says.

Finally, and what he’s most interested in, is the fully immersive experience. “It’s still early days, but that’s where haptics, motion tracking and biometric feedback come in,” he says.

To some marketers, “metaverse” is a four-letter word – one that’s tricky to define. While the concept of the metaverse is, so far, purely aspirational, what we can definitively say is that its components are very real: 3D-technology, real-time collaboration and blockchain based finance tools.

Once those components can communicate and interact with one another freely in the same space, then we’ve got the metaverse on our hands. “We’re a long way from that full immersion,” says Dan Fill, president of virtual production studio Dark Slope. He sums it up as more than just watching content: “As an observer, you’ll be a part of it. You’ve got agency in it.”

Some brands are playing in the metaverse in genius ways, while others appear to be fumbling their way through. Which isn’t surprising, according to Johanna Faigelman, CEO at Human Branding. There’s a lot of unknown territory to navigate here.

“There are negative connotations resulting from association with Meta/Facebook, ‘crypto-bros’ and gaming, which can be alienating for a lot of people who don’t feel like the metaverse is for them,” she says. “Brands are feeling pressured to be in the metaverse, and wondering whether they need to have a presence even if it isn’t bringing value or aligning with their values,” she says.

And she poses the ultimate question that’s on every marketer’s mind: What makes for good engagement in the metaverse, anyway?

In execution, the answer to entering the metaverse might be to keep it simple, according to Tommaso Sandretto, chief revenue and investment officer at Blockchain Creative Labs, Fox’s web3 and creative technology company. Blockchain Creative Labs has been bringing the metaverse to the masses, and making the transition almost invisible.

For instance, in partnership with Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, the making of Krapopolis, set to be released later this year, marks the first-ever animated series curated on the blockchain. In this participatory world, fans mint NFTs which grant access to gated content, merchandise, giveaways and more.

In this way, the metaverse becomes a vehicle for viewers to become the ultimate fan with an all-access pass. Brilliant on its own, but what’s more brilliant is how Blockchain Creative Labs rolled it out to the average consumer who may not know the inner workings of complex tech.

For Krapopolis, it’s as easy as logging onto a website and moving through the usual purchasing process – this time, though, what you’re purchasing are NFTs. “We built on core infrastructure to create the most seamless experience. We don’t want people to be afraid of the technology – we wanted it to be a one-stop shop where purchasing assets is as easy as purchasing a t-shirt,” says Sandretto.

Sandretto notes that while education is an important component to understanding the metaverse, from the brand perspective, what’s more important is creating accessibility and ease of use. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t know how to create an app on my phone. But what I’m excited about is the fact that I can use it to order a pizza that’ll show up at my house without knowing exactly how everything works behind it,” he says. “That’s what we’re trying to do: balance education with a simple onboarding experience.

Another extension of seamlessly welcoming consumers into the metaverse comes in the form of brand. That brand extension is really what they’re after.”

As with all good marketing, the task becomes to identify the problem and then solve it with the tools that are accessible. The metaverse should be considered just that: tools to solve a problem.

Which isn’t to say we’re not seeing brands produce larger-than-life examples of playing in the metaverse. But to these types of stunts, Laura Mingail, founder of Archetypes and Effects, raise some questions. “Perhaps we see a brand sponsor a virtual concert, for example. What was the actual impact to the brand?,” she wonders, questioning what recall and attendance results might show. “It’s not just about showing up in digital realities. It’s about understanding what your brand is about and how digital realities help to extend awareness or drive sales.”

The benefits don’t just stop at awareness or profits, though. “Lowe’s helped customers bring to life their augmented and virtual realities. When you think about SnapChat filters, does this strike you as being “in the metaverse”? Probably not, because the process has become so easily integrated into consumers’ lives that it’s not something they even give a second thought. And that’s exactly the point.

Besides the ubiquity of social media filters, the fashion and beauty industries are benefitting wildly from AR capabilities. Suddenly testing cosmetics or trying on clothing in the comfort of a consumer’s home becomes a no-brainer – and removes barriers to purchase.

In the beauty and fashion realm, a new, unexpected demographic has revealed itself: avatars. “People are paying for high-end brands’ digital designs, like Louis Vuitton or Gucci, especially if they’re endorsed by their favourite celebrity or a brand that they’re affiliated with,” says Fill. “Brands that are clever are understanding this social side, and creating environments that consumers feel are related to the design vision with Holoroom, where they could design their kitchen or bathroom and view it in VR using Oculus Rift in-stores, and take-home a free Google Cardboard viewer to enjoy their room design whenever and wherever they chose,” says Faigelman. Undoubtedly a memorable customer experience, but the brand can also gather intel on how consumers are placing items together, or how they’re moving through the store in a virtual world. These insights run much deeper than simply tracking interest on a website, and data collected from these technologies can further drive strategies.

As brands navigate new possibilities in the metaverse, the ones that are doing it well have one thing in common: it just makes sense. “A brand should think of the message it’s trying to get across to its audience and the experience it can match with a method, what the audience wants and what the audience has access to,” says Mingail. “That’s how to determine the best way into the digital realities space.”