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For the past years, software and gaming companies have been integrating Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality concepts into their development. Projects such as Google Map integrated AR feature for direction guidance and games such as Pokemon Go which users can play with Pokemon characters in physical surroundings. At the same time, Metaverse is not a brand new concept. It came from 1992 in the sci novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. What is different from the previous metaverse concept is that it was integrated with blockchain technology, creating
a digital economy in the virtual world.
Companies such as Tencent, Meta, also known as Facebook, and Google, have been hopping into the metaverse concept by creating DME (Digital Meta Environment) to align with their recent development and campaigns. Throughout recent times, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta, was found to be playing ping pong and socializing in the Metaverse environment while being a huge promoter in the Metaverse project himself. As mentioned by Mark Zuckerberg, his social media empire is building what he claims to be the world's fastest artificial intelligence supercomputer as part of their plans to build a virtual metaverse.
What is interesting about Metaverse is that it changes the way individuals in the current world can interact. It is a virtual space where people can socialize, work, and play in a totally different environment. Metaverse is not anything physical; items in the Metaverse technically don’t exist in the real world; all items are involved online, such as people, land plots, and avatars
similar to an online game.
Compared with traditional online games, the implementation of blockchain technology allows users to authenticate and verify items in the Metaverse environment. Things created by the creators of metaverse are protected as NFTs developed are programmable, verifiable, universally addressable, and digitally secured.
The implementation of blockchain technology can create more value and bring financial benefits to the Metaverse environment. The current popular projects include Decentraland, Sandbox, Thetan arena, Axie Infinity, Etc.
Brand Experiences in Blockchain Metaverse Ecosystems
Besides that, big brands are venturing into Metaverse because it allows them to create a different experience for their customers. Companies cannot create a digital environment with a storytelling experience as part of their brand or marketing campaign.
Well-known gaming company Epic Games has been known for its well-developed Metaverse game “Fortnite” It has turned into a social platform and virtual world with over 350 million players, mainly teenagers.
To align with their marketing campaign, Epic Games has hosted a virtual live concert with famous rapper Traviss Scott along with sales campaigns. While teenagers are enjoying the game of Fortnite,e they are also integrated with their idol in the real world, which increases the brand awareness of Epic Games.
Future Brands in the Metaverse
In the future, immersive technologies like this promise users qualities that are more exciting than traditional marketing strategies. Embracing the potential of augmented reality and virtual reality to create brand awareness is the rising trend in digital marketing. Considering VR combining blockchain technology as an emerging marketing channel, more companies will utilize metaverse as their digital marketing channels to sell their products or service while authenticating items or transactions.
We can see that many more retail organizations are also hopping into the concept, including Nike acquiring Nike Clone X avatar and sneakers NTF product RTFKT and Gucci launching NFT collection with Superplastic Brand. These companies accelerate the digital transformation and serve athletes creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming, and culture.
While many companies are still hesitant to do experiential marketing in this new approach, companies should be aware of the new development. There are massive hidden benefits for organizations with this underlying technology. Coming up from multinational companies will radically increase the affordability to provide a variety of experiences and products, which gives more people access to luxurious experiences that were previously available to the wealthy. Like the Internet, Metaverse creates more opportunities for people to virtually experience the world, work, and socialize with people in different countries. Due to Covid 19, many companies are forced to transform their workforce digitally transform their workforce, which creates more opportunities. Many jobs available locally could be outsourced globally and manage their employees more effectively. In addition, companies could reduce their operating expenses by working remotely, and employees could save time from commuting and other daily activities.
Applying into a different workforce environment also creates more possibilities that don't exist in the current world. It can also be used to safely and in practice in other industries
. High realistic simulations that could cause harm to the public can be implemented in the metaverse. Doctors could practice thousands of surgeries before implementing an actual surgery in the medical industry, and teenagers could practice driving before joining a driving test.
Digital Experiences drive the Metaverse
What drives the blockchain metaverse environment even more is social media, e-commerce, and cloud-based platforms. The critical success factor of a Metaverse project is based on the engagement of the community. The persistence of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
converts the experience of traditional brick-and-mortar concepts. Companies can’t transform the way people shop and purchase their products or services. For Instance, customers could try on a variety of outfits in different environments t,s and Car Companies could list their car testing service on social media for users to try on. With all these implementations, it became more than an idea. Instead, it became a new way companies could sell their product or services in a different approach.
Although these digital experiences seem favorable, developing such a Metaverse Project doesn’t come easy. Companies require many resources to build such a project to start from scratch. They start with many IT talents, high investment expenditure, and maintaining costs. As you all know, digital metaverse projects are supported through high specification computers and servers that take up lots of computing power and data space. The benchmark of developing it is not low. With all the information mentioned above, we can see that blockchain is shaking up almost every industry out there, but it’s also beginning to change marketing as we know it.
The Metaverse would undoubtedly transform many things around us, including our daily lives. More companies and individuals would tokenize their assets or identities on blockchain technology while creating new opportunities and possibilities in the moving society.