Brands must dream big to push the limits of experience design in the metaverse
19 December 2022
We’ve barely scratched the surface of what could be possible in the metaverse. But as the technology rapidly evolves, brands are exploring ways to engage and delight audiences with immersive experiences that blur the boundaries between virtual and real worlds.
“We’re moving from an attention economy – ‘Here I am, in your feed!’ – to an experience economy,” explains Isabel Perry, director of technology at Byte/Dept, which has developed immersive experiences for brands such as Sprite, eBay and H&M. “Brands have to add joy. The entire metaverse is being driven by visuals, and there’s a huge content job to be done.”
For brands considering entering the metaverse, immersive experiences must be planned with the same rigour as any other marketing channel. Done right, there are unprecedented opportunities to connect with audiences in immersive, highly personalised ways – but there are several key considerations for agencies and brands to bear in mind.
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By Albert Abello Lozano, head of automation, Treatwell
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Roisin Donnelly: We need to really understand what the customer wants. What does the customer need? Who is the customer? What do we need to do to make it easier for the customer? I hope we can educate them better – we must be absolutely customer-obsessed in everything we do.
Michael Inpong: The number one rule for personalisation is delighting the customer. And part of delighting them is answering their desire for privacy. ■
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“The internet was built to exist via a screen era. But things are changing dramatically,” observes Wayne Deakin, global principal at Wolff Olins. “Think about conversation design tools or AI assistants like Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri. Screens are no longer mandatory for digital-enabled experiences and that’s only going to increase.”
“The future of the internet will be more immersive than how we experience it today,” agrees Hoffmann. “More physical, more interactive, and more speech-based – not just flat screens filled with text and images.”
Access to the metaverse will only become more fluid and seamless, enabling designers to immerse people more fully in an experience. “The air around you could become a canvas, or your glasses could become a viewport,” adds Deakin. “In the future, these experiences will happen where and when you need them, in a real-world context, and built around the need.”
Deakin imagines a car journey augmented with metaverse tech: “The windows might become intelligent and useful, or maybe there’s an immersive experience in the back to stop my kids asking: ‘Are we there yet?’ for the zillionth time,” he smiles. While the tech is still in its infancy, experience designers can play a critical role in pushing it to its limits and stimulating innovation.
Start thinking beyond the screen
In early July, Julian Bass, a 20-year-old theatre student at George State University, posted a TikTok video (below) that you could quite safely say broke the internet. Set to Harry Styles’ song ‘Watermelon Sugar’, Bass transforms into a Star Wars Jedi Knight, complete with a lightsaber, before morphing into Cartoon Network’s watch-wielding Ben 10 and finally becoming Spiderman, shooting webs from his wrists. He cross-posted the video from TikTok to Twitter, asking followers to retweet it to get him in front of Disney.
Unsurprisingly, the impressive clip – and his request – snowballed, gaining 5 million views and 1.1 million likes on TikTok. Industry heavyweights like director James Gunn and Walt Disney’s executive chairman responded, while Andy Samberg’s comedy trio The Lonely Island forwarded it to VFX studio Industrial Light and Magic. Bass says several Hollywood figures reached out to him privately to discuss his future. Bass’s clip is a perfect example of how the short-form video entertainment platform’s selection of creative tools can be used to reach huge audiences and create content that’s so powerful it’s shared across all the major social platforms.
TikTok’s in-app creative toolkit takes content to the next level
In the fifth part of our partner content series, which will explore the enhanced creative capabilities available within the TikTok app, we look at how Creators are harnessing the power of its toolbox and why brands don’t need to be editing experts to get involved – and go viral.
Near-unlimited potential is exciting, but a lack of constraints may hamper creativity. “The metaverse offers you infinite, boundless space,” reflects Alex Fenton, strategist at DNCO, whose team recently curated a metaverse-focused exhibition at the 2022 London Design Festival entitled Virtually Everywhere.
“It’s a huge departure from the real world of physics, and this can actually be limiting,” Fenton continues. “I’ve always been a big believer in the creative benefit of boundaries: in the metaverse, we must define them ourselves. This is a first for creatives, and it could revolutionise the design process.”
Exponential improvements in graphics, VFX and optics enable real and simulated worlds to be blended much more smoothly. Just as 8-bit graphics were a huge leap forward for 1980s game designers, modern OLED screens unlock huge potential for immersive VR and AR experiences.
Boundaries can also help focus innovation, and successful brands must explore emerging technologies through the lens of the value they can give their audience. “We’ve already seen AR used to virtually drop furniture into customers’ homes to test the fit, or to let people try on makeup or glasses right from their Facebook feed,” points out Aaron Hoffman, Meta’s director of international marketing, Reality Labs. “Regardless of sector, there will be use cases for businesses that seek to leverage mixed-reality and physical-world experiences.”
