“How can brands harness the power of the metaverse?” by Karen Murphy
There is a lot of information out there on the metaverse, and while its origins can be traced back to a 1992 sci-fi novel called Snow Crash, chatter has increased in recent months after Mark Zuckerburg renamed Facebook as Meta in October last year.
So what is it?
One could argue that a simplified version of the metaverse has always existed through TV, radio, social media, and to a greater extent, gaming, but 2021 saw a shift in mindset which realised its infinite possibilities limited only by our imagination and technology. Personally, I am intrigued by what this means for brands and how we can challenge ourselves to think creatively, whilst exploring innovative ways a brand can engage with its target audience.
As a consumer, the metaverse opens up the way in which we interact. Instead of hosting weekly Zoom meetings, you could meet in a digital space that has been recreated to look like your office, where everyone has their own avatar and sips on digital locally brewed coffee and digital doughnuts. It allows you to go shopping and try on clothes which are then posted to your house (after you’ve paid for them with Bitcoin or Ethereum, of course). It can even transport you back to 1970 to see T.Rex headline the first ever Glastonbury festival.
However, just because we can, it doesn’t mean we should. Will it really inspire creativity or drive productivity if team meetings take place in a virtual office space? Will we really appreciate a Damian Hirst more if we view it via a screen on a device, versus hanging on our living room wall?
Where we will really see the metaverse flourish and where brands can harness its power is through virtual and augmented reality. Companies like Ray Ban, Facebook and Apple have already created digital glasses head sets and even contact lenses to transport people to a new reality. Brands should look at how they are engaging with customers and elevating their experience via the metaverse – for example, consumers could attend a product launch in a virtual store to try on clothes or test a shade of blush. Or a video game might be the best way to take consumers on the journey of a brand, which has the power to reach a mass audience who are already engaged. Shared social spaces co-created by both brands and users will help drive participation and engagement. It is the brands that embrace new forms of customer participation that are most likely to successfully capture the attention of younger audiences and ensure brand loyalty. But whilst it is easy to build a space in the metaverse, it is difficult to drive customers there.
Web3 is an integral building block of the metaverse and it is here where brands are dipping their toe. Two brands that I am closely following are adidas Originals and Prada who have teamed up on a new project to launch the next stage of their partnership. adidas for Prada re-source is an ambitious NFT collaboration that will feature user-generated and creator-owned art. 3,000 community-sourced artworks will be minted as NFTs and compiled as tiles in a single mass-patchwork NFT designed by renowned creative coder and digital artist, Zach Lieberman. The final NFT will then be auctioned on SuperRare, with a portion of the proceeds going to a non-profit organisation working to create education to drive meaningful solutions and inclusive communities.
Business of Fashion recently reported on the additional challenges brands face in the metaverse; talent acquisition is almost as complicated as the technology itself, and brands should look at training current employees and broadening the types of people they hire for tech and engineering roles.