Piali Dasgupta, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Columbia Pacific Communities
The “metaverse”, a term that originated in a science fiction novel back in 1992 called Snow Crash to define the post internet age, is a virtual world in which 3D versions of people can interact in business and entertainment settings through the use of VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality).
The user penetration of Metaverse, currently at 3.7%, is likely to rise by 3x in the next six years in India, and already has 400 million monthly active users globally.
India ranks fifth in terms of interest in metaverse projects or blockchain-based games.
Several brands across the world have already started holding special events on the metaverse. For the past three years, we have seen brands such as Gucci, Nike, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Balenciaga and Hyundai amongst other, creating VR-powered experiential events for their fans on the metaverse.
Whether it is selling NFTs, creating a gaming experience or holding a fashion show on the metaverse, brands have already done it all. And this is only the beginning, with brands such as Disney, even hiring for key positions to help them build a compelling metaverse strategy.
However, navigating the Metaverse may not always be easy from a legal standpoint for brands, with a lot of them clamouring to protect their IPs.
Musicians across the world such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and a host of others have had their 3D avatars perform at the metaverse.
Closer home, in November 2023, percussionist Bickram Ghosh was the first Indian to announce his virtual space in the Metaverse called Planet Bickram, for his fans across the world.
So, it’s no surprise then that in the future, more than 50% of experiential marketing and events will take place in the metaverse. With an uber high CAGR of over 40%, the metaverse is likely to become an important marketing platform for brands.
As the lines between the physical and the digital continue to blur, brands will create showrooms in the metaverse, for people to experience products virtually, before making a purchase decision. We already saw some form of it during the pandemic when real estate, fine jewellery and automobile brands in particular, used virtual reality to create a near-real experience of the product for customers, helping their buying decision at a time when they could not visit a physical store.
The Metaverse holds tremendous potential to revolutionise industries such as healthcare, education, retail and entertainment. However, that can only happen when VR headsets become more accessible to the masses. Currently, a headset is priced anywhere between USD 400 to USD 3500; that can pose as a major hindrance for Metaverse to attain critical mass. For any medium to gain traction, it needs to be made accessible to the masses at no or low cost. We have seen that with social media in web 2.0. The Metaverse is unlikely to be an exception to this rule. So rapid technological innovation in making it accessible to many, will unlock its true potential.
