Brands are playing in the Metaverse.
brands are playing in the metaverse.
Meta, Meta, Meta. We’ve told you about what brands have, in the past, done with it. The metaverse certainly hasn’t fallen short in providing us with an array of digital experiences. But, what’s next? What does the future of brand partnerships in the metaverse have in store for us? And to that, who’s next?
First, I want to acknowledge a few things.
Acknowledgement #1:
Though the metaverse is huge and ever-expanding, we’re going to focus on one of the leading metaverse platforms, Roblox.
Acknowledgement #2:
While Roblox is a place for all, brands currently exploring entering it and partnering with the company are going in with the aim of hitting one main demographic, GenZ, and indirectly hitting another, GenA. With over 54 million daily users, roughly 67% of Roblox users fall under the age of 16.
Finally, acknowledgement #3:
There are endless, untapped possibilities to what can be done in the metaverse and on Roblox, but we’re only going to touch on a few of our own ideas and predictions - so keep your creative minds open, the sky is truly the limit.
Now, what’s next for brand partnerships in Roblox?
1. Fashion
Digital fashion is evolving by the day. Facilitated by platforms in the metaverse such as Roblox, fashion houses have begun to explore fashion’s digital counterpart and, while brands like Nike and Gucci have already begun paving the way for other brands to collaborate with Roblox, the future of fashion in the metaverse is clear: more user-brand interaction, more digitalization of real-world events and more customer engagement.
In November of last year, the British Fashion Council turned to Roblox to host a segment of the Fashion Awards. The council introduced a new award category dubbed “Metaverse Design” and presented the award in a Roblox replica of the real-life ceremony at Royal Albert Hall. It was presented by none other than an avatar replica of Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele. Users could tune into the virtual ceremony as well as browse and purchase virtual items including several Gucci collection pieces - all of whose revenues were donated to the British Fashion Council Foundation.
This digitized event gave us a look into what we may see from the fashion world on Roblox in the near future. Who knows, we may see Kendall Jenner on the Roblox runway sometime soon, right?
2. Sports
Sports in the digital sphere is a budding concept. With companies like Nike and NASCAR entering the metaverse with aim of boosting consumer interaction, other companies like Puma are pushing the notion that sports in the metaverse can be even more interactive than we thought. Whether it be Puma or another, it's clear that the future of sports on the metaverse entails: a more immersive sports experience and increased synergies between the fans, the digital and real world.
Just last month, Puma released “Puma and the Land of Games,” giving us a glimpse into the future of sports on the metaverse. In partnership with Roblox, this sports-based experience provides users with an engaging virtual world in which they can harness their inner-athlete, play mini sports games, engage in life-like strength activities like weight lifting and running, and access Puma sportswear that their avatars can wear. This digital, sports-oriented world is just the beginning of the immersive, life-mirroring experiences that are coming our way.
3. Music
Music in the metaverse. Over 12 million people have watched Travis Scott's concert on Fortnite, so chances are you were one of those. The music industry has been a fan of the metaverse from the early days. If that even exists, metaverse early days. Specifically, during the well-known covid years, labels, artists, producers, they all looked into ways to connect with the audience and their fans in a digital matter. The future of music in the metaverse is clear: bring the musical experience to life with more engagement and bridge the gap between artist and fan. Don't get me wrong though, nothing beats a real-life concert, climbing on top of each other to catch a glimpse of your favourite artist.
Spotify has already begun the quest to see just how effective the metaverse can be in fueling interaction with music. Claiming the title as the first music streaming brand with a presence on Roblox, Spotify launched “Spotify Island”, an interactive world where both artists and fans can interact, play games, create tunes, listen to them, and purchase merchandise.
The green-themed island centres around the idea of creating a link between artists and their fans, enabling fans to turn into creators and produce beats themselves. As described by Abby Stewart, Director of Business Development at Spotify, “The stage isn’t the typical artist broadcast to fan experience. We’re flipping the script and empowering players to be the creators.” Developments like these can, and will, truly revolutionize the music industry, engaging the next generation of gamers that Spotify aims to target and create a sense of unity under the musical experience.
4. Destination
With Roblox aiming to serve as a digital universe parallel to our world, it’s hard to ignore an aspect valued by all - vacations. When you think about what can be done on Roblox, I'm sure the last thing that comes to mind is: Can it take me on holiday? It just might. Ralph Lauren is telling us how they see that happening, showcasing that the future of vacationing on the metaverse will be very much activity-based. And in line with the latest fashion trends, of course.
Ralph Lauren has begun its meta-journey by launching “The Ralph Lauren Winter Escape,” a digital winter holiday experience on Roblox. This one-of-a-kind experience gives us insight into the future of brand collaborations within the metaverse and on Roblox, showcasing that you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your bed to go ice-skating in a winter wonderland. The experience enables players to enjoy a snowy landscape, engage in winter sports like ice-skating, drink hot chocolate, toast marshmallows by the fire, and select an outfit from 8 iconic Ralph Lauren sportswear looks. Digital experiences like this are bound to transform vacation culture, and it's exciting to see where it's headed.
Now, as mentioned in our acknowledgements, more so than anything the question that arises when we think about Roblox is: Who's next? Roblox is ultimately one of the last unfiltered, boundless “spaces” we see in our world today, digital or real. Brands and users are able to create digital worlds of their own, implementing their own rules and creating their own norms while drastically pushing the boundaries of typical life. While at times this may open the space to unwanted content, it enables brands to target audiences that they don’t have as much access to in the real world. For a brand like Louis Vuitton, targeting a member of GenA IRL is practically really challenging due to their luxury edge. But on Roblox, they can now target younger audiences, building up brand identity and consumer awareness.
So, when people ask me: What's next for brand partnerships in the metaverse? The answer lies somewhere in between a greater synergy between digital and real-life, increasingly engaging and immersive experiences, digitalization of real-world activities, and Gen A targeted marketing. For now, brands are still mimicking the real world in metaverse platforms, just so people and early adopters can ease their way into it. However, in the near future, we might see some crazy virtual worlds arising, because there's no sky and thus no actual limit.
The final acknowledgement goes to Karma Saqfelhait, thank you so much for your work on this article.
