News of the Metaverse’s Death Has Been Greatly Exaggerated

Opportunities abound for brands and marketers who act as early adopters

When I tell people what I do for work, I often hear variations of this response: “I thought the metaverse was dead. Is that still going?” 

Given the fortunes lost to failed crypto exchanges and the boom and bust cycle of cryptocurrencies and NFTs last year, it’s tempting to dismiss the much-hyped metaverse as the next big loser for 2023. It’s easy to see why; the name itself was hatched out of science fiction, there’s no single agreed-upon definition, and, like crypto and NFTs, it has sometimes been overly hyped up as something which could quickly transform our world. At the time of writing, generative AI has already taken over headlines and is tipped as the next shiny toy for marketers. The backlash to the hype cycle, however, is just as overblown as those promises that we’d all be spending our days in the metaverse within the span of a few years.

Game over, metaverse? We’ve only just begun.

The metaverse has been described as the next iteration of the web, or more specifically, how we interact with it. In practical terms, the metaverse combines the connectivity of the Internet with spatial computing to create a more immersive web experience. So what, you might ask? Who wants a future of wearing headsets and zooming around virtual worlds when the real world exists in all its multi-sensory glory?

New and emerging technologies are often written off as fads. For those of us old enough to remember, however, the dismissive reaction many now have toward the metaverse is reminiscent of how many felt about the emergence of the World Wide Web in the 1990s. Search for “‘Bill Gates explains the internet to David Letterman”’ and watch Letterman making fun of Gates in 1995. 30 years later, the joke is on Letterman: watching it today we laugh at how he simply didn’t get it. 

In the present moment, many people don’t understand the point of the metaverse. Disruptive innovations are never as good as existing products, in the beginning. Think of the frustrations of the early Internet. Can you hear the dial-up tone slowly making its connection? It’s best to keep an open mind for the future potential of emerging technologies like the metaverse – and why, and how, brands and customers could leverage it in the months, and years, ahead.

Navigating the metaverse: opportunities for brands

For marketers and brands brave enough to navigate the early metaverse, it helps to develop an understanding of the types of experiences that could be built, as well as the technologies that enable their creation across the spaces fitting varying definitions of the term.

A seven-layer framework proposed by entrepreneur Jon Radoff provides a good foundation. Starting with experiences at the top, moving down through discovery (similar to inbound and outbound marketing), creator economy (e.g., design tools and skills), spatial computing (e.g., 3D engines and mapping), decentralization (e.g., distributed and edge computing), human interface (i.e., devices) and infrastructure (e.g., 5G / 6G and GPU) to deliver the content. 

The advancements in technology, driven by ongoing investment in the lower layers of this framework, are already reshaping our interactions with the Internet. Marketers may have limited influence on these technological foundations, yet they have a significant opportunity to leverage them to create impactful and memorable experiences for customers. As technologies continue to evolve, new possibilities will continue to emerge for brands and marketers to explore in both the experience and discovery layers.

In my work, I see four experience pillars emerging for marketers to start readying their brands for the metaverse: augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), gaming, virtual worlds, and digital ownership.

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR): training wheels for the metaverse

AR and VR, but also haptics, are tools we can engage to add 3D and sensory layers to product experiences for brands. These change the user experience from a flat website or mobile page to an extension of our physical selves by connecting physical and digital environments. 

AR is one of the most underrated pillars for experimenting with metaverse experiences because the technology is readily accessible on our smartphones today. Many of us are already familiar with filters and lenses from social platforms like Instagram, Snap and TikTok. VR headsets provide a next level immersive experience, from cinematic voyages to energetic fitness workouts. 

Brands are making best use of AR/ VR for interactive experiences, immersive 3D Experiences and showcasing product features across B2C and B2B environments. Thanks to WebAR, these experiences can also be loaded directly into the browser of any web-enabled device, removing the barrier of downloading apps or logins. 

Business environments are ripe for AR and VR innovations with the incorporation of trained AI models for object recognition or data set overlays. In fact, it’s already happened. VR flight simulators for pilot training have been in use for many decades. Such innovations could have an even bigger impact in health, through services like OssoVR’s training tools for surgeons to practice procedures, and SentiAR’s real time 3D models to test assumptions during live surgical operations. AR and VR could also help make manufacturing more efficient, through advances like Siemens’ use of digital twins to optimize physical factories, and VRsight’s AR remote servicing for manufacturing equipment and production lines.