Prashant Sharma, Co-founder, Plutoverse strategically jots down the infinite possibilities for marketing on Metaverse, exemplifying why it’s the next stop shop.
The Metaverse and us
Remember when you saw the Matrix and were mind-boggled about the possibilities of living in a virtual world? Well, what if we tell you that we are closer to entering a virtual world than you previously thought with Metaverse? The Metaverse is a virtual space in which people can interact with each other, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as AR & VR headsets.
For years together, technology has been bringing mankind closer to each other in various aspects of communication. Similarly, the introduction of metaverse will bring brands closer to the consumer than ever before by putting them right in the middle of the message. This is a realization that is slowly coming into perspective for many brands, more so after the COVID pandemic.
The pandemic lockdown measures and work-from-home routines have pushed more people into buying goods and services online. Having said that, who doesn’t love a little self-pampering and occasionally indulging in some online shopping! Most of us are now acclimatizing to the reality of shopping and socialising digitally through social media but also using AR filters, video games, immersive interactive and real-time content.
While the actual metaverse may be decades away, there will likely be an increase in the availability of AR and VR media formats along with the introduction of more immersive technologies. It is no secret that VR is the next step in the evolution of social networks, and it’s about to open up new possibilities that we haven’t even begun exploring yet.
Many brands are now looking to integrate these technologies to enhance their user experience. Having said that it’s also beneficial for brands to have a technical team in place that is constantly working towards exploring and adapting to our new futuristic reality (pun intended)
The Future of Brands in Metaverse
Be it the millennials or the GenZs, most consumers have reached a saturation point when it comes to static display and videos that permeate the web and social media. Moreover, these users look for rich, interactive, immersive experiences.
They no longer consume content that is being marketed to them while they just sit back and watch, they prefer to play a role in defining your brand, to have a say in what it signifies to them. This, along with the fact that the average human attention span is 8 seconds, has gotten brands to rethink and re-strategize how they interact and sell their products.
One thing that we need to understand is that the metaverse is built on such experiences. Given its very nature, you don’t necessarily watch or view the metaverse, as much as you participate or interact in it. Your very presence in it can affect change both large and small. The metaverse replaces the flat, two-dimensional aspect of the world wide web with a 3D experience that is much more lifelike.
The metaverse enables marketers to introduce their brands into experiences in a way that makes each user the highlight of the concept while making it a cohesive experience.
For instance, Gucci collaborated with Roblox by selling several rare Gucci items on the Roblox platform. The brand sold Digital Bags That is More Expensive Than its Physical Bags
Similarly, Balenciaga announced they had collaborated with Fortnite, to bring the fashion house’s signature clothing and apparel into the game.
Not just that Brands can host their Virtual Events/Shows as part of marketing/selling their offering, just like Nike’s House of Innovation event. By simply using their mobile phones and other virtual and augmenting tools, visitors could explore a virtual recreation of Smith Rock State Park in Oregon.
Visitors could easily access Nike’s House of Innovation through a personalized checklist and digital map upon accessing the virtual world.
Another collaboration that Fortnite did was with American rapper Travis Scott. An estimated 45.8 million people watched the Travis Scott in Fortnite event in 2020
Brands can also create Avatars in the metaverse to initiate conversations with their consumers. In India, Plutoverse, an avatar technology company, has announced that its first virtual avatar for adults ‘DeerDost‘ will also exist on the metaverse and discusses how people deal with a myriad of emotions living there.
Also Read: Guest Post: Redefining the celebrity quotient in the burgeoning creator economy
The Future of Marketing in Metaverse
The metaverse will become a significant aspect of successful brand strategies. It’s going to change what we think we know about marketing. With the development of an immersive ecosystem, brands will have innovative ways of increasing brand loyalty and engaging with their customers by delivering a one-of-a-kind user experience.
This is also going to make the communication between brands and the consumer seamless.
The Metaverse is an entirely immersive, shared experience. It will be a parallel reality that exists in real-time and never stops and therefore in the Metaverse, communication of brands with their consumers will be an attempt to perfect the end-user experience.
The future of marketing will be a wild ride as we try and adapt to new ways of reaching consumers through virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality.
Metaverse is a new concept and the developments happening at a rapid speed. This means that the Marketing KPI’s would be different, Marketing Methods would be different, and brands will need to evolve constantly.
Since the metaverse is going to be a more immersive and personalized experience, brands need to understand the movement and behavior triggers of consumers in order to measure the effectiveness of the marketing plan.
While we are definitely plunging towards a new era of consumer behavior we need to keep in mind that’s not just digitally native but also meta native, The basic principles of marketing will continue to be essential in the future too. However, the players will change, the people’s behavior will change and so will the metrics.
Brands and marketers will have to gear up and prepare to enter a whole new world.
The article has been authored by Prashant Sharma, Co-founder, Plutoverse.
