Ricky Ray Butler is CEO of BEN, an entertainment AI company that places brands into influencer, streaming, TV, music and film content.
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Whenever there is a new trend in marketing, you’ll be sure to find so-called “experts” convincing uninformed marketers and consumers to invest in opportunities that have limited data or backing. Is buying into the metaverse a smart investment that credits you with great foresight, or is it just gullible spending on the latest fad?
We’ve seen virtual reality rebranded countless times throughout the past few decades—from the early days of Second Life to newer platforms like Roblox. But with new names and iterations come new ideas and energy. Enter: the metaverse.
Many are professing to know all about the metaverse and how it will operate, but unless they have a crystal ball, that’s impossible. While fantastical digital worlds with limitless possibilities seem enticing, the reality is that the metaverse is simply a new iteration and evolution of virtual and digital reality.
Right now, we’re seeing players in all corners of the tech industry make bets on the metaverse and, in turn, there is tremendous hype over what it will actually become. Some claim it will redefine the way we interact socially and professionally; others believe it will usher a new, negative extreme for commercialism. However, if history has taught us anything, it’s that reality will likely be rooted somewhere between these extremes.
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I believe our adoption of and interaction with the metaverse will be a slow, methodical transition—one that sees brands and creators building out new avenues for engaging with audiences and developing interactive digital experiences.
Communities: The Gateway To Brand Participation In The Metaverse
The metaverse, like any other new technology or platform, is nothing without its community of users driving mass adoption. Currently, the metaverse is a conceptual digital world that drives attention through FOMO. While some are lured into the mystique with little to no understanding of what is really happening, others (perhaps prudently) are waiting until the model is proven out before jumping into the waters.
While the concept is still in its nascency, widespread metaverse adoption will be led by communities and creators. As people begin to find the groups and use cases that spark their interest, the industry will see an influx of engagement, ideas and applications. It’s at this point that creators will bring their audiences into the fold, building new kinds of content experiences that will further fuel the creator economy.
The interplay between brands and creators will find new life in a virtual setting, opening the door to new opportunities—whether it’s creators partnering with developers to bring content to life or brands engineering their own virtual creators (a la Prada). Today, brands often act as a resource engine for creator partnerships. But in developing their own experiences and building out an authentic brand identity, we’ll see brands becoming their own influential content creation engines. Examples of this are already plentiful between Roblox experiences from brands like Gucci and Vans, as well as Disney’s plans for a virtual world simulator. This isn’t new. In fact, our team at BEN tapped into early metaverse campaigns with “Earth to Echo” back in 2014 when we developed digital mini-games where viewers could immerse themselves into the film’s plot. We saw over 200,000 players engage in this metaverse campaign launch in its first day.
At the same time, creators will start to look more like brands, with products of their own to sell—like games, events and applications. We’ve already seen celebrities have great success with this: Lil Nas X’s Roblox performances gathered 33 million views, while Marshmello and Travis Scott’s Fortnite stages had 10.7 million and 45.8 million viewers, respectively. The potential for brands and creators is, like the metaverse, out of this world.
The Fundamentals Of The Creator Economy Aren’t Going Anywhere
For creators, the promise of a metaverse opens the door to new arenas. The principles of today’s creator economy will remain the same—power and influence will go to those who can attract and maintain loyal audiences.
With applications of blockchain and NFTs taking flight, the metaverse will further decentralize the production, creation and distribution of content and, in turn, incentivize and lower the barrier to entry for creators of all sizes. I believe the largest changes we’ll see are in content creation and monetization. No longer bound to a specific platform, creators will be able to build content programs based on their own guidelines in the metaverse.
While these shifts will take time, it’s important for creators to think strategically about their production teams and the skills they’re building to welcome a new kind of content creation. Having developers who understand the intricacies of virtual reality will become increasingly important.
Consumer Behaviors
Metaverse adoption may feel outlandish for people right now—and for good reason. With our global remote work experiment, we’ve seen firsthand the repercussions of siloed digital interactions and the fatigue they can bring. I’ve seen this firsthand with my daughter playing with her friends on Roblox during quarantine. But virtual reality may alleviate some of the symptoms of lackluster digital interaction. When immersed in virtual reality, audio-spatial interplay can add texture and nuance to conversations and interactions, which might actually help to enhance our digital lives.
While commerce and content creation will be the first applications to bring users into the metaverse, it’s the chance at building more authentic interaction that will convince users to stay. Realistically, we won’t be spending eight hours a day in VR headsets across work and play. Instead, we’ll pick and choose moments to enter a digital sphere—whether it’s participating in a digital event with a global community or choosing to join a team-building experience virtually.
There’s plenty to look forward to technologically over the next decade. The metaverse won’t be here today or tomorrow, and it definitely won’t be all-consuming. Instead, it’ll be yet another digital arena for creativity and innovation to thrive.
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Author: Ricky Ray Butler, Forbes Councils Member
