What is Metaverse marketing? A $150 trillion opportunity?

“Through the Metaverse, businesses get to connect their digital platforms with the real world in new ways. When they do this, there are new avenues for content, marketing, products, services, and revenue streams that are as close to multidimensional as anything we’ve ever seen.” [1, p. 15]

Metaverse marketing is an emerging field with multi-trillion dollar potential over the coming decade.

Why it matters

Understanding the concept of Metaverse marketing and its various types is essential for any business leader or professional wishing to create value in the space. Understanding the rationale behind it and being able to support it with numbers would enable an intelligent scoping of and assessment of investment opportunities in the area.

Overview

From this article, you will learn:

• What is Metaverse marketing is.
• What factors facilitate the viability and increase the importance of Metaverse marketing.
• The growing interest and the expanding market the Metaverse represents.
• The importance of the real utility cases the Metaverse presents.
• How the Metaverse’s growing consumer base would drive adoption.
• The significant executive support behind the Metaverse.
• The huge growth potential based on various metrics.
• The technological advancements enabling Metaverse marketing. 
• The new marketing capabilities that the Metaverse unlocks. 

Introduction

This work will first define Metaverse marketing before subdividing it into three distinct types. Then, it will discuss the rationale for Metaverse marketing along critical areas, including use cases, technology and market growth potential.

What is Metaverse marketing?

“Metaverse marketing” is an emerging term with no strict definition. The available literature mainly focuses on best practices and components rather than defining the term. However, before proceeding further, we must know what we are discussing. P2P marketing, for example, defines Metaverse marketing simply as “the act of marketing a business’s services/products through the Metaverse” [2].

Alternatively, others view it as a combination of 3D, extended reality (XR), and blockchain offering a new immersive and interactive way of reaching a target audience [3]. Or a new online marketing approach where virtual reality (VR) worlds are seamlessly integrated into customers’ online experiences [4].

• Hyundai's Mobility Adventure created a Metaverse experience in Roblox to promote its sustainability initiatives and extend its brand without selling anything digital (Fig. 1).
• Lindt, the Swiss chocolatier, created a virtual store which allows users to browse just like in a real-life store and then add items to a basket for physical delivery [5].

·      Digital Metaverse marketing – Alternatively, I see opportunities for a brand extension where businesses can expand their product/service/experience offering through the Metaverse. In this paradigm, a company would develop entirely new, strictly virtual monetisable offerings instead of merely marketing existing goods through the Metaverse. For example, a car manufacturer could sell hyper-realistic virtual versions of its latest model for use in the Metaverse. Alternatively, an events company could be selling tickets for a simultaneous virtual-only version of a real in-person event. I call this the “digital Metaverse marketing” perspective. Examples:

• RTFKT, before Nike acquired it, used to create sneakers and collectables just for the Metaverse [7].
• Travis Scott is estimated to have generated over $20 million worth of virtual item revenue following his Fortnite concert [8].

Hybrid Metaverse marketing – Finally, some brands use the Metaverse to extend the reach of their physical goods and offer virtual goods. Unsurprisingly, I call this model “hybrid Metaverse marketing”.

•  Adidas released 30,000 NFTs giving people access to premium virtual experiences in The Sandbox alongside redeemable physical merchandise (Fig. 2).
• GAP’s first NFT collection introduced gamified virtual experiences spanning both digital and physical [9]. 

Significantly, sometimes it could be challenging to fit a brand neatly into one of these categories. For example, a brand may quickly shift from physical to hybrid following a new product launch or an acquisition. Considering that expanding a digital offering into the physical world may require more capital investment, shifting from purely digital to a hybrid or physical is less likely. With this context in mind, let's now explore the "Why" of Metaverse marketing.

Why do Metaverse markting?

Expanding market and interest

Big tech corporations, established brands, venture capital (V.C.), private equity (P.E.), and start-ups seek to capitalise on the Metaverse.

