By Abhishek Shetty | Club Executive member
WHAT?
Sounds like Marvel universe right. Sadly, it’s not. This blog is about Marketing in Metaverse (Mar-Verse). If you had seen the movie “Ready player one”, you can pretty much skip the introduction about metaverse. If not, follow the trail. Metaverse, which means “beyond the universe” is a 3D environment which is made up of Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR). It is an inter universe where you can travel around it, connect with new people, experience products and services, build or create your own world while seated at home. You can literally do anything and be anything in metaverse that gives almost similar experience like in real world. Overall, the metaverse is built on cryptocurrency and digital goods and assets, including NFTs. If u want to know about NFT’s, there is a dedicated blog from Crowd core marketing club. Click below link to check out.
But do people really know the potential of metaverse? The Metaverse market was worth $46 billion in 2020 and is predicted to reach as much as $800 billion by 2024. Adding to it, more than $120 billion has been spent on developing the metaverse's technology and infrastructure in the first five months of 2022. North America holds the largest share of the Metaverse market. NFTs saw an increase of $2.5 billion during the pandemic’s peak. There are 400 million unique and active users accessing a metaverse platform monthly, according to a report from Metaversed.
WHY?
The key purpose of using metaverse as a platform for marketing is to engage with Gen Z and Millennials who are more into technology and to give experience from where you park yourself. The usage of AR and VR is skyrocketing every minute and eventually leads everyone into metaverse. According to a study, most game streamers and gamers friends aren’t that different from their real-life friends. This implies that people prefer online friends who are like them in the real world.
Metaverse marketing is the evolution of current version. Like when web 1.0 existed, the limit of marketing was having a website showcasing products or services with contact details on it. Later, web 2.0 evolved marketing by connecting with people and customization of user experience. Now its time for web 3.0. Its more about immersive experience where people experience everything online.
HOW?
Many brands already stepped into this universe for marketing. What if I say you don’t need to visit Disneyland to experience Disney world. No kidding!! Disney is working on a Metaverse theme park where u can be a Donald duck on a roller coaster ride seated in your home. It may look like Metaverse is for gaming industry as users visit for entertainment. But you don’t need to be a gaming company for creating entertainment. For example, Nike created a Nikeworld with Roblox where users can create an avatar, buy Nike nft’s, play sports and win rewards.
Even Gucci created a branding campaign in metaverse in 2021. Roblox hosted a Gucci Garden, a theme-based rooms, where users when entered a room can try on digital products of Gucci on their blank avatars and move on to another room.
Not only these two, other popular brands like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Fortnite have imprinted their branding in Metaverse. And the brands that are early adopters in realizing the potential of metaverses are the ones who will see the most return.