The metaverse may still be in its infancy, but technology is advancing apace, with VR headsets such as the Meta Quest 2 making fully immersive metaverse-style experiences increasingly accessible and affordable for consumers.
"Ultimately, the metaverse will become what digital is today: invisible," suggests Nick Pringle, SVP Executive Creative Director at global digital innovation and marketing agency R/GA. "We don't see digital anymore; it's just life. It will become a normal way to interact with brands, with friends, and with culture. And over the next 10 to 20 years, the tech will disappear, and you'll move effortlessly between digital and physical."
Even if the time is not yet be right for your brand to dive headfirst into the metaverse, putting in the groundwork now to understand its potential – and consider the right angle of approach in the future – is time well spent for marketers.
“No matter which sector you operate in, the metaverse will be nothing short of a revolution,” predicts Meta’s Carrie Timms. “It will fundamentally transform how customers interact with your brand. Whatever your industry, the metaverse adds a whole new dimension of connection, and that’s exciting – not just for businesses, but for people.” ■
When creating a brand experience in the metaverse, it’s vital to choose the right entry-point for your audience. This includes the mode of interaction – from in-browser to fully immersive VR – but also the dynamic and aesthetic of the platform.
Roblox and other metaverse-like gaming worlds like Fortnite and Minecraft have their own distinctive look and feel, ranging from smooth, stylised 3D to low-poly or pixelated. Brands investing in activations within those worlds must adopt the same aesthetic, and work within the constraints of existing tools, to reach the huge communities within.
The latest update to Fortnite, however, has unlocked the full power of Unreal Engine 5 to enable users to create ever more advanced and hyper-realistic worlds. “Fortnite Creative mode wasn’t as flexible as Roblox, but this is a quantum leap in graphics,” reveals Jonny Shaw, chief strategy officer at VCCP New York. He speaks from experience: VCCP built a full replica of the O2 Arena in Fortnite, packed with interactive features, to host gigs during the pandemic.
“There’s a supposition that everything ‘metaverse’ has to be entirely immersive,” continues Shaw. “Sometimes you can be too immersive. I believe the metaverse will look like the world of games we see today: a digital multiverse, with participation driven by your interests.”
“It’s not all about immersion,” agrees Byte/Dept’s Isabel Perry. “It’s more about presence.” She references 1990s puzzle adventure game Myst: “You’re surrounded by something beautiful but solving someone else’s puzzle. With metaverse-like game worlds, you have control over where you and other people end up. They’re semi-real-time, quasi-unlimited experiences.”
Choose an aesthetic that suits the brand
In the early days of the metaverse, a certain degree of familiarity may help reassure consumers tentatively exploring this new world. Games can be an entertaining way for brands to engage their audience in the metaverse; using well-established tropes from a particular gaming genre can help ensure the experience feels intuitive and easy to pick up. For instance, the MINIverse – built in Meta Horizon Worlds – has the familiar look and feel of a racing game, albeit played in VR in your own customised MINI.
When the pandemic made physical attendance at the 2020 Dubai World Expo impossible, Dept built an accurate digital replica of the 200-plus pavilions and their surroundings to give the experience a physicality and root it in its host city. It was a huge success, with a staggering 200 million people attending over six months.
As the metaverse evolves, however, we can expect to see more dramatic shifts away from real-world references – particularly as increasingly powerful creation tools open the door to more streamlined, efficient, and accessible experiences limited only by their creator’s imagination.
“As more and more people take part in this journey, we’ll see killer ideas that rally people at massive scales,” adds Max Vedel, co-founder and creative director at Swipe Back, an agency that specialises in metaverse experiences. He cites the runaway success of Pokémon Go to demonstrate the impact that a compelling AR application can make even with current tech.
“We don’t talk about Pokémon Go as a metaverse experience, but it is,” agrees Perry. “It knows where I am and builds something at world scale around me. But no one says: ‘Guys, let’s get excited about world-scale AR!’ Just: ‘Go and catch a Pokémon.’ That’s what success looks like.”
“Nobody knows where this is going: the whole ecosystem is a beautiful mess for now,” concludes Vedel. “Find elements you believe in and integrate them with campaign elements you’re used to. Don’t be afraid to experiment – it’s the beginning for everyone else too.” ◼
Learn more about business opportunities in the metaverse here
Ground experiences with real-world familiarity
With every venue faithfully recreated in a bespoke in-browser experience, Byte/Dept's virtual Dubai Expo 2020 attracted a global audience of over 200 million
Over 10 million players experienced VCCP's virtual O2 Arena in Fortnite, featuring rides, hidden collectables and a headline performance by Easy Life
Curated by DNCO, experimental exhibition Virtually Everywhere invited London Design Festival attendees to explore the future potential of the metaverse
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Sponsored by Meta
MARKETING IN
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