• Tech giants such as Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple, and Alphabet are all participating in shaping the Metaverse. Facebook’s rebranding to Meta came shortly after the company committed to investing at least $10 billion in its Metaverse division, Reality Labs, in 2022 [11]. Microsoft positioned its acquisition of Activision Blizzard as providing the “building block of the Metaverse” [12]. More specifically, NVIDIA’s Omniverse Platform integrates ray tracing, A.I., and compute technologies to enable “ground-breaking new ways to visualise, simulate, and code” for the emerging Metaverse [13]. Of course, Apple is not far behind with plans for a 3D world and a video service for its mixed reality (M.R.) headset [14].
• Investment firms have also shown substantial interest. Metaverse investments more than doubled by the middle of 2022 compared with all of 2021. As Fig. 3 shows, M&A activity is increasing approximately two-fold each year. Specifically, Andreessen Horowitz(A.H.) Games Fund One has $600 million to invest in games, game studios, and metaverse infrastructure [15]. Additionally, the Metaverse tech company Improbable raised $150 million with help from A.H. and SoftBank [15]. Moreover, Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs raised $450 million to build a virtual world [16], SoftBank invested $93 million in The Sandbox [17], and Coatue invested $300 million in Niantic [18]. 

• Large corporates and brands also intuit the opportunities and race to enter the Metaverse as a novel way of engaging their consumers. For example, LEGO teamed up with Epic Games to build a Metaverse playground [20], and the latter also collaborated with luxury brand Belnciage to launch its latest collection in virtual [21]. Similarly, Disney showed their commitment to the field by appointing a senior metaverse strategy executive [22]. Beyond this, Nike, Wendy’s, Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Luis Vuitton and many more reach bigger audiences and create a digital footprint in the Metaverse [23]. Practically all business sectors prioritise the Metaverse in their digital investments, with Energy and Resources, High Tech, and Media and Entertainment leading (Fig. 4).  

Real utility use cases

Consumers, enterprises, and the public sector already enjoy the benefits of the Metaverse.

• Consumers use the Metaverse for much more than just gaming, with use cases including socialising (e.g. Decentraland, The Sandbox, Second Life), fitness (e.g. Peloton Interactive [24]), commerce (e.g. Sothesby, Fabricant, Obsess, AnamXR [19]), and education [25].
• Enterprises leverage virtual spaces to enhance remote collaboration and engagement [26], accelerate learning and development [27], and operational improvements [28] applicable to 50% of work activities through digital twinning, robotics, A.I., and 3D and 4D printing [29].
• The public sector also expands rapidly in the Metaverse. For example, The Dubai Metaverse Strategy estimates that 42,000 new jobs and $4 billion will be added to the economy by 2030 [30]. Additionally, Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) became the first regulator to enter the virtual realm by establishing a Metaverse H.Q. in The Sandbox [31]. Importantly, Metaverse Seoul, the first digital platform developed and launched by a city, enables over 3,000 residents to play games in Seoul Plaza and visit a virtual Seoul City Hall and was featured among the best inventions of 2022 by TIME magazine (Fig. 5). 

Therefore, this growing number of real utility use cases across different society segments creates a compelling case for Metaverse marketing efforts. 

Growing consumer base

Global independent creator community – The rise of influencers (individual content creators) as critical marketing agents and tools also contributes toward the growth of an open and inclusive Metaverse. Decentralised Metaverses, in particular, would depend on the size and engagement of their communities. The role of creators here is critical as they will evolve beyond “content” toward creating monetisable immersive virtual experiences that also delight users in a win-win utopian vision [33]. On the other hand, the evolution of the technologies and infrastructure underlying the Metaverse would also be critical for creators to have the tools and space to express their artistic spark [34].

Strong demographics – Gamers are the most likely audience to convert to regular Metaverse users [19]. Encouragingly, this demographic is diversifying across gender, with 48% of gamers in China [35] and 48% in the U.S. identifying as female [36]. Similarly, the age distribution of gamers is also encouraging, with more than 75% above 18 years and ~40% over the age of 35 [37]. Moreover, the oldest Gen Z consumers are now in their mid-20s, making them an income-earning segment with substantial potential.

Evolving consumer perceptions – McKinsey estimates that ~60% of consumers look forward to Metaverse experiences driven mainly by their willingness to connect with people and explore new digital worlds (Fig. 6).

Virtual preference – The last two factors, strong demographics and evolving perceptions, combine to create five activities most preferred in an immersive world (Fig. 7). All of these have significant commercial potential and, therefore, marketing significance. Moreover, omnichannel and “social” commerce are becoming the norm and estimated to contribute 15% of total retail sales in China [19]. 

