NAME - SOUHITYA SAMANTA DESIGNATION - STUDENT INSTITUTION - ST. XAVIERS’ COLLEGE, KOLKATA. DEPARTMENT - B.COM HONOURS (MORNING) PHONE NUMBER - 9830896005 EMAIL ID - souhitya83@gmail.com Metaverse and Marketing “Today I think, we LOOK AT the internet. But I think, in the future you’re going to BE IN the experiences.” - Mark Zuckerberg, October, 2021 Decades back it was the ‘.com’ boom, then came social media platforms and now its time for VR, AR and Artificial Intelligence - The blending of our online and offline lives started gradually through these small, informal steps and became robust as time passed. The world is becoming smarter every single day and with the revolution of digital spaces, the stage has been set for society to embrace a brave new hybrid world. Neal Stephenson, author of “Snow Crash” visioned a generation of internet way back. His book “Snow Crash” imagines a bleak future where the global economy has collapsed, and the federal governments have lost most of their power to a handful of corporate giants. In such a time, the novel’s main character Hiro Protagonist escapes into a virtual reality – the “Metaverse”. He could access the metaverse by wearing goggles and earphones and can appear within the digital world as his own customized avatar. All this seemed like an idyllic and illusionary escape back then. But now, it’s not. Enter: the metaverse. I Let us back up for a moment. Metaverse is designed to be an ecosystem where users interact as avatars and which operates as a digital environment but is characterized by certain “real” aspects: Individualized identities, currencies, and, increasingly, familiar products. II Technology has been advancing at a very fast pace. Popular games like Fortnite, Roblox have already shifted to the metaverse sphere where players can experience the virtual reality. No wonder man and machine are soon becoming one, allowing digital consumers to launch their preferred experience just by closing their eyes. The aim is to offer a hyper-real alternative world or a parallel universe different from the one that we are currently living in. Metaverse is going to disrupt many things, one of them being marketing. If digital marketing had helped in connecting potential customers with brands, marketing in the metaverse will give these customers an experiential opportunity during their purchasing journey by enhancing realism in every aspect. At present, only gaming platforms are the only means to practise such marketing, however, with the increase in such Web3 digital spaces, brands and businesses will get more and more familiar with metaverse marketing. Big brands like Coca-Cola, Samsung and Volkswagen all have their virtual billboards within several Web3 games. Bid stack, the in-game advertising platform revealed that through gameplay realism was enhanced by 95% and buyer’s willingness to purchase increased by 12%. From meetings to company-wide townhalls, everything is going to change in the various models of marketing, be it B2B, B2C or D2C. The fun-fact is that with the transition from humans to digital avatars in the metaverse, a model of D2A(Direct-to-avatars) is expected to come in place where business will help people (as digital avatars) in shopping, trading, travelling, socializing and interacting with one another. This brings us to the most important point which is how brands are going to benefit from this and how feasible will this be selling their products and services to their ideal customer? Strategic marketing campaigns for targeted audience can be an answer to this question. For example, Deliveroo planned a marketing campaign on Animal Crossing: New Horizons – a stand-alone metaverse. Through this, the online food delivery company deployed virtual riders in the game for various island-wide deliveries. The game players received not only a surprise delivery on their virtual island but also a promo code that they could activate in real life. Henceforth, within the first hour alone, Deliveroo’s marketing campaign gained three million in-game engagement. Similarly, by introducing real-life cause in the metaverse businesses increase the brand engagement. Hellmann’s, a mayonnaise brand committed to reducing food waste to Animal Crossing as well. The company recreated its own virtual island and invited players to donate their virtual spoiled turnips for a cause. This helped Hellmann’s donate 50,000 meals to a food waste charity. It can be observed that consumer behaviour can be accurately studied in the metaverse, contrary to the Web2 version of tracking audience activities only via cookies and sometimes through in-exact algorithm. Metaverse brings forth a new way to gather user data. Through virtual and augmented reality systems, brands can measure engagement the old-fashioned way instead of the data-insights such as cookies. Realistic avatars can try on clothing; test out a new sofa inside virtual storefronts, thus