// Trends
Best Metaverse Marketing Trends for 2023
// Trends
The metaverse concept became popular in recent years. You might often see it in the context of video games, AR, and VR technologies. It is hype. Large companies like Microsoft, Epic Games, and Facebook started developing their metaverses in 2021. Each company has its vision of the technology. ‘’Meta’’ is the new step in progress. It is a 3D world, a digital reality, where millions of people from different corners can meet and interact.
In 1992, Neal Stephenson used this word in his book for the first time. To his mind, a metaverse was a virtual space where people use their avatars to communicate. Mark Zuckerberg supports the idea that anyone can find friends, go shopping, and do many things in the virtual world. Metaverse will combine two worlds, the virtual and the real.
A metaverse is a hybrid world in an online space. It is the first step to the new trend, Web 3.0 — the new internet. It will function on blockchain technologies, storing the info in decentralized registers. A person or group of people will own the database.
However, the meta market is not just about land and private property. For example, global brands like Adidas, Puma, Gucci, Tesla, and others use the platforms to create their digital products and implement them within the digital world.
In May 2022, the biggest land deal in a metaverse was closed. Curzio Research company bought 19 sites for five million dollars. They purchased the land in the TCG World ‘’meta’’, which is currently not the most popular. Curzio Research wants to use the land as a digital space where investors will meet and host actual events. They believe that the metaverse must become the new decentralized and limitless internet. It will help people to create digital content and own it.
It is hard to predict what will the digital world look like in five or ten years. It can be a breakthrough like an internet and mobile phones years ago or just a hype that will last two to five years.
The expert highlight three primary development ways:
Meta in Russia is considered an extremist organization. Yet, if this company and Epic Games, and Microsoft can implement their plans, people will live in a hybrid world that will merge the real and the digital space.
There will be different platforms, but they will be compatible; the users will have a chance to take their things and travel these worlds. People can hold meetings and appointments at home with the help of holograms. Education will be more accessible and effective for many people.
In addition, there will be opportunities for sports development. For instance, people will train in the virtual world, participate in competitions, etc.
A new world is an excellent and promising market with no limitations for users. The believers think that the governments will try to regulate it at the level of legislation. Depending on the state's attitude towards such technologies, the restrictive measures will differ and directly rely on this process.
Some countries see metaverses as new opportunities, while others are skeptical about implementing metaverses in real-life. In May 2021, the Metaworld Alliance was launched in South Korea with the government involved. It now has more than 500 companies, including major global brands. In 2022, already several million dollars have been allocated to maintain it.
Russia does not share this approach. The government believes that the inability to identify avatars and the use of digital currency within the system may cause a breakdown of political boundaries because there will be no legal regulation of the purchase and sale.
In the legislative regulation of metaverses, the government may impose the main restrictions on the economic and labor asp. Still, the prohibition of access to such a space is not excluded.
There is a scenario that Zuckerberg and other ideologists may be wrong, and metaverses do not have such great potential. In this case, the hype will decrease, and the metaverse will be implemented only within games and individual corporations.
The idea of the digital world is not new, yet the demand is not massive since there are no comfortable glasses and helmets for augmented reality. There are also some technical difficulties related to work speed and internet stability. These issues block the digital reality scaling. The metaspaces will require a new programming model, where the users will swiftly move from one location to another, and the codes will be inter-compatible.
Indeed, it is difficult to say what a metaverse will look like in twenty years. Any project or company that currently develops a metaverse have their views, images, and ideas of the new future. They design metaverses for regular people since they are the core of it.
A research and consulting company — Gartner, which specializes in information technologies, predicts that by 2026 one-fourth of people globally will spend at least one hour a day in a metaverse. People will start shopping, studying, doing sports, working, and relaxing in digital worlds.
It is pretty similar to the social network's launch in 2008. At that time, marketers had only begun to understand their power and impact on users. Now, metaverses are at their early stage; some are just ideas, and implementing them will take up to five years. Many global brands and companies have started thinking of investing in the hybrid world. So, look at top trends of metaverse marketing in 2023 and further.
