Brand metaverse ready

Considering a brand activation in the metaverse? Here's how to plan for success

18 January 2023

While there are no hard-and-fast rules for engaging with the fast-growing marketing opportunities in the metaverse, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned from early adopting brands and their creative agencies. Despite its still-developing form, approaching the metaverse pragmatically – as a core marketing opportunity, not just a nice-to-have immersive extra – will help focus marketers' efforts on asking the right questions. In a recent interview with Meta, Carl Loredo – chief marketing officer at Wendy's – suggested approaching it as branded entertainment. "Every touchpoint serves the consumer first, enhancing the experience rather than distracting or detracting," he explains. In April 2022, Wendy's launched the Wendyverse – a Meta Horizon Worlds experience packed with hidden extras and mini-games. "You can't just slap a logo on something and call it a day," says Loredo. "Give consumers an immersive opportunity, so they want to come back for more." Of course, getting to that stage requires internal buy-in. "You need a metaverse disciple to make an evidence-based argument of why it's interesting and worthy of investment," says Jonny Shaw, chief strategy officer at VCCP New York. "We must speak in the language of business and ROI, value and data, not just shiny new technology toys. These are potentially huge communities for brands to access." Organisational mindset shifts rarely happen overnight, but now's the time to start laying the groundwork for this vibrant new form of digital marketing. So, what can marketers do, today, to prepare for this opportunity?

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By Albert Abello Lozano, head of automation, Treatwell

Practical steps to get your brand metaverse-ready

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Currently one of the most immersive ways to explore and engage with the early-stage metaverse is in virtual reality, although compared to the potential of AR through ubiquitous smartphones, for instance, ownership of VR hardware is not yet mainstream enough for brands to expect huge-scale audience engagement. This hurdle is easier to overcome within the controlled environment of a brand's own retail space, by budgeting for the necessary hardware as part of the campaign. To add an interactive edge to a recent product demonstration for its new all-electric Ariya, for instance, Nissan purchased several thousand Meta Quest 2 headsets, distributing 1,200 of them to dealerships to help facilitate an in-person experience for customers. As the tech becomes more mainstream it will unlock ever more exciting opportunities, and forward-thinking brands can help drive that evolution. VR may be the gold-standard for total immersion, but not everyone has access yet. The virtual world Decentraland is currently only available through a browser, and Fortnite, Roblox and soon Meta Horizon Worlds will also offer an in-browser option as a more accessible entry point. “It means people can get together in virtual worlds with their friends, no matter what device they're on,” explains Riccardo Scotti di Uccio, emerging platforms lead for business marketing at Meta.

Contribute to the technical infrastructure

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. ■

Step one is to think strategically about what your brand can bring to the metaverse, and how that fits with your overall marketing goals. "What do you want to get out of it?" asks Nick Pringle, SVP and executive creative director at R/GA. "Perception? Conversation? Engagement? Commerce? Work out what you can bring so you show up in a way that's useful, valuable, entertaining or whatever you need to be." "Don't think of it as just another channel or touchpoint," advises Wayne Deakin, global principal at Wolff Olins. "There's a mix of physical and digital approaches needed, and you need to know why you're showing up there – and your role. Don't be the uninvited guest at a house party annoying everyone else." We're still years away from the kind of fully immersive, all-encompassing metaverse that some commentators believe is an inevitable future. But opportunities for brand activation through metaverse-like platforms such as Fortnite, Meta Horizon Worlds, Roblox and Decentraland are growing fast.

Consider what value your brand can add

As with social marketing, success often hinges on engaging your audience where they already feel comfortable. "It feels like 2008, when we used to say: 'Get up your social listening dashboard,'" says Isabel Perry, recently appointed VP of Web3 at DEPT. Creating and maintaining a community is key: "They'll tell you if your experience, NFT collection, game or lens is rewarding enough," adds Perry. Think about the story that will best resonate with your brand’s community, and only then consider how you could bring it to life in the metaverse. "The biggest mistake people make is thinking tech-first. You should always think narrative- and people-first," says Deakin. Brand objectives must align with consumer interests for an experience to resonate, not just feel like a clumsy attempt to push product. Leveraging the interactive capabilities of your brand’s existing social channels – such as AR filters on Instagram and Facebook – can pave the way for more immersive experiences, giving consumers a playful glimpse of the hybrid-reality future of the metaverse. If brands can bridge the gap between physical and virtual worlds in a smart, intuitive way, their community will follow. For instance, BYTE/DEPT helped eBay create an interactive stand at MCM Comic Con in November 2022. After queuing for over 90 minutes for the privilege, delighted attendees modelled their cosplay outfits in a photobooth to have the image transformed into a unique AR trading card.

Engage your brand's existing community

Art directing an interactive engagement with a community is a very different process from creating conventional communications. "When people without subject-matter expertise start getting involved, mistakes can be made," shares Jonny Shaw at VCCP. "Give careful consideration to your process. It needs to be more collaborative than a traditional ad brief, for instance. More like the creative development that would happen in digital product design." Gaming has blazed a trail for the engagement that's possible in the metaverse, and immersive brand experiences often take their cues from that sector. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) enjoyed exponential growth from the mid-2000s, paving the way for the worlds that many gen Z consumers have grown up immersed in, such as Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft. Creating compelling environments in 3D is important, but a beautiful backdrop isn't enough to keep people there. It’s about world-building, and it takes expertise to ensure the experience feels intuitive and rewarding. To get it right, marketers need a collaborative spirit: opening your mind to new possibilities is perhaps the most important practical step to get your brand metaverse ready. "We're all in this together," adds Meta's Scotti di Uccio. "It’ll take an array of companies large and small, civil society, the public sector, and millions of individual creators to build the metaverse. It isn't a single piece of cloth, but a patchwork quilt." ■ Learn more about business opportunities in the metaverse here.

Understand the dynamics of interactive design