And marketers need to reinvent their marketing playbook for the digital world.
In the same way that mobile technology has shaped our culture since the first iPhone, the Metaverse is swiftly moving away from the traditional stigma of being a waste of time and into the next technological revolution.
We can now leave our physical realities and enter virtual worlds with new economies, environments, currencies, and behaviours.
Lots of recent stories from Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Microsoft, and others have pointed to the metaverse. Is the metaverse a buzzword? Or will it be the next Internet?
How do marketers prepare for this technology and cultural revolution?
Businesses must rethink their narratives in the virtual world, and marketers must adopt new technologies at a faster pace. Everyone, including brands, is a world builder in the metaverse, especially in APCA, one of the most sophisticated markets in the world.
Gather, The metaverse platform raised $26 million in a Series A round in 2021 with more than 10 million users and expanded to APAC in collaboration with Yell Advertising, an advertising company based in Bangkok and Singapore.
This is a big step towards leveraging customer experience through many activities such as virtual conferences, virtual learning, and virtual art exhibitions that will be opening in Bangkok around Q3 and Q4.
The big change in advertising experience in APAC is coming.
Dissara Udomdej, CEO, says: "Not only should brands push media to their target audience, but they should bring customers into their space. The potential of virtual space is to blend gaming and socialization for activity.
I believe that after we launch the first Gather Virtual Event, I’m sure the virtual event business in APAC will shift from video conferences to more advanced.”
The potential for success is a differentiation of technology.
The platform also uses spatial audio technology, which is generally used in video games, to give users the feeling of running into each other. When you are close to someone, technology allows you to hear their voice louder and softer as you walk away. Gather says that conventional video-conferencing systems did not work well with spatial technology, so the company designed its own from the scratch.
All of the virtual platforms are competing to show that the world is ready for virtual spaces. Gather is leveraging spatial technology, animations, and productivity tools to create a metaverse dedicated to work by drawing on online gaming culture.
Virtual reality is now being wrapped in new technology as part of a digital marketing strategy.
As with the Internet's evolution and the influence of mobile technology, smart marketers will educate for change and adapt to new virtual worlds of possibility, and I hope you will not miss this opportunity to catch your customer.