The metaverse is taking user engagement to a whole new level. Hundreds of thousands of innovators are building for the technology. With a compound annual growth rate of 47.2%, there is no going back. The global market size of the metaverse industry will already be $426.9 billion by the year 2027. Such figures representing a nascent technology means everyone would love to be associated with it. And what else than marketing departments flocking where the numbers are?
There could be an infinite number of reasons why the metaverse attracts marketers. Perhaps it is the freshness of the technology, or rather the platform’s ability to support emergent environments such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and/or Augmented Reality. For us, we believe it is the need for marketers to appeal to a broader audience. A case about casting the fishnet further. The metaverse is a handy tool for these, given it is already thriving with Millennials and Generation X.
It turns out that the very best way to target these audience segments is to have them engaged with your products. And as you can see, brands are gaining massive engagement whenever they integrate the aforementioned techs within their business. Plus, the metaverse allows them to get it right while targeting the correct segment.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. Shall we? 13 years to 35 years of are the core demographics interested and shaping their place on the internet metaverse. The Vans case study recorded that Vans received upward of 48M visitors through their internet park. For example, a brand with the deep pockets to fund a larger, more engaging metaverse would receive much bigger engagement.
Big company foray into the online metaverse
Better yet, there is the case of the government and big corporations foray into the metaverse. The Dubai government promised to create over 40,000 jobs through tech only last week. Through this ambitious plan, the government of UAE aims to generate over $4 billion in GDP in the next 8 years. The jobs will extend from the field of the metaverse into virtual reality and augmented reality. This plan is the brainchild of the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed. Another metaverse vision is still on the line in the country, following a roadmap by the ruler of Dubai to attract over a thousand firms in the sector, who will then contribute at least $500M in revenue to the national economy.
Some big brands are also building their metaverse. Take Coca-Cola, for instance, aiming to attract more attention through NFTs. The Coca-Cola metaverse is game-inspired and could allow users to play around with different drink flavors. Other companies incorporating the metaverse into their
business include Warner Bros, Gucci, and Hyundai. Facebook seems to have been the first giant company to expand its social media business and build a $10 billion metaverse strategy. The plan even saw the tech giant change its name from Facebook to Meta. Meta’s immediate goal is to use the $10 billion through the next five years and hire over 10,000 people to build its virtual world.
Why are brands entering the metaverse?
To some extent, brands have a glaring urge to join the Metaverse frenzy to increase awareness across products. It does not matter whether these brands are small or big. The benefits of the metaverse are diverse. Take, for instance, these statistics covered by IPSOS on adult familiarity with the metaverse:
Adult familiarity with the metaverse follows figures across Augmented reality closely. For years, marketing experts have taken advantage of AR to deliver a deeper virtual experience for interactive advertising. At the heart of this is the significant advantage of the metaverse, appealing to a large audience in the same way that AR and NFT do.
Well, here are some reasons why brands might want to consider the online metaverse in their marketing strategy:
- It gives content creators an excellent platform to showcase their work. These could be 3D visuals, NFTs, anime, or clips.
- Significant advancements in technology, particularly hardware network infrastructure and 5G network.
- Advancements in the growth of the cloud infrastructure and live streaming capabilities.
- The growth of the decentralized ecosystem encourages the adoption of cryptocurrencies and helps brands integrate some of these into their payment architecture.
Final Remarks
Integrating your business with the metaverse is not a preserve for the big whales only. Do not worry if you do not have the deep pockets to finance a sizable virtual strategy as in the Meta case. One way to join the bandwagon is to partner with creators to craft brand NFTs. After that, using the NFTs to sell products virtually.
This method will greatly expand brand engagement alongside in-meta experience and avatar-based influence. Live event streaming, branded content distribution, and grand event openings are other ways to use the metaverse when developing digital PR and media.
Anastasiia Ageeva, Project Manager