Metaverse Marketing – The Emerging Practice

As the digital world continues to evolve, businesses need to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to marketing strategies. Ad agencies are usually at the forefront of technology, applying new techniques and tools to help their clients.

Metaverse marketing is the emerging practice that leverages gamification, virtual reality and augmented reality to create immersive and engaging brand experiences for consumers.

In this post, we’ll explore how metaverse marketing could develop in the next 2–5 years, how brands are using it now, what metrics are measured, and how best to educate brands that want to invest in this new channel.

By understanding these trends today, companies can better prepare themselves for success as this rapidly changing landscape develops.

A Vision Of The Future

The future of the metaverse is one where we will move away from simply reading or watching digital content and into a fully immersive, interactive experience. “Using artificial intelligence-driven tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney, and many more, the ‘Metaverse’ will become a place where consumers are in control and can conjure up almost anything they can imagine”, says Jeff MacFarland, VP innovation Strategy of EVERSANA INTOUCH.

As a result of, Jeff imagines marketers will leverage immersive and generative content to engage with customers. Here’s one example:

“Imagine seeing an augmented 3D video of someone created by an artificial intelligence who looks and sounds similar (but not exactly like) one of your trusted friends, talking to you about their favorite adult beverage. After interacting briefly with them, you passively receive a digital coupon and a unique-to-you, 3D drink object you can take with you into other virtual or augmented environments.”

This is still a few years away but in the meantime, Nikki Lindgren from Pennock Digital believes that “brands and advertisers will be able to manage their ads easily through user-friendly DSPs like DV 360, MediaMath, The Trade Desk, etc., allowing for a more streamlined ad management process.”

This method of adopting a new technology platform by using already established methods can be seen in many things. It’s how technologists experiment with a new platform until they discover the uniqueness of it.

The first online advertising were banners, which were like newspaper ads until we got contextual advertising, such as Google AdWords. The first mobile apps and games on the iPhone had buttons onscreen, instead of using native touch and swipe commands.

While many brands are figuring out how to leverage the metaverse, some have already created activations. The following is just one example.

A Metaverse Activation Case Study

TEAM LEWIS’ Metaverse Activation Case Study for Skyscanner is an incredible example of how the metaverse can be used to create unique and engaging experiences that draw users in.

Arjun Singh, the Global Creative Operations Director at TEAM LEWIS, said the team was tasked with PRing the company’s annual research report on the best destinations to travel to, with the added challenge of competing against other firms also pitching top-tier websites for their own reports.

In order to make their pitch stand out from the competition, the team created a virtual departure lounge in Spatial. Journalists could check in and then walk around to different areas to experience each destination, making it a memorable journey for them.

The effectiveness of this strategy was easily tracked by measuring the coverage they received compared to their competitors. This success has prompted Skyscanner to consider expanding into the Metaverse further, potentially allowing customers to book directly in a virtual space.

Skyscanner’s Virtual Departure Lounge in Spatial

Measuring Campaign Performance

Initially, the traditional metrics such as views, visits and dwell time will be used. This was confirmed by all three ad agencies that were interviewed on the topic. However, this new medium also opens up a range of other possibilities when it comes to measuring performance.

One example is virtual foot traffic. Nikki Lindgren from Pennock Digital noted that “as more metaverse Direct-to-Consumer plays open up we will track through to AR/VR foot traffic, purchases, ROAS and CAC” — demonstrating how much potential there is for brands to track consumer behavior in unprecedented ways.

Another possibility is eye-tracking heatmaps which would allow brands to gain insight into what a user is looking at in the virtual or real world and how long they engage with it for. Jeff MacFarland from EVERSANA INTOUCH stressed that this feature could provide “a myriad of new data points about what a consumer is looking at in the virtual and the real world”.

Finally, quests completed in a game experience in The Sandbox could provide valuable insights into how deeply a user has engaged with a brand. By tracking completion rates of each quest, businesses can gain important information about their customers’ engagement levels with their product or service.

There’s Much Excitement Among Brands

According to all three ad agencies, interest in the metaverse has increased dramatically among their clients. However, brands need to be informed on various key points.

The first as Nikki Lindgren from Pennock Pennock points out, is to “identify different metaverses and measure what the brand is paying for”.

Different “metaverses” offer different activation opportunities but also require different skillsets to build in them. or example, Roblox has the greatest reach and is geared towards children, offering a variety of brand activation options, such as branded virtual items and immersive worlds.

Roblox is one of the leading metaverse platforms

On the other hand, Decentraland has a smaller audience but offers more sophisticated visuals and marketing opportunities, appealing to an adult audience with an interest in crypto and NFTs.

Meanwhile, The Sandbox is a platform that allows anyone to create their own games and offers strong storytelling capabilities.

Secondly, it’s essential to recognize that innovation comes with risk. Jeff MacFarland suggests that brands need to be aware of how quickly the metaverse landscape can change and assess their agility and tolerance for risk and potential failure when considering entering the metaverse.

Finally, Arjun of TEAM LEWIS suggests creating a proof of concept within 24–48 hours in order to get a better idea of how campaigns could work in the metaverse before committing resources to it. As he explains, this helps clients understand “what success looks like” and “creates more imagination in their minds” about what could be achieved by investing.

Showing a client a prototype also has the benefit of enabling them to set clear objectives. Without a goal such as building brand awareness or increasing consumer engagement, Nikki believes the brand isn’t ready for a metaverse activation.

Takeaways

As brands look to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive landscape, the adoption of metaverse marketing is continuing to grow. The future possibilities of this unique marketing strategy are plentiful: AI-driven tools, user-friendly DSPs and immersive content. And as brands navigate this new digital frontier, it’s essential for them to assess their agility and risk tolerance before entering the metaverse in order to maintain brand building efforts.