Metaverse purchases – As previously explained in the What is Metaverse marketing section, the Digital Metaverse marketing view suggests a growing market for purely digital goods. And indeed, about four out of five active Metaverse consumers have made a purchase, primarily to improve their in-game experience (Fig. 8).

Executive support

Ultimately, senior executives are the key influencers that would make or break the Metaverse with their investment decisions. Fortunately, what seems clear is that they believe in its potential. McKinsey’s research suggests that 95% expect a positive impact on their respective industries within five to ten years, and 61% expect at least moderate change as a result [19]. Notably, among early adopters, 89% reported positive operating margins of more than 5%.

The top five corporate capabilities essential to translate the Metaverse potential into business results are business model building, product development/coding, infrastructure/back-end engineering, blockchain/commerce/payments, and product design (Fig. 9). Marketing, on the other hand, only comes at number ten with approximately one in four seeing it as a critical capability [19]. This could mean that businesses perceive the infrastructure and development challenges to entering the Metaverse as very significant. Consequently, the criticality of Marketing is simply out of their immediate awareness. Alternatively, this can be seen as a positive because it can mean that Marketing is not a limiting factor. 

And indeed, most of the implemented initiatives have been marketing-related, as Fig. 10 shows. Notably, Healthcare and Public is the one sector exception where Marketing is underrepresented in favour of Metaverse meetings and events or conferences. Conversely, the Media and telecoms and Consumer, AF&L, and retail sectors lead the way, with 82% and 95% of respondents running Metaverse marketing campaigns, respectively, in each group.

Growth potential

Researchers at McKinsey argue that the Metaverse is likely to realise its potential sooner than other developments, such as A.I., that took as many as 80 years to mature [19]. Furthermore, they think that its universal appeal, consumers’ willingness to spend on digital goods, openness to new technologies, heavy investment in Metaverse infrastructure, and positive consumer feedback are likely to raise the value of the Metaverse exponentially in coming years. Specifically, following discussions with industry experts, the projected value of the Metaverse by 2030 is up to $5 trillion (Fig. 11). 

However, this is a rather conservative estimate. For example, let’s consider that the entire global E-commerce market could exceed $60 trillion by 2030 (Fig. 12). Let’s also factor in that people spend, on average, ~400 minutes (6.66 hours) online daily [38]. Additionally, estimates vary, but it is suggested that people could be spending from about one hour [39] to six hours [19] up to twelve to fifteen hours [40] in the Metaverse by 2030. Finally, for this thought experiment, let’s assume that time online and time in the Metaverse are synonymous and that time spent and expenditure correlate. 

With this context and assumptions in mind, let’s build 3 scenarios (Fig. 13).

• Low (1 hour per day) – Under this scenario, 1/6 of people’s online time would be in the Metaverse. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that about 1/6 of the e-commerce revenue would be Metaverse-related. This gives us a figure of 1/6 x 60 (the total cited above) = $10 trillion.
• Medium (6 hours per day) – Under this scenario, most of people’s online time would be spent in the Metaverse. Therefore most, if not all, E-commerce revenue would be attributable to the Metaverse. This gives us a figure of ~$50-60 trillion.
• High (12-15 hours per day) – Finally, people could spend most of their waking hours in the Metaverse under this scenario. If this is the case, practically all their shopping and expenditure could occur in the Metaverse. But this time is approximately double what people currently spend online. Therefore, simplistically, let’s double the projection for the total E-commerce market. This gives us a value of 2 x 60 = $120 trillion.

So even in the Low scenario, the projected market size of the Metaverse is $10 trillion by 2030, approximately double what McKinsey estimates. On the other end of the spectrum, it could exceed $150 trillion under the High scenario. Admittedly, this is an overly simplistic estimate based on assumptions, but it gives a good starting point for contemplation and more sophisticated analysis. 

Technological advancement

As discussed in previous work, the five key technology areas underpinning the Metaverse are 1) Blockchain, 2) Interactive technologies, 3) Cloud Services and Internet of Things (IoT), 4) Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL), and 5) Digital Twins (DTs) [42]. Naturally, the evolution across these five pillars drives the development of the Metaverse and, consequent to its growth, new marketing opportunities. Let’s explore how advancements across some of these drive Metaverse growth.

Blockchain – The traceability benefits of blockchain are crucial for data interoperability in the Metaverse [43]. This is a fundamental pillar for payments, NFTs, and virtual real estate, which is essential for the growth of the Metaverse. Additionally, blockchain’s immutability enhances data acquisition, which is crucial for effective Metaverse marketing [43].