All metaprojects will involve NFTs — digital document analogs that prove a product's or object's ownership rights. Many modern brands use NFTs to sell their goods. With the product, you can not just get money but also perform public transactions, and it helps build a virtual campaign around new information.
Marketers can use NFT tokens to launch their products or services in the virtual world or the existing metaverse.
The main NFT trends for 2023 are:
The NFTs are often mentioned in the context of ecology since minting an NFT has a negative impact. However, there is a CleanNFT trend developing. It unites cryptocurrency users that use protocols which don’t leave a carbon footprint; for example, Tezos work on CleanNFT. The GAP company employed Tezos for their NFTs.
The tokens show increasing popularity, especially for the brands that work in the sector of luxury goods.
The users are ready to earn and spend for self-expression within a digital world. The process is equal to the real world. Direct-to-avatar (D2A) is a unique business model that allows companies, individuals, and brands to promote and sell their products to digital characters through NFTs.
The manufacturers can create virtual copies of flagships or use something special to learn about the environment. In other words, when a brand releases a product in a metaverse, it can estimate the demand to help plan the real-world production. It will benefit the ecology and will enhance the fashion industry's work since companies will know which products will probably fail.
One of the major players in the D2A market is Roblox. The platform offers to sell virtual items. In 2021, about 5.8 billion dollars were spent on this type of goods.
Furthermore, in 2021 Gucci held a Gucci Garden Archetypes installation for Roblox in a metaverse. For two weeks, they allowed the users to buy virtual limited edition products for their characters. As a result, fashionable glasses by Gucci cost 1.5 dollars, a bag 5.5 dollars, and the price eventually grew to $4111.
Roblox has much in common with social networks where users interact and communicate. The companies that want to succeed in a metaverse should treat it as a typical social network. Put another way, engaging and communicating with a person is essential. The players get to experience, and the marketers must add brands, goods, and services in a manner that the user feels a part of the digital world, like the main character.
For instance, in 2021, Vans — an apparel manufacturer, added their skate park to a metaverse. It copies real locations, namely London and California skate parks. Any user can go there for a ride and do some stunts. The users receive special coins, which allow them to buy unique items. In addition, when they return to the parks, the users receive presents for completing quests.
Moreover, the users can buy big-brand clothes in virtual shops. Vans offer to customize the skate and shoes, which increases community engagement. Also, this functions in both the metaverse and the real world.
Through collaboration with Roblox, manufacturers can understand better young people's needs and desires, which affects the relationship between the person and the brand. This example shows that it is possible to create effective outreach to the target audience through the metacommunity, similar to contact on social media.
The other trend for 2023 is events that promote a particular brand or product and bring new clients. For example, an opinion leader performing at a concert or other meeting format will work. Many people will participate in the event; therefore, the companies will be able to advertise and sell their services and products. It is a powerful tool considering the limitless number of users in a metaverse.
Involving numerous participants is not the only benefit. Any creative endeavor or idea can be executed within the digital world to give people a worthy experience. To achieve the most remarkable results, it is essential to message directly to the target audience; else, the result will be poor.
It was in the winter of 2022 when for the first time, Samsung company presented the mobile phone Galaxy S22 in the digital world. A VR platform called Decentraland was used for it. The company held the presentation in the Samsung 837 shop, which has a real-world analogue in New York. In the virtual shop, the users could entertain, study the place, and participate in quests that offered NFTs as a reward.
The users said that the quests and a new location in a metaverse were more interesting than the telephone presentation. The implementation was indeed troublesome since the company hadn’t offered to order the mobile or consult the employees.
Marketers must develop everything naturally in the metaverse to attract attention to the brand, or the product will be rejected. The parallel marketing strategy is a perfect chance for those who have already established an advertising company in the real world.
