We’re discovering a parallel universe. A digital one.
It’s still very early in the metaverse journey, but increasing numbers of brands are staking out spaces in the virtual environment known as the metaverse, where the opportunities are as limitless as our imaginations.
Everyone from luxury and high-street fashion brands to entertainment companies and even a law firm are setting up for their future audiences by establishing metaverse presences.
Why should your brand be in the metaverse?
Research by Wunderman Thompson in 2021 found that 85% of people believe brands will need to have a digital presence to be successful in the future, while 73% said it’s easier to relate to brands that have a digital presence.
Others take a stronger view, like Vlad Panchenko of DMarket: “There will be no other option but to join it. Otherwise, you won’t survive as a company.”
And the first step for a brand to engage users in the metaverse is simple – be part of their world.
How does it work?
In the metaverse, we interact with a digital environment – and other people – using 3D representations of ourselves. This covers the whole range of XR (extended reality), including VR (virtual reality) headsets, but you don’t have to have one: users can also access the metaverse through AR (augmented reality) or even their internet browser.
In the last few decades, we’ve reached sci-fi levels of global connectedness, helped along of course by the pandemic: it’s estimated the global lockdown leapfrogged us 7 years in terms of tech evolution. But beyond the origins of the internet, metaverse innovator Dudley Nevill-Spencer thinks we’re at an even more pivotal stage, likening where we are now to how things were before we had Microsoft Windows.
We know is that the metaverse is significant: gaming and remote working have grown fast, and we’ve come to expect instant, seamless service at our fingertips. Connecting virtually can take us even further. The virtual domain gives us an all-encompassing space where we can hold community meetings, present to clients, show art, watch artists perform live, learn, work, meditate – all the elements of living, in ways that are decentralised and creative beyond the bounds of physics.
You might even say it’s all about connection. Andrew Bosworth, Head of Facebook Reality Labs, posted to say, “The defining quality of the metaverse will be presence — the feeling of really being there with people.” This goes for brands, too.
Choose a world provider
Unlike the original concept of the metaverse, as coined in Neal Stephenson’s ‘Snow Crash’, there isn’t a single decentralized, global place where we can all meet and build our virtual presence. In the future, maybe there’ll be a household name as well-known as Instagram or Twitter – although there’ll always be a lot of providers, reflecting our growing numbers of subcultures. But right now, there are around 50 metaverse providers and not one ecosystem that’s dominant.
Playing out in a way that’s more reflective of a free-market economy than the ominous monopoly Stephenson envisaged, the metaverse is currently split across competing providers, offering different types of platforms and areas. Of course, there are advantages to having a single hub from which all metaverse worlds and hubs split off – but that would work best for everyone if it could be a decentralized ecosystem, meaning everyone owns it rather than one company.
Which brands are in which worlds?
Some of the worlds are big and serve many functions, like Decentraland and Meta’s Horizon Worlds. Others are more customised to a particular market or activity, such as gaming platforms Somnium Space and Roblox.
Here are a few of the places you can create your presence, and what other brands are doing in them right now.
Horizon Worlds
Horizon Worlds, Meta’s own environment, has an eye on interoperability – the ability for metaverse environments to be work together, and a feature that everyone agrees is necessary. Inoperability allows scenarios such as buying a wearable NFT in Decentraland and being able to wear it in Horizon Worlds.
MINI debuted their Horizon Worlds 3D experience, MINIverse, at the 2022 Cannes Lions: International Festival of Creativity. Here, fans can engage with each other and race their own unique MINIs.
Decentraland
The pioneering metaverse real estate platform, Decentraland offers LAND – their name for each plot in its single metaverse layer – to build on. Every bit of LAND is the same size, and when you buy one, you’re buying an NFT, meaning your plot is one of a kind and can never be recreated. Just like real estate in the real world.
Currently the world features everything from casinos, concerts and games to art galleries. And it’s already becoming competitive and expensive to buy, with the most desirable LAND going for almost $1m.
Samsung launched its first metaverse store, Samsung 837x, on the platform in 2022. Over 120,000 users have come through the virtual doors to browse collections or take items on quests, and it’s recently been updated so users can interact and build adventures.
But your metaverse presence doesn’t have to be location-based. Coca-Cola overcame the challenge of recreating the physical experience of its product by tapping into its brand image. They got artists to create a collection for International Friendship Day, including a custom-designed Coca-Cola Bubble Jacket wearable for Decentraland, with the winning bidder receiving a branded fridge stocked with the iconic red can.
Since then, they’ve launched Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte in Decentraland ahead of a real-world launch that aims to “bring the flavor of pixels to life”. It’s a convincing display of how a brand’s metaverse presence can converge the physical and digital worlds.
The Sandbox
Like Decentraland, The Sandbox consists of plots of land that you can buy at around $9900. But it’s also proving that it’s not just commercial brands who can expand their metaverse presence – entertainment brand AMC brought The Walking Dead to The Sandbox in an immersive game where fans can play the original storyline or discover their own journey.
Somnium Space
With its high-quality visuals, Somnium Space is ideal for those with high-end VR devices. Their focus on complete virtual-reality immersion has attracted users of 25-45 years old, there for the cars and kayaks, but also the music and games.
Tesla has claimed a spot in this world by creating their own store inside the Somnium Mall, where they’ve even sold a Tesla Model 3 – the first bought entirely within virtual reality. Plus, they’ve entered an exclusive partnership with Somnium Space to develop TESLASUIT to create an even more immersive metaverse experience.
Roblox
This gaming platform is getting in on the action too, with big brands responding to the interest in immersive environments. Gucci Garden celebrated the fashion house’s centenary with wearables, while NIKELAND lets users play mini-games and enjoy their own active lifestyle.
Research spaces before building your presence
Investing in space in the metaverse is competitive, and getting in early is definitely a good strategy. But everything’s still in motion and so much is unknown as the ecosystems evolve in front of our eyes – which is part of what makes it so exciting. Before diving in, research which platform, and their users, works for you and your brand strategy.
Engaging with a dedicated studio or agency to help you explore the potential of the metaverse will be a great step toward creating your metaverse presence as well as your strategy and design. Together, you can answer all the right questions – from choosing the right metaverse provider to helping you understand the legal frameworks and keeping you up-to-date as the metaverse continues to evolve.
