A Metaversal Truth: The simple question Meta is asking brands at the gates of Web3

Written by Sam Swaffield, Creative Director

 
 

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Meta workshop last week with our client Specsavers. 70 of us across digital, creative, social and more crowded into a room in Euston feeling like we’d found the golden ticket for Willy Wonka’s factory tour. This was it. The Metaverse, from the horse's mouth. 
 
As a creative, and I’m sure I’m not alone, one thing that will take up a lot of my headspace this year is finding a fruitful balance between the constant drive from the industry and clients for innovation, and the more pragmatic need to do what’s right and accessible for our audiences. 

Over three hours, Meta endeavored to make that both an easier job, and a harder one. Here are some of the key things I took away from the fascinating visit. 
 

 

INNOVATION CAN BE CONFUSING 

We’re dealing in quite nebulous terminology right now. As a communications professional, it's always a wonder to see how we mix, muddle and meddle with English to create a more compelling sell, but on a conceptual level we’re talking about far deeper things. NFTs, the blockchain, Web3, AI, the Metaverse … hardly fag packet mediums for us to work out. 

And Meta were clear with how unclear these things are. 

In the intro, I scribbled down a fantastic line from one of the tech-giant's head guys in London; 

“It’s difficult to explain the Metaverse when it doesn’t exist yet”. 

This is pertinent. Meta expect the Metaverse to be a legitimate product in 15, 20, 25 years' time. As a concept, therefore, we’re talking about a substantial change in the way we engage in digital media. And when I say substantial, I’m talking forget everything you know. Rip-it-up-and-start-again level stuff. 

So, to save you from further pontificating on how we’ll play chess in a quarter of a century (virtual chess is Mark Zuckerberg’s big idea) let's talk about the here and now, and what I learned about dipping your virtual toe into the Metaverse. 
 

 
 

WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR BRANDS IN THE METAVERSE RIGHT NOW?

A round table was set up to discuss what’s happening in the Metaverse today. They discussed where there was existing excellence in Horizon Worlds (Meta’s word for the digital spaces in which brands can create in the Metaverse). Real-life, tangible examples of how wearable tech like Quest is making an impact in consumers’ lives and what the Meta strategists and creatives were most excited about in the future. 
 
And most importantly, what the opportunity is for brands today. 

The team talked through some case studies; expansive worlds built for forward thinking brands. Firstly, NIke. Their Nikeland brand world reflects their core purpose and commitment to progressive, audience focused marketing in Web3. You would expect this from Nike.  
 
A second example a little closer to home was from JD Sports. They worked with Meta’s own creatives to build a Metaverse world that acted as an immersive mirror to their christmas campaign ad . This made a lot of sense, a functional multiplier that took traditional creative into different places. The ad featured an arcade-stylised world of pinball machines and table football. Meta rebuilt this for fans in a Horizon, where Quest-owners could digitally play the games.  
 
Another example was also a rational physical/digital hybrid where Quest users join digital gyms in the Metaverse. This featured VR work-out environments where avatar PTs shouted at you via a headset in your bedroom rather than your local gymnasium. This makes sense and the future is looking bright with lighter, cheaper headsets the future of VR and – more importantly in my opinion - MR (“figital”) activations and subscription services. 
 
The examples were cool. Very futuregazer-y. Chins were stroked, mine included, but I wanted to know about some brands that you wouldn’t expect to find on the Metaverse.  

They answered me with an example from America with Wendy’s, the burger people . I knew of Wendy’s as being leaders in the digital space because they were excellent on Twitter. Wendy’s bold ambition, I was told, was to have their restaurants in everybody's living room. In the Metaverse, Wendy’s built a digital world where, again, users could play games and win vouchers to use in physical locations.  
 
I was not overly convinced this achieves their ambition, and digital hamburgers are still some way off I fear. 

 

SO WHAT CAN BRANDS DO IN THE METAVERSE? 

Away from super brands and extremely progressive brands though, where is the space for everyone else? Reading between the lines, activations in the Metaverse are extremely expensive and are for brands who list ‘talkability’ as a KPI (they won’t reveal how many active users are in the Metaverse, and stress that activations are not for those chasing traditional ROI metrics).  

That makes innovation in these spaces intimidatingly exclusive. The strategy, the discovery, the creative, the build and launch are huge undertakings, not to mention the meagre 4% of the UK who actually have a VR headset and can access your grand digital worldbuilding. 

On the panel, a strategist remarked on the simplest thing that will dictate success for brands in Web3 this year. She talked through early chats with potential clients and where their heads are at, which world they want to build and what corner of this burgeoning Metaverse they wish to colonize. 
 
She simply asks them why? Why do you want to do this? If it’s Metaverse for Metaverse’s sake then the door closes.  

Purpose, she said, is the key. Do you want to educate? Do you want to entertain? Do you want to inform? If you’ve clearly identified your why, then there just might be a space for you and your brand in 2023.  

 
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