{"id":19172,"date":"2021-12-03T09:39:22","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T14:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=19172"},"modified":"2021-12-03T15:05:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T20:05:41","slug":"metaverse-digital-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/metaverse-digital-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Metaverse Will Change Digital Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

In October, Merriam-Webster minted 455 new words and definitions for its dictionary. Additions included \u201cTBH,\u201d \u201ccopypasta,\u201d and \u201camirite.\u201d Noticing a trend? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The melding of our online and offline lives started gradually, then seemingly finished overnight. Through small, informal steps (like the language we use every day) all the way to events that take place in<\/em>\u2014not alongside\u2014digital spaces, the stage has been set for society to embrace a brave new hybrid world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter: the metaverse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s back up for a moment. The metaverse<\/a> refers to an ecosystem that lets users interact as avatars, and which operates as a digital environment but possesses certain \u201creal\u201d aspects: Individualized identities, currencies, and, increasingly, familiar products. Though the term was first coined in the 1991 sci-fi book Snow Crash <\/em>by Neal Stephenson, its newfound relevance can be chalked up to both Facebook\u2019s re-brand to \u2018Meta\u2019 as well as popular avatar-based games like Fortnite<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash<\/em>, which first featured the term “metaverse.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, a new age of digital marketing is also on the horizon\u2014one that replaces traditional, transactional advertising with immersive user experiences. Let\u2019s take a closer look at how brands are getting a head start and what may lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The metaverse hinges on individuals spending serious time\u2014and, sometimes, money\u2014in virtual-first environments. It\u2019s no surprise, then, that early examples most often center on one thing: Video games.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a series of essays<\/a> on the metaverse, venture capitalist Matthew Ball discusses one of the first ultra-realistic games, Flight Simulator<\/em>, to illustrate the scale of these digitally-built environments. Flight Simulator<\/em>, he notes, \u201cis the most realistic and expansive consumer simulation in history. It includes over 2 trillion individually rendered trees, 1.5 billion buildings and nearly every road, mountain, city and airport globally.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a lot of space for marketers to work with\u2014especially when these types of experiences expand beyond amateur pilots and cartography buffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take another game, Roblox<\/em>, for example. The platform lets players inhabit worlds crafted by other users, leaving design up to the community. They\u2019ve also recently begun experimenting with interactive ads<\/a>, which allow marketers far more freedom than product placements or merely plastering an ad on a static video game level. They create a blended experience that changes as players move through games, altogether giving advertisements a way to come to life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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