Wednesday W.O.W - Brand Activation in the Metaverse
[5 min read] Your mid-week bite sized treat on emerging tech on our journey to the Metaverse. Learn about how brands are working to stand out in an increasingly competitive digital landscape
A nibble of knowledge in your inbox every Wednesday with a simple format:
🇼 What the technology is
🇴 Objective(s) - what is it trying to achieve, with some examples
🇼 Why it is important to users as well as businesses & brands.
This is week 36 of the 520 weeks of writing I have committed to, a decade of documenting our physical and digital lives converge.
Qualifier: For users today, the term Metaverse is referring to virtual world/platfrom “proto-metaverse” experience such as The Sandbox. Just like in 1992 one could experience websites and some internet experiences, but could not really fathom the entirety of what we now call “the internet”. In the future, the true Metaverse is a complete transformation of how we work, play, and socialise. More about that in my previous post.
🇼 What is brand activation in the Metaverse?
Brand activation refers to the strategic and purposeful process of bringing a brand to life and engaging its target audience through immersive and interactive experiences. It is a marketing approach that goes beyond traditional advertising and focuses on creating memorable and impactful interactions with consumers. When this takes place on a Metaverse/virtual world platform, like magic it becomes a brand activation in the Metaverse!
The goal of brand activation is to build a deeper connection between the brand and its consumers by evoking emotions, creating positive associations, and driving specific actions or behaviours. These activations can take various forms, such as events, experiential marketing campaigns, product demonstrations, pop-up shops, digital experiences, or partnerships with other brands or influencers.
Key elements of brand activation on any platform:
1. Engaging Experiences: Brand activations aim to create experiences that capture consumers' attention and leave a lasting impression. These experiences often involve sensory elements, storytelling, and interactivity to make the brand more memorable and relatable. XR is a powerful tool for this, and hardware like the Apple Vision Pro will enable some amazing things.
2. Targeted Audience: Successful brand activations are tailored to the specific interests, preferences, and needs of the target audience. Understanding the audience is crucial to designing activations that resonate with them and drive meaningful engagement.
3. Brand Identity: Brand activation aligns with the brand's core values, personality, and positioning. It reinforces the brand's identity and unique selling points, creating a cohesive and consistent brand experience.
4. Call-to-Action: Brand activations are designed to encourage specific actions from consumers, such as making a purchase, signing up for a loyalty program, or sharing their experience on social media. These actions help measure the effectiveness of the activation and its impact on the brand's objectives.
5. Measurable Results: Brand activation campaigns are often measurable, allowing marketers to track their success and return on investment. Metrics such as foot traffic, social media mentions, website traffic, and sales can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the activation. New ways of tracking this in the Metaverse (eye tracking?) will be very valuable.
🇴 Objectives and examples of brand activation in the Metaverse?
Brand activation plays a crucial role in building brand awareness, driving customer loyalty, and ultimately influencing consumers' perceptions and purchasing decisions. It allows brands to stand out in a competitive market by creating unique and memorable experiences that foster a deeper connection with their audience.
Brands are already finding innovative ways to engage with the younger audience through exciting activations. Major companies like Gucci, Marvel, and Selfridges have ventured into virtual platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and self-created digital cities to reach their target demographics. Gucci collaborated with Roblox to create "Gucci Garden," an immersive multimedia experience celebrating the fashion house's 100-year anniversary. Marvel's partnership with Fortnite saw 47 Marvel characters introduced as skins, leading to significant success. Selfridges teamed up with Yahoo's Ryot Lab to create "Electric/City," a cyberpunk-themed digital city for shopping, featuring real-life and virtual Pokémon apparel.
It was recently announced that BBC Studios are partnering with The Sandbox to bring new experiences featuring popular brands like Top Gear and Doctor Who to the platform. This marks the first time the BBC will have a presence in the metaverse, with plans for a BBC events space. The collaboration aims to offer players interactive and immersive content from their favorite BBC shows, adding exciting new dimensions to the metaverse.
Logitech orchestrated the world's first metaverse music awards show in Roblox, the "Song Breaker Awards," hosting musicians, influencers, and gamers. The event was interactive, featuring games, lootable gear, and appearances from celebrities like Lizzo and Jaden Smith. The metaverse's appeal to millennials and Gen-Z consumers promises to continue expanding with even more innovative and engaging brand integrations, from virtual shopping to concerts and beyond. As these platforms evolve, the possibilities for utility and entertainment in the metaverse appear boundless.
🇼 Why might brand activation in the Metaverse play a role in the future of marketing?
How’s this for a clickbait title: 10 reasons why brand activation in the Metaverse is poised to play a significant role in the future of marketing:
1. Expanding Audience Reach: The Metaverse has a rapidly growing user base, particularly among millennials and gen-z consumers. Brands that activate in the Metaverse can tap into this vast and engaged audience, expanding their reach beyond traditional marketing channels.
2. Immersive Experiences: The Metaverse offers unparalleled opportunities for immersive and interactive brand experiences. Through virtual worlds, augmented reality, and virtual reality, brands can create memorable and captivating activations that deeply resonate with consumers.
3. Enhanced Engagement: Metaverse activations can foster higher levels of engagement due to the interactive nature of the platform. Consumers can actively participate in experiences, leading to increased emotional connections with the brand.
4. Innovative Storytelling: Brands can experiment with innovative storytelling techniques in the Metaverse, leveraging the unique capabilities of virtual environments to convey their brand message in creative and novel ways.
5. Niche Targeting: The Metaverse allows brands to precisely target specific communities or interest groups within its vast user base. This niche targeting enables more personalized and relevant activations, driving higher conversion rates.
6. Data and Analytics: Brand activations in the Metaverse can generate valuable data and analytics, providing insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and interactions. This data-driven approach can inform future marketing strategies and optimizations.
7. Continuous Presence: Unlike traditional marketing events or campaigns, Metaverse activations can have a continuous presence, providing ongoing exposure and engagement opportunities for the brand.
8. Early Adopter Advantage: Brands that embrace Metaverse activations early can gain a competitive advantage and establish themselves as innovative and forward-thinking leaders in their industry.
9. Cross-Platform Integration: The Metaverse allows for seamless integration with other digital platforms and social media, amplifying the brand's presence and message across various channels.
10. Future-Proofing: As technology evolves, the Metaverse is likely to become an increasingly integral part of the digital landscape. Brands that invest in Metaverse activations today are better positioned to adapt to future marketing trends and consumer preferences.
To wrap up, brand activation in the Metaverse offers unparalleled opportunities for brands to engage with a rapidly growing and tech-savvy audience through immersive experiences. It presents a future-proof marketing strategy that leverages cutting-edge technology and allows brands to stand out in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
That’s all for this week! If you are curious about how your brand could build a metaverse brand activation, let me know. Working with the world’s largest builder of Metaverse experiences to deliver these is one of the many consulting services I offer.