Marketing in the metaverse is ready for takeoff - SmartBrief

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We’re in the midst of a second chance for a second life. (Though, thatSecondLifenever went away.)

The early part of the coronavirus pandemic made staying home and conducting life digitally commonplace for nearly all of us. As augmented reality moved onto our phones to become second nature and virtual reality hardware gained in acceptance, the future wants us to take yet another step — right into the metaverse.

The metaverse is thus far more of a concept, embodying a set of experiences in immersive virtual reality worlds where people can interact and exist. Companies like Epic, which owns Fortnite, have adopted the terminology to describe the worlds inside their video games, and social media platforms like Meta are touting their plans to help create the future. It’s clear that we are quickly advancing on this front toward an unprecedented reality (or set of realities).

Where does this lead marketers?

Virtual influencers are already here, and the metaverse is a natural fit for them. 

TheInfluencer Marketing Factory reportsthat the virtual influencer market hit $4.6 billion in 2018 and was expected to grow 25% annually through 2025. Lil Miquela, a character that was created using CGI, received some notoriety for a kiss with a real person in aCalvin Klein campaign. But she’s not the only big timevirtual influencer,and some of them areearning millions for their creators.

Yoox, an online luxury discount site that created virtual influencer Daisy, is among the brands with plans to move their virtual influencers into the metaverse.

“Gen Z and millennials don’t see a separation between the digital world and the physical one,” Manuela Strippoli, the company’s communications director,told Vogue Businessearlier this year.

In the early days of social media, leading edge marketers became social media consultants. Big agencies snatched them up to take advantage of the growing opportunity, and dedicated social media agencies also emerged.

Weber Shandwickhired Jeremy Pepperto help start its social and digital media communications practice in 2006.  Maggie Fox’sSocial Media Groupas well as Jim Tobin’sIgnite Social Mediabecame some of the first specialty agencies to offer social media counsel and services to brands.

We should expect to see the same for the metaverse.

In fact, some specialty agencies have already emerged, and some large agencies are building out their virtual and metaverse practices. Just do a Google search of phrases like “metaverse agency” and “metaverse consultant,” and you’ll see what I mean.

So, if you’re a brand that’s not too sure about the metaverse, you have agencies to help you get started -– and help you decide how soon (or whether) to take those capabilities in house.

In real life or virtual ones, marketers will always seek out consumers. Wherever you see or experience ads in real life, you should expect the same in any virtual world. 

Snapchat Lens already has many of us accustomed to trying on funny faces, and many people are used to trying on make-up virtually now thanks to brands like M.A.C. Cosmetics. Many companies are taking virtual and augmented experiences beyond the phone too,such as in this recent PepsiCo bus-stop campaign.

You can’t even play some video games withoutseeing an ad. 

As we dive deeper into the metaverse, there are plenty of meta opportunities for marketing, such as onmetaverse billboards. 

While it’s easy to get caught up in the revolutionary nature of these technologies, it’s important to remember that the fundamentals of return on investment and key performance indicators still stand in these virtual opportunities. Smart marketers will thrive in any reality if they focus on meshing their needs with their audiences’ needs to create valued experiences.

Or, as VMLY&R’s Karen Boswell recently told Adweek, “To thrive, brands must create safe, inclusive, human-led experiences.”

“As with any investment in good experiences that answer a need,” she noted, “the return will follow.”

Mike Driehorst is a senior editor at SmartBrief, where he pens this monthly column and helps curate the most important news in marketing each day. Subscribe to our free newsletter to get his insights direct to your inbox.