bringing in the possibilities that come with a blended shopping experience. As a customer spends time observing or trying items in the metaverse, marketers gain realtime information about their preferences and can determine exactly how long they interact with products or the entire company. Hence, brands will start taking notice and adapt to the meta landscape with this type of engagement at the top of mind. III In this context, it can be assumed that the metaverse platform will also be a good marketplace for retail of virtual goods to digital avatars. Online identities are crucial in the metaverse, where avatars represent people. According to a study, 92% of people value customization in creating their virtual avatars. Just like in real life, people in the 3D environment are expected to spend a lot of money on self-expression. This is the reason why the direct-to-avatar (D2A) economy will be emerging, allowing companies to sell and retail their virtual products directly to avatars. In order to promote these virtual products, businesses can partner with VR or 3D platforms with open marketplaces to create wearable and tradeable digital products like garments, technologies and more. The clothing and wearable sector can take advantage of the augmented reality by giving users the opportunity to visualize and wear their products in real time. Since humans are by nature collectors, in the virtual spaces, collectibles in the form of NFTs will be used as digital assets. This means that original ownership of a collectible, such as digital art, music is encrypted and unchangeable till the time the owner sells it to another. The marketplace for all these products will grow rapidly in the metaverse. At present we already have Open Sea – a peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, rare digital items and crypto collectibles. NFTs or non-fungible tokens can help trace the production and distribution of one’s virtual apparel. An NFT art marketplace can turn the virtual goods into an NFT, put it up for sale, and can be further bundled with exclusive benefits or be used as rewards. Time and again, experiential marketing have proved to be the most important drivers of customer engagement. This is what metaverse marketplace is focussed on creating. Studies have shown that brands who focus on building experiences gain 25% more brand loyalty than those who don’t. By offering an extraordinary experience help push the audiences out of their comfort zone. This can impact their perspective of a particular brand and help create longlasting bonds with them. Interactive live concerts, events and advergames when channelled through metaverse will create great experiences that will improve customer loyalty and referral with increased reach and engagement and long-term results. However, any new technology comes with its share of cons. The creation of virtual marketplace is a high-cost factor in itself. There are requirements for robust promotional campaigns, endless creativity along with chances of high risk and steep financial barrier. “The future, the future, all comes down to the future” The answer to all the arguments on how feasible the metaverse will be, lies in the future. One thing remains clear that businesses are going to adapt themselves to the ever-changing dimensions of internet and consumer demand, hence marketing their brands accordingly. Consumers are willing to devote their time and attention for things and experiences that are meaningful. In a Metaverse where bringing reality is close to possible, brands and businesses will have to shift the conversation from what is to what could be. IV List of References – 1. Sam Dart 2021 , How the Metaverse will transform digital marketing , accessed 16th February 2022 , https://www.ceros.com/inspire/originals/metaverse-digital-marketing/ 2. Seth King 2021, Augmented Reality & Marketing: 5 Brands Embracing Virtual Experiences , accessed 16th February 2022 , https://www.ceros.com/inspire/originals/augmented-realitymarketing/ 3. Brandon Francis , Marketing in the Metaverse , accessed 16th February 2022, https://www.leapgroupnetwork.com/logic-magic-main/article/marketing-in-themetaverse 4. Tom Huddleston Jr . 2021, This 29-year-old book predicted the ‘metaverse’ — and some of Facebook’s plans are eerily similar , accessed 16th February 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/03/how-the-1992-sci-fi-novel-snow-crash-predictedfacebooks-metaverse.html 5. Think School 2022 , How METAVERSE will CHANGE your LIFE? , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-VpFrqd0W0 Pictures – I. II. III. IV. Crypto Boss, Market Insider – Business Insider, accessed 17th February 2022. How to develop a metaverse, CNBC, accessed 17th February 2022. Is the Metaverse solution to the modern offices? , t3.com , accessed 17th February 2022. The Metaverse is here and it changes everything, DecentraNews , accessed 17th February 2022.
