What Is the Metaverse and How Will It Affect Advertisers?
Metaverse advertising is the use of virtual environments for digital advertising. While we won’t go into the details yet, Metaverse promises to transform the digital world with its new technology, which will provide many opportunities and many challenges. The concept is in its early stages, but a new reality is set to come. So what is the Metaverse?
What Is the Metaverse?
The term “metaverse”was derived from the novel “Snow Crash,” written in 1992, where people explored virtual realities using digital avatars of themselves. Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, rebranded Facebook to “Meta” and said the brand would be part of the Metaverse.
Given the two pieces of information above and more research done on our part, the Metaverse can be described as a new concept that promises an immersive experience in a virtual world where users have a mix of virtual reality and augmented reality in an “embodied Internet” that users can be part of.
It is real-life in a virtual space and acts as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds, unlike how we have been using the digital space so far – by accessing the Internet, using a browser or application as part of our everyday activities. This virtual environment will be allowing users to meet other users, play, interact, shop, and more, much like in the real world but in the Metaverse.
Advertising in the Metaverse
Ever since a little insight was given into this new platform, questions have come flooding in. Would there be opportunities for metaverse marketing and advertising in virtual worlds, or was the concept too bizarre? As a marketer and owner of forward-thinking brands, the concept of hybrid experiences like this was an innovative promise that I was looking forward to – and although we do not have deep levels of understanding of the Metaverse yet, we will soon know more.
Metaverse’s Pitch to Advertisers
So what can advertisers do with the Metaverse? While the Metaverse today is still in the making, digital marketing and advertising enthusiasts are rushing to make use of these virtual spaces. Advertisers will be able to take all their efforts into a virtual environment, replacing traditional advertising methods like billboards with virtual billboards, using in-game advertising in games played in the virtual world, reaching out to new audiences, investing in creating digital products and services, and trying to adopt payments through cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and more avenues. Metaverse’s pitch is extensive, but are all of these feasible for advertisers to make use of?
How Advertisers Can Navigate Metaverse Advertising?
The promise of a 3D business in virtual worlds was developed with (virtual reality) VR technology, and augmented reality (AR) technology, both of which have become familiar names in recent years, along with other technological advancements and infrastructure. This means that people may have a steep learning curve to start using the Metaverse to simply interact with other users before they even think of doing business using the platform.
Navigating the metaverse will be tricky for advertisers, and here are some opportunities along with some challenges that advertisers may have to face when trying to reach the consumers of their brand through the metaverse.
Opportunities of the Transition to Metaverse Advertising
The metaverse offers an immersive environment where you can be immersed within a brand’s product or service, which makes it easier than ever before for companies to advertise their products. Advertisers can easily showcase their products and services by simply inserting virtual billboards into existing app experiences, similar to depicting a real-life billboard but in your virtual platforms and workspaces. This has already taken place in popular and epic games like Animal Crossing, Fortnite, and many others, where brands have seamlessly integrated their elements, virtual real estate, and digital characters to drive in-game purchases.
Advertisers can also create virtual storefronts regardless of whether their brand is Louis Vuitton or Tesla. Although technological intricacies exist in the Metaverse, it breaks physical barriers, allowing consumers around the world to freely experience your virtual space. Brands can include a diverse range of customers, making the most of inclusive branding, and understanding consumer behaviors while promoting user-generated content.
The metaverse will also allow hosting mass interactive events in real-time, which can be a success according to top stories that showed American rapper Travis Scott in a live concert on Fortnite that 12.3 million gamers attended.
Challenges of the Transition to Metaverse Advertising
The biggest challenge that the Metaverse and many of the latest trends pose is the infringement of data privacy. Metaverse marketers, advertisers, and consumers cannot simply focus on creating and seeing ads when they don’t understand how such a large virtual environment deals with their data. AR and VR headsets, and other necessary appliances are not resources that users generally have access to – and if they do, it is a costly investment.
Developing advertising methods for brands is not simple, and neither is the experience on these platforms. AR and VR have constantly proven to have their fair share of glitches, lags, and flawed consumer experiences, so the Metaverse being an example of the two brought together forces you to keep your expectations low until much testing and trying has been done with its consumers – from marketers to gamers and more.
Another challenge is how advertisers can measure their results in the Metaverse. What are the performance metrics they must analyze and which path ultimately leads consumers to their ads? The answers will take time, and diving right into the Metaverse may be a regretful decision if precautions are not taken.
Final Thoughts – Should Advertisers Take the Metaverse Seriously?
Multiple platforms that are subdivisions of the Metaverse may emerge, although the Metaverse remains as a virtual world in the making – for now. Being prepared to indulge in advertising in the Metaverse given its currently affordable pricing schemes can give advertisers a first-mover advantage when the snowball starts rolling and becomes a marketplace that other platforms cannot compete with.
Advertisers need to be prepared to enter the Metaverse and adapt their brands and ads to make the most of the promising number of users it is set to have. However, it is soon to let go of other digital advertising methods because the Metaverse is new and can not produce results overnight!
What are some opportunities you see in using Metaverse for advertising? Please leave them in the comments.