Let’s look at the AB InBev case to provide you with an example. In 2021, they signed a contract with Zed Run. This platform works with digital racing and is the first corporation supporting sport in metaverses. For many years, AB InBev has sponsored various sports events.
The users have an opportunity to buy NFT horses, breed them, sell them, or use them for special events. At the early stage, they could buy a horse for $30, while now the price reaches $165000.
In partnership with Zed Run, Stella Artois allowed the metaverse users to use their unique NFT horses and build them a racing track. Later, they used the NFT product Stella for real-world marketing of The Life Artois.
Gamification is not something new, it is instead a digital world reality, especially if it concerns mobile services. The process helps introduce quests, games, and testing and enhances the interactive experience, while gifts, tokens, and other lovely rewards keep the audience’s interest.
The main idea of gamification is to deal with human psychology. The individuals must develop the feeling of anticipation and habit. People get the feel of a secret gift, discount, or other miracles, which will only come if certain conditions are met. Such a tie-in always works in the virtual world because completing tasks on the phone or PC, in the digital world, the reward can be received in the real world, translating into money or goods. The target audience needs to be included in the game, not feel they're being followed through the process. That way, marketers get the reaction they need.
Fortnite and Roblox arose the concept of metaverses and the demand it has now. People live their typical lifestyle there, and it has its economy, where the individual and the brand communicate. The avatars help this environment function.
Metaverses change people’s lives, personalities, and habits. As a result, marketing in metaverse must target the avatar instead of the actual individual. Differentiating the human and the avatar is a challenging yet exciting task. The natural person and the metaverse character will have different habits, appearances, etc. People will want to become something new; thus, the avatars will be the top priority clients.
The metaverse will help discover new creative, social, and economic skills. The digital world combines many programs and products like games, messengers, and financial instruments. With time, virtual and augmented realities will be more significant than entertainment. It will become a vital element. There will be advertising banners, signs, and menus in the digital layer around the city.
The blockchain’s decentralization now helps people own digital assets like game items, money, and others. It provides a new security level and a more incredible development speed. The users can transfer money worldwide within seconds, taxes can become automatic, and their usage will be transparent, which is unacceptable to some governments.
DAO systems are a crystal clear way to vote for elections and legislative projects. But most importantly, the metaverse is real people; its task is to cover users' needs, to make their lives better, more ergonomic, and comfortable.
The development of 3D digital twins can significantly change the business functioning specifics and consumers’ views, interactions, and physical environment considerations. This approach will build an immersive virtual 3D model, and organizations can use it to create identical copies of real projects and websites that will function like independent objects.
Consumers can use the technology for digital shopping and try-on, opening stores, etc. All is achievable from home or the office. Furthermore, it is possible to fit new products for home online without purchasing them.
People can manage the world better with virtualization, digitalization, and global computer implementation. Several years ago, the autos required replacing particular details or the entire engine mechanism when it broke down. Today, an automobile connects to a computer; it analyzes all issues and helps to solve them swiftly. This process helps to optimize any workflow element. It works for much more than only cars since all technologies use computers and microchips.
Metaverses can help to collect massive volumes of data. Furthermore, that data is available for usage immediately, and everything functions fast. The modern approach to data science is an efficient and straightforward model. A precise understanding of information stimulates an immediate reaction, exchanging personal opinions, and helps automatize processes, so they do not require humans.
Integrating and connecting various services helps to achieve event correction, anomaly identification, and event interconnection. The more similar are metaverses to the physical world, the more realistic the user experience.
NFTs have global recognition like blockchain, digital assets, and art. It will not surprise anyone, and virtual galleries with high market prices are a popular business sector.
In conclusion, marketing in metaverse is set to become a crucial aspect of digital marketing in 2023. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in metaverse marketing is key to success. As the metaverse becomes an increasingly important part of the digital landscape, businesses that adapt to these changes and embrace the potential of marketing in metaverse will be best positioned for success in 2023 and beyond.
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