Hype, reality, or hyper-reality?
Welcome to the Metaverse. It’s the buzzword that’s everywhere at the moment. From NFTs to BTCs - the metaverse is infiltrating our field of work one Farmville token at a time.
If you’re reading this, there’s a chance you have little or no idea what we’re talking about. But whether you like it or not, this fine line between physical and virtual is starting to change the way that brands think about advertising, consumers think about spending, and a whole lot more in between.
Is this the future of marketing? Our new value exchange? A mere hangover of COVID-19’s digital acceleration that’s set to fade? Or is this the largest force to be reckoned with since the dawn of the internet itself?
By no means experts in this area, we thought it would be interesting to put our virtual cards on the physical table and debate and share our opinions. So, here’s what happened when a few intrigued individuals from Accord sat down for 30 minutes and discussed all things metaverse.
Strategy Director Jasman Ahmad sees the metaverse as the “blending of the two worlds” (virtual and physical), arguing that the pandemic played a big part in accelerating this sweet spot where, although we were fast adapting digitally, we still craved physical experiences.
The conversation then turned to gaming and the opportunities emerging from this space. The big difference for the gamers of today, compared to the 80s and 90s, is the uncanny level of immersion. Today, users can truly feel as though they are taking part in these games. Long gone are the days of wanting to be like Mario or Sonic - now in Roblox or Fortnite, people can create lifelike versions of themselves and pay extra money for better collateral in the worlds that they’re racing/farming/fighting/living within.
What’s incredible is that there is advertising profit here too. This is evident when you see musicians like Travis Scott hosting one-off concerts in Fortnite or in-game billboards promoting household names in what is essentially virtual OOH.
Simon Horton, one of our Senior Creative Designers, noted the innovation of such technology, “There’s a really interesting thing with buying ad space within games. In the same way you have visibility from an online display point of view - they are now integrating tech that will show you how, and at what angle, within the game, someone is viewing your ad. It’s getting data in the same way you do from online display”.
As Senior Account Manager Oli Moore notes, “Impressions are no longer enough - what we’re actually looking for is engagement metrics and games can absolutely measure that.” It poses the question - what feels more disruptive to users? An unwanted social media ad appearing in an Instagram feed or a virtual billboard promoting deals in-game?
When we asked ourselves why gaming is so popular, escapism was the unanimous answer. Whatever level of digitalisation we reach, we are always going to need that. Gaming takes us somewhere else in the comfort of our own home and in this day and age, that’s very important to people. If users are prepared to invest money into their recreational time, the like of which we’re already beginning to see, then the opportunities for brands will be huge.
But will people go on holiday in the metaverse?
Clearly nothing beats feeling the sand in between your toes or the sea breeze through your hair upon our travels (or give you a beach tan!) and, as yet there is no technology that can replicate those sensory pleasures.
But what the NFT arena can do is create a sense of exclusivity, which may be relevant to the luxury travel market space. Just for the record, an NFT stands for ‘non-fungible token’ and can be defined as ‘a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain; a form of digital ledger that can be sold and traded. Simple, really.
“NFTs is all about collections - about rarity. You see brands like Nike and Gucci coming into the space because they already have a collection in the real world, so it’s easy to replicate in the metaverse. Let’s not forget as a species, we’ve always collected. In the real world it’s been stamps, cars, books, all sorts. NFTs are just a move into the digital age of collecting.” Ali Smart, SEO Technical Lead.
So, could we see NFTs being a collector’s item for people that want exclusive access to industry perks? Feels unlikely at this stage. But Jasman raised a good point in that, essentially, “NFTs are like virtual access-all-areas lanyards. They represent a fandom and can create long-lasting loyalty with customers who believe in your brand and want something a little extra.”
But, of course, if we’re playing devil’s advocate here, we might argue that we’ve had memberships and exclusive communities forever. The more we opened up about the NFT space, the more we agreed that this niche area will unlikely enter the travel space, unless there’s enough demand from consumers themselves.
Will we see big travel brands like TUI be early adopters? Probably only when this conversation feels less elitist. Without understanding the real utility of NFTs, they are arguably only really appealing to a wealthy demographic right now, one who can flip their digital works of art for profit or purchase the latest cryptocurrency and not be too disheartened if it all falls through.
Whilst it might feel like things are changing overnight, we have to remind ourselves that there’s a bigger target audience out there and that there is still so much work to be done to make matters like crypto and NFTs common knowledge. As Copywriter Eloise Pates argued - it should all start with the learning - “I think the education needs to be mainstream as there’s still so many people who have no idea what all of this is about. I think until we start teaching crypto in Business Studies or make it part of the curriculum, that’s when we might believe that this is part of our lives. But right now, it’s not available.”
But with crypto.com sponsoring the World Cup and Zuckerberg encouraging users to change their Twitter and Instagram display pictures to their NFTs, it’s hard to gauge whether the mainstream giants might just still go ahead anyway. “Brands who do their research now may be able to futureproof themselves 5-10 years down the line”, Marketing Manager Louie Sitwell added. “Defining the metaverse now, in 2022, feels a bit like describing the internet 40 years ago, and look where that has got us.”
Whether we agree or not, there is this feeling of, if they’re doing it, they must know what they’re talking about. However, that doesn’t necessarily answer the ‘why’ are they doing it, does it? That’s the real question.
From gaming beginnings to mainstream murmurs, it feels as though the discussion on the metaverse is only just getting started. Whether it’s NFTs or PPC, we at Accord like to believe we have our eyes on the latest industry breakthroughs, no matter how much of a slow burner they are. We can’t say we’re experts on the metaverse just yet, but we’re definitely open to talking. So, if you want to join in the conversation, or any conversation, just knock on our door.
#BrilliantlyJoinedUpMarketing
Eloise Pates
Contributor
