What: Liganova shared a White Paper answering questions about the metaverse and sharing the fundamentals to a successful take-off for brands in the metaverse.

Why it is important: The metaverse is starting to materialise professionally with use cases and products. This paper helps brands understand how to move forward.

It is projected that 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse in 2026. The metaverse is not easy to grasp for definition, but one has been offered to help brands: The entirety of all multi-functional, immersive, and social virtual spaces. The problem is that the metaverse today is roughly at the stage where the internet was in the early 90s. Currently there are fragmented metaverses with limited users that are focused on gaming and for brands the best B2C offering is ‘digital twins’ of physical merchandise. But in the future the metaverse is predicted to offer a high level of interoperability with large numbers of simultaneous users, multifunctional use for work or leisure, and a fusion between the real world and the metaverse.

There are three related paradigms that can cause confusion. And while similar, they are not the same.

1. The metaverse: multifunctional virtual, social spaces
2. Extended reality: applications that bring together physical and digital elements
3. Web3: applications based on blockchains and smart contracts, and the communities emerging around them

As there is an increase in the number of platforms offering the metaverse, extended reality, and Web3, marketing professionals believe that it is important for companies to have real-time live 3D presence in these spaces. But it is still difficult to decipher if this trend is just a hype or if it will last and a true company strategy needs to be defined.

The key to understanding the metaverse is to have practical experience with it. Here are some tips:

1. Find out more about brand experiences on a Metaverse platform (Vans World in Roblox)
2. Test the Meta Quest 2 for one day (Oculus First Contact or Beat Saber)
3. Get to know people in a Metaverse platform using VR (VRCHat or RecRoom)
4. Visit blockchain-based platforms (Decentraland)
5. Set up a wallet and Discord and acquire a NFT (MetaMask or OpenSea)

Brands in the Metaverse

Brands are already being represented in the Metaverse, without their active involvement through engaged fans. But how can brands become more hands on? Some examples of events that have been hosted on metaverse platforms are a virtual fashion show held by Philipp Plein, a block party held by Warner Bros. Pictures, and an Ariana Grande concert in Fortnite. Brands can also amp up their spaces on metaverse platforms: Tommy Hilfiger Store in Decentraland, Vans World in Roblox, and BCG Gamma Office in The Sandbox.

Three key factors of success in the event and space design concepts in the Metaverse:

1. Don’t build a second real life: while the physical counterpart should be considered, this is the time to fully exploit the possibilities of the new medium and be creative.
2. Take inspiration from games: games continue to lead as the most successful application in the Metaverse.
3. Community beats location: look for partners, adapt to the local customs, and take a look at the mechanisms of success on the platform.

Metaverse of Metacurse?