This story originally appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of strategy.
Written by Will Novosedlik
It was British social critic and art historian John Berger who said that our achievement of the future promised by marketing and advertising is endlessly deferred. This is because its truthfulness is “judged not by the real fulfillment of its promises, but by the relevance of its fantasies to those of the consumer.”
In the good old days of mass marketing, that fantasy took the form of a print ad or a 30-second spot. Ads flooded our minds with images of the ideal home, the ideal car, the ideal nuclear family. Those spots were prescriptive; we were passive recipients being shown how to live. But none of these old school forms could promise a world as immersive as the metaverse.
In the metaverse, we are not passive observers, but active participants, co-creating the fantasies in which we choose to engage with brands. Advertising in the metaverse is more than just a replication of what happens in the “real” world. It’s not just about placing media in a virtual reality. That’s been going on in the gaming space since the 1970s.
According to an article by Dr. Louis Rosenberg for the Future of Marketing Institute, “The metaverse transforms the role of the user from an outsider to a co-located participant who engages in natural, personal and intuitive experiences.” He defines it as a large-scale societal shift from flat to immersive media, one so profound it will fundamentally transform the world of marketing, altering the core tactics used by the industry while also introducing new risks to consumers.
He suggests that, due to the natural, personal and intuitive nature of the medium, the two primary forms of advertising in virtual and augmented worlds will likely be “virtual product placements” (VPPs) and “virtual spokespeople” (VSPs). Nothing new about product placements or spokespersons, but the difference here is that they will be encountered only by specific people at specific times. Which means that, while there may be other people sharing the same virtual or augmented space, they won’t see the same narrowly targeted content; they will see content customized to their personal profiles.
Dr. Rosenberg defines a VPP as a simulated product or experience that appears to the user as an integrated element of the ambient environment. He points out that, in unscrupulous hands, advertising in the metaverse “could become predatory, deceiving users into believing that specific products and services are popular in their community (virtual or augmented) when in fact they are observing a promotionally altered representation of their surroundings.”
Given the fact that the metaverse still feels very much like a gaming app, it’s no surprise that teens are a key target of advertising at this point. The problem here is, what constitutes “reality” if a teen spends eight hours in front of a screen every day? What is more authentic, the metaverse or their real, physical and psychological lives?
In a recent AdNews article, James Sawyer, ANZ managing director of kids-first digital engagement platform TotallyAwesome, shares the stats: the world’s big three gaming platforms, Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft have quadrupled in size since 2017. In Australia, 71% of teens are gaming and the sector was the fastest growing with teens in the 12 months prior to September 2021.
And brands are cashing in. Nike, Wendy’s, Samsung, Hyundai, Coca Cola, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Ferrari, to name a few, are all building their own metaverse experiences and environments aimed at kids and teens in hopes that they will buy the brand in the real world, when they have real money.