What do companies think of the metaverse?
Most major brands are working with it. Simply because they see that their target audience is increasingly moving into different metaverses. They mostly seek collaboration with existing metaverses and experiment with it.
A few forerunners:
“Balenciaga trok in 2021 op met Fortnite vanuit de open vraag ‘wat kunnen wij ermee?’ Het ging niet om de verkoopaantallen, maar om ermee te testen en in de winkel te laten zien dat we iets met Fortnite doen.” – Nicolas Daude-Lagrave, Chief Digital Officer bij Balenciaga (Bron: Emerce)
Tareq Nazlawy, senior director for digital growth at Adidas:
“The metaverse opportunity wasn’t necessarily baked into our digital strategy. But we realized earlier this year that we had to take a look at what was happening there. I think it was the end of the first quarter when NFT mania was first starting to peak. We realized we should have a position on this, and we wanted to explore it.”
So companies are investing in the metaverse primarily as an experiment. So why are big brands focusing on it so much? There is one big reason behind this: anything to avoid missing the boat.
Getting in too late can be disastrous, as was evident during the first two Internet revolutions. So there’s every reason to get there in time for the Web 3.0 revolution.
Examples of companies in the metaverse
It’s no coincidence the above examples both come from the apparel industry. In the gaming world – that’s at the forefront of metaverse hype – buying “skins” in an online environment is commonplace. A skin is (part of) the appearance of an avatar in a digital environment. In many games, skins are linked to status: a rare or expensive skin gives the player more status in the game. This is actually very similar to the principle of NFTs, which we covered in the previous blog. So paying for digital clothing is already quite normalized in some groups. So it’s not surprising major clothing brands also smell the most commercial opportunities in metaverse.
But other major brands are also showing their faces in the metaverse. For example, Heineken – which launched a new beer with Heineken Silver – also launched their new beer in metaverse Decentraland. Of course, they didn’t do this to actually start selling virtual beers, but more as a publicity stunt with a wink. “Even though the metaverse is a place to make connections, beer is a product you can only fully enjoy in real life.”
Samsung has also found a nice insert in the metaverse. They recreated their New York flag ship store in Decentraland. So everyone can marvel at the latest technological gadgets without having to be in New York.
Furthermore, companies are successfully using metaverses to promote movies, concerts and numerous products. Even the exclusive Ferrari managed to work with Fortnite for a crossover.
How do companies earn from the metaverse?
Web 3.0 thus offers excellent opportunities for companies to increase their brand awareness and reach. But is money already being made in the metaverses? Commercial exploitation of metaverses is still in its infancy. Still, there are some ways to make money in a metaverse right now.
Take the aforementioned example of Adidas. Even though they stress that their NFT actions are experimental, they already earned $22 million from their first NFT drop. That’s quickly earned!
Furthermore, the event industry is also making money with metaverses. Money is regularly charged for events in a metaverse. A big advantage is that a digital event can be attended by fans from all over the world, which keeps entry prices low.
Furthermore, there is already a lot of investment and earning in “digital real estate investment”. This is investing in a crowded digital piece of land in the hope that this piece of land will increase in value. It makes money by renting it out, selling it or hosting digital events, just like in the physical world.
So there are several ways to make money with metaverses right now. Yet the vast majority of companies are not yet making money in the cyberspace. They see it more as a way to promote their products and raise awareness.
Companies in our own metaverse
The metaverse we are developing ourselves (which you got a sneak peek of in the very first image in this blog post) could also use collaborate with companies. In our metaverse, potential IT professionals explore the world of IT. For example, you could walk into a company’s office to see what the life of an IT professional is like at that organization. You can’t just do that in real life, of course, but in a metaverse the possibilities are endless! Organizing a job fair is also perfectly possible in a metaverse setting. Thus, we translate Web 3.0 trends to our own situation and try to contribute to a digital environment that helps IT enthusiasts move forward.
Next time, we’ll talk about Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse: Why Meta’s Metaverse Doesn’t Work. Follow our LinkedIn page to stay up to date on our Meta Mondays!
