In the metaverse, how will digital marketing look?
The most popular metaverses today, such as Fortnite and Roblox, allow brands to advertise their products in ways that would be impossible to achieve in the real world.
For example,
- the skating company Vans established
- a virtual skatepark in Roblox that allows gamers
- to earn points that can be used
- at a virtual store to customise their avatars.
Meanwhile, Gucci launched a Gucci Garden on the same platform, serving as a virtual companion to the real-world experience they had previously constructed in Florence, Italy. They also unveiled the Gucci Virtual 25, an exclusive pair of digital sneakers developed by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele.
These are just two instances of how a metaverse platform might enable marketers to be more creative and engage with more people than they could if they were restricted to the real world.Also read on best digital marketing books for 2022.
Technology is rapidly evolving and changing. We are witnessing previously inconceivable innovations. For many people, one of these advances is the metaverse—a one-of-a-kind, immersive virtual environment that is swiftly taking over the internet. It may have first appeared in science fiction films such as Ready Player One or The Matrix series, but it is now more than fiction.
In the metaverse, how will digital marketing look?
Metaverses are permeating the internet as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) become more popular.
In 2021,
- it is expected that around
- 85 million consumers would engage in
- at least one AR or VR experience per month.
- While the Metaverse isn’t exactly what science fiction has portrayed it to be,
- it is nonetheless producing inconceivable value as a new computing platform.
Why is the metaverse so lucrative for marketing?
Because marketing and advertising in the metaverse are still in their infancy, the costs of running a campaign are currently quite minimal. This makes it a profitable alternative for brands looking for a creative method to reach millennial and Gen Z audiences.
When you bring an experience online, the size of an audience might grow enormously. Today, there are an estimated 3.4 billion internet gamers, with 27% being between the ages of 21 and 30.
Furthermore,
- as NFTs become more popular,
- the market for digital collectibles (such as the Gucci Virtual 25)
- is expected to rise
Another advantage of the metaverse is that it does not limit marketing campaigns to physical laws.
Gucci’s virtual garden, for example,
- like the real-life garden,
- offers numerous virtual themed chambers that pay homage
- to Gucci’s earlier campaigns—
- however, unlike the rooms in Florence,
- these spaces aren’t capped by a ceiling
- but are instead open to the sky and surrounded by trees.
Marketing using influencers
- Brands are predicted to spend
- up to $15 million per year on influencer marketing by 2022,
- with some of that money going to virtual influencers.
- There are now only 150 virtual influencers,
- but this number
- is expected to expand.
Yoox, an online luxury discount portal, created virtual influencer Daisy in 2018 and featured her in multi-brand campaigns wearing Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger clothing.
Similarly, Puma introduced Maya as a virtual influencer for their efforts in Southeast Asia. Other businesses use real people as avatars, such as Dior, which built a digital doppelganger of Chinese actress Angelababy to attend its pre-fall presentation in Shanghai.
Similarly, in Burberry’s TB summer monogram collections, a digital double of supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kendall Jenner starred.Visit here for best digital marketing expert in India.
Digital campfires are preferred by younger consumers
While social media challenges (such as the ASL Ice Bucket Challenge from 2014) continue to garner attention, their significance is diminishing in the age of TikTok trends.
In early 2020, Harvard Business Review dubbed these platforms “digital campfires,” and they could very well be the future of marketing for modern consumers.
Data consistently shows that younger audiences are
- shifting away from larger,
- more established social networks
- like Instagram and Facebook
- and toward platforms that provide
- them with more privacy and less judgmental spaces.
This growing disdain for traditional social media platforms, along with decreased attention spans and the known shadiness of ad targeting, has made it more expensive to reach one’s target demographic and more critical for marketers to discover a new way to engage with customers. Campfires are the ideal setting for businesses to cultivate close consumer relationships, and the shared experience of immersive virtual worlds (metaverses) allows them to do so.
Sensory advertising could be the way to go in the future.
The growing aversion to social media has been mirrored by a growing aversion to advertising (particularly among younger demographics), with 84 percent of smartphone users ignoring adverts while on the go.
While most advertising today just appeal to the sight and ears, it’s feasible that marketers may need to appeal to all five senses in the future to stand out. The physical stimulation of haptic technology may be the best approach to get into the thoughts of customers.
