Page 26 - ADNews magazine March-April 2022

Investigation
Brands such as Stella Artois are jumping into this opportunity headfirst, replicating their real- world strategies in the metaverse; they bring people together to be entertained and to socialise - cue virtual horse racing experiences. Virtual worlds are creating a great canvas for innovation with more and more brands testing the waters through an iterative approach. There is much to play with before and/or after storefronts.”
However, technological research and consulting firm Gartner expects 25% of people will by 2026 spend at least one hour a day in the Metaverse for work, shopping, education, social media and/or entertainment.
Tuong Nguyen, a Gartner ana- lyst: “The amount of hype around the Metaverse is overwhelming. Technology innovation leaders, including chief technology officers, need to understand what the metaverse is, as well as the innovative opportunities and risks it provides.”
When looking at the opportuni- ties, think of two big buckets. Nguyen: “ ... engaging with new audiences via purely digital expe- riences like virtual reality. As in experiences that don’t exist in the physical world. The other is engag- ing with audiences by linking the physical to the digital. This means having digital content and experi- ences anchored to physical people, places and things.”
What is the metaverse?
Xiaofeng Wang, principal analyst at Forrester: “The metaverse is a virtual reality world where users can experience things as they would in the real world.”
Backslash, the cultural intelli- gence unit of TBWA\Worldwide: “As all things physical dissipate, it will become increasingly difficult to distinguish where the real world ends and the metaverse begins. In a progressively fluid and seem- ingly limitless world, tangibility, intentional friction, and bounda- ries will keep us grounded.”
Adam Buhler, who heads Digitas’ innovation practice in North America says the current state of the metaverse is “social
Meta (Facebook) metaverse views.
media and gaming becoming indistinguishable from each other, wrapped in a thin layer of ecommerce”.
His colleague in Australia, Simon Brock, executive creative director, Digitas Australia: “Building off the above definition, the metaverse isn’t a new platform, but a new way that formerly distinct platforms (gaming, social and e-commerce) are overlapping, enabling people to connect with brands and each other in new ways. Where that’s best exemplified is in Fortnite – a platform that started out as a battle royale shooter game that’s now used as a place for friends to hangout instead of going to the mall. You can spend hours inside Fortnite without shooting a thing, instead spending your time chatting with friends, watching movies, or shopping for clothes. Gaming, made social, with a layer of ecomm, enabling new kinds of connections.”