What will be, what will be… of advertising with metaverse?

o paraphrase Chico Buarque, what will be, what will be… of advertising and the advertiser with metaverse? The future of a dystopian world seems to be closer than we think, doesn’t it? This has been happening since 2021 when Facebook announced drastic changes to its brand, positioning, and investments of around US$ 150 billion to create a virtual environment that replicates at least a parallel reality. But it wasn’t just Facebook that got into this metaverse. Recently, BMW also boarded the “Matrix” theme and made a futuristic merchandising showing its new car changing color, in real-time, at CES 2022, the largest electronics fair held in Las Vegas. Another fantastic consumer experience will be the possibility of shopping in the metaverse. Walmart has already shown, at the same Fair, that this will be possible. Consumers eager for new technology will not be lacking in Brazil. Research by Kantar Ibope Media pointed out that 90% of users of virtual environments like to discover new applications. Therefore, the metaverse proves to be a great opportunity for brands to develop their campaigns, advertisements, and new consumer experiences.

It is in this universe still under construction that advertisers will have to reinvent themselves. But even in theory and predictions, how will this happen?

How will advertising play in the metaverse?

The advertiser of the future will also have to be more than immersed in the new consumption habits in the online world. Digital marketing, following the trends presented in the last fairs, needs to be aligned with offline campaigns. The trend now is for communication to be omnichannel.

Luiza Antoniolli, head of digital at Blues Idea (Photo for publication)

According to the head of digital at the Blues Idea agency Luiza Antoniolli, the metaverse will directly affect digital marketing, because the great trend of this new behavior aligned with technology is the way of doing business and consumption will change. The purchase channels will be different and the strategy of how to convert this user will have to be rethought. In addition, the great challenge will be, once again, to make shopping experiences attractive both online and offline”, she says.

Luiza points out that this technology in Brazil will still take some time to take off, due to the high investments and all the studies that still need to be done and tested. But she makes a bet that the metaverse could be a revolution for the world of agribusiness, for example.

We also see the agricultural world moving. With the augmented reality of crops and events. Today, we don’t need to be present at fairs and the like. Companies have taken this experience to the daily lives of the farmer, all online”, she adds.

And the transformations don’t stop there. E-commerce, which has seen exponential growth with the pandemic, will also be impacted.

In the world of e-commerce, the trend is that everything will have its own value within the metaverse. There are already stores that allow consumers to try on clothes, glasses, and other accessories on the websites. So, the trend is for companies to increasingly promote this experience to the user before he makes the purchase”, projects the head of digital.

Despite all the predictions, Luiza adds that advertising will need to rethink how ads will be created with the arrival of the metaverse.

Who will be the consumers of this parallel universe? How will they act? What will be their preferences? Because the trend is that the consumption habit is completely unusual and different from the real world”, she concludes.

Keep an eye on the user!

All the answers to the above questions about user/consumer behavior are still unknown. In the analysis of the partner director of Blues Idea Gustavo Melo, in the beginning, the user will have to have a very powerful internet connection and hardware, about what exists in the market, and the metaverse will use resources such as virtual reality, augmented reality and devices still unknown and under development. But, in his view, with the rapid advance of technology, everyone will have access to the metaverse more democratically.

Gustavo Melo, partner director of Blues Idea (Photo for publication)

And after that, we have to keep an eye out, especially in personal relationships, consumption, leisure, study, and work, because everything will change. We will be able to go to concerts, gyms, and stadiums and we will have the vision as if we were physically in the place, we will be able to try on clothes in stores be in the living room at home, be in a box at a show,  but on the sofa in the living room. Everything will change the user experience, economics, politics, everything! It might be a little scary for generations before the illennials, but for the ones that follow, any new technology will be super well accepted. Anyway, it really goes far beyond the internet we know today”, defines Melo.

And keep an eye out for avatar apps!

In addition to being aware of the new consumer and how social networks will act, the advertiser of the future will have to learn how to create strategies and campaigns, and to have a spoiler of what may come, we have a great example in the year 2021, which were the avatar apps. To Luiza,

the growth of these apps was the big trend in 2021. Litmatch (avatar app), for example, jumped from 3 million downloads in the last quarter of 2020 to 16 million downloads from October to December 2021. Therefore, this is a niche that will still be explored a lot and we need to be on the alert”, she points out.

In social networks, the giants of the segment, Facebook and Twitter, are already at war for supremacy, even before the metaverse is a more concrete reality. In the news, it has already been reported that Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, has kind of insinuated that Mark Zuckerberg’s plans are dystopian. Anyway, there will always be some feud between them, but, in the end, the trend is that everyone is part of this newuniverse, whether brands or professionals. After all, those who don’t do it can be forgotten, but this will take a few years yet”, predicts Luiza.