We have all heard so much of the Metaverse in the past 6 months and many "firsts" are being executed by various brands everyday to announce their presence in the Metaverse. its time now for brands to start defining a strategic approach to building business for a metaverse-immersed consumer.
"Metaverse" gained popularity following the change of Facebook to Meta in October 2021. While, search volumes for "metaverse" spiked then; there has been almost a 70% drop in the search volumes over the past 3 months. While, some feel it was a passing fad, I believe it is here to stay and transform our lives. The initial euphoria is fading but, brands need to prepare for it as it scales up.
Gartner estimates that in just 4 years (by 2026), 25% of the population will spend an average of an hour daily in the metaverse. I will not be surprised if, this is an under-estimate as the metaverse is far beyond social media and will drive a convergence of many activities that we do offline & online.
While, estimates will vary, the point is that consumers are moving to the metaverse. The metaverse will evolve and will manifest itself in our lives in multiple forms. Are Brands ready for this behaviour transformation that the consumer is going through. Its time for Brands to define a strategic pathway to the metaverse.
Lets get away from the tech-layer of the metaverse which, is a necessity for deployment but a distraction for strategy. Lets focus on the Business and the Consumer. Once we have identified the strategic pathway, we will come to the tech that will enable us to progress on that pathway.
From the Consumers perspective, the metaverse is about how they virtually engage with the external world and hence, for Brands, it is about how they interact with brands and consume products and services. At the risk of simplification, the metaverse can be mapped on two dimensions:
- The Mode of Consumption of Products & Services by the Consumers
- The Mode of Delivery of Products & Services that is provided by the Brands
Every category has a transaction element (Access) an element of Tangible Consumption (Usage) & an Intangible feeling associated with it (Experience). These three dimensions "ATX" total up to an overall consumption of the Brand.
A brand can use different modes of delivery for these elements of consumption to the consumer - Physical (P), Access Online (O) or Platform Immersed (I). While, Most brands are currently in the Physical world and many are now also accessible/ bought online - the Platform Immersed options are nascent. The spread of brands across this P-O-I delivery framework defines how ready they are for the metaverse.
Using this ATX-POI Model, a Meta-Evolution Grid (MEG) is defined. The footprint of the elements of Brand Delivery and Consumption defines the state of the Brand on the MEG. The metaverse is where the Brand is available as an immersion (I) and the Consumer is able to atleast do a transaction that is Platform Immersed. If the Consumer is also able to consume and experience the Brand in an immersive state then, that is the ultimate metaverse presence for a Brand.
Each Brand needs to define their current and proposed future footprint to start developing the strategic pathway to the metaverse. While, gaming is already highly evolved and leading the evolution fo the metaverse - there are categories which are still entirely resident in the Physical world. Nor will it be possible for some of them to move all elements of consumption into the metaverse.
While, some categories will continue to be consumed in the physical state - the "transaction" can be moved to the metaverse. Also, while the actual product experience may be in the physical world, the brand needs to plan what are the "experiences" that can represent the brand in the metaverse. If the brand does not have a blueprint for any such experiences today, then the brands need to start building these experiences and the association of these experiences with the Brand - before venturing into the metaverse on the experience dimension.
Depending, on the current footprint of the brand on the Meta-Evolution-Grid (MEG) the Strategic Pathway to the Metaverse will be laid out for each brand.
I have defined 3 stages of this Universe:
- Yesterverse - Not that this stage of brands is not relevant today but, it was defined in the past and is continuing as a legacy - hence, Yesterverse. Most brands lie fully in this stage today.
- Omniverse - Omniverse is the stage of the brand evolution where it has stepped out of the brick and mortar world and has enabled online access and different part of brand consumption are available either online or offline - but not yet reached the immersive stage. A large number of brands are in this space today and more coming in every day. However, excepting a few categories, they still have only a small percentage of their business from this Omniverse.
- Metaverse - As I stated earlier, this is where one or more elements of the Brand Consumption are available to the consumer in a platform immersive manner. Brands have started exploring the space and we will see a lot of action building here.
Building a "transaction" is the easy part; advertising presence for the Brand in the metaverse is also quite doable (thought the tenets of advertising will change for the metaverse) - most Brands today, howsoever, eager to get into the metaverse - are still wanting in a clarity of definition of the experience that they need to create in the metaverse.
So, while it is great to "dip your toes" in the water and have a thrill of being the first in the metaverse - the Brands that will win are the ones which create a vision for themselves in the metaverse and define the Strategic Pathway to create value for the consumers in their new world.
Welcome to the metaverse!! Lets Build the Strategic Pathway for your Brand!
