Metaverse Marketing: Building Brands in Virtual Reality

Unlocking the Potential of Virtual Reality: A Marketer’s Guide to Leveraging VR for Brand Building in the Future.

First question first: did Mark Zuckerberg invent the name “Metaverse”, given that he changed Facebook’s name to Meta?

Yes and no.

Author Neil Stevenson coined the word “metaverse” in his 1982 novel to describe a digital escape from a dystopian reality. Since then, big companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Epic have been lining up to invest in the metaverse.

What is the Metaverse?

Think of the metaverse as a big video game where you can do lots of things, like play games, talk to people, and explore different places– like a fully realized virtual reality where you actually feel like you’re experiencing it in real time with the aid of a special headset and controllers.

You can meet other people, play games, explore new places, and even buy virtual things using virtual money such as NFTs.

It’s like living a whole new virtual life but way more exciting than real life.

So, what’s in it for marketers?

Did you know that an average person spends two hours and 27 minutes online daily?

According to Gartner, 25% of people are expected to spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse for work, shopping, education, social media, and entertainment by 2026. The metaverse is projected to be a $1 trillion market by 2030.

The metaverse represents a whole new frontier for marketing and a significant opportunity for brands to set their foot into a new channel to reach new audiences, engage with consumers in an immersive way and create unique experiences that can not be replicated in the physical world.

Here’s a guide for marketers to enter the Metaverse:

As virtual reality technology continues to evolve, the possibilities for marketers to build brands and engage with consumers in new ways are limitless.

“At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years…if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”
- John Chambers, CEO, Cisco

On that note, my fellow marketers, get ready to take the plunge into the exciting world of the Metaverse, and I’m coming along!