Interactive technologies – Exploring the latest development in V.R. and X.R. headsets is beyond the scope of this work. However, what is essential for widespread adoption and Marketing opportunities is that most high-end V.R. equipment companies started cutting prices to increase sales in 2017 [44]. Despite the more recent price increase of about $100 per unit introduced by Meta [45], overall projections suggest that V.R. headset prices would remain stable in the U.S. throughout the coming years [46]. Considering inflation’s impact, this would translate into a relative price drop over the next five years.  

AI, ML, DL – Advancements in A.I. would perhaps be the most influential factor driving Metaverse proliferation. A highlight of some of the critical applications with significant market growth potential and impact on Marketing include [47]: 

• E-commerce – AI can facilitate the development of virtual stores, improve and personalise shopping and customer experience, and facilitate detailed behaviour analysis.
• Experience – AI can assist content creation, facilitate realistic interactions with non-human virtual agents, and optimise marketing practices such as segmentation, targeting, and product development. 

Jointly these technological advancements are facilitating Metaverse growth and strengthening the case for marketing in this field. 

New marketing capabilities

A detailed exploration of each marketing-specific use of the Metaverse is beyond the scope of this work. Still, a brief exploration of its potential, along with some examples, would strengthen the reasoning behind Why doing Metaverse marketing is a wise idea.

Virtual gamified customer experiences can allow companies and brands to create and increase customer engagement. For example, Hyundai’s Mobility Adventure on Roblox allows users to immerse in the car manufacturer’s latest developments [6].

Virtual assets can be monetised to create value for firms and customers. The Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks sneaker NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace, which was co-created by Nike and RTFKT is an excellent example of this [48].

Customer relationship management (CRM) can also be transformed using the Metaverse for customer service and community activities. For instance, the new York-based private Quontic Bank created a customer service experience in Decentraland in May 2022 [49].

Direct-to-Avatar (D2A) sales are an example of Metaverse commerce, where avatars (digital representations of humans in virtual) can make purchases of digital or real goods. Domino’s pizza, for example, takes home delivery orders from consumers in Decentraland [50].

Branding and promotion can also be done effectively in the Metaverse. For instance, the Virtual Sentosa Island of Singapore altered its promotional mix and extended its brand with a virtual island on Animal Crossing [51].

Product development can also benefit from the Metaverse through [52]:

• Hyper-segmentation is enabled by the much more granular user data gathered from Metaverse participants.
• Low-cost user testing in the Metaverse allowed companies such as Dolce and Gabbana, and Balenciaga to trail digital collections with their audience before manufacturing to the exact requested specifications [52].

Increased conversion through strategic product placement in the virtual and the consequent exposure and repetition can further boost sales.

Customer journey modification can also be empowered by creating strategic Metaverse experiences that push consumers toward the next step. 

The potential of each of these marketing applications in the Metaverse is significant enough to justify its independent exploration. However, combined, they support the case for attention and investment in Metaverse marketing.

Conclusion

This work defined Metaverse marketing as marketing a business's services/products through the Metaverse and further subdivided the concept into physical, digital, and hybrid. The subsequent discussion presented the rationale for doing Metaverse marketing. When exploring the key reasons, it became evident that there is substantial interest from various investment firms, tech corporations, and other brands. Additionally, the real value use cases and growing consumer base further strengthened the case. Ultimately, this evolving market, with a potential between $10 and $150 trillion by 2030 and strong executive support, enables key marketing capabilities across branding and promotion, advertising, and new product development, among many others. Future work will aim to explore specific Metaverse marketing applications across industry sectors and marketing disciplines.

Summary:

• Metaverse marketing is a combination of 3D, extended reality (XR), and blockchain offering a new immersive and interactive way of reaching a target audience.
• We can identify three basic categories of Metaverse marketing: physical (marketing existing physical products in the metaverse), digital (marketing entirely new strictly virtual monetisable offerings), hybrid (marketing a combination of physical and digital offerings).
• Tech giants, investment firms, and established brands are capitalising on the growing Metaverse market. Major investments and acquisitions, such as Meta's $10 billion commitment, Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard, and Apple's mixed reality projects, highlight the increasing interest in this space.
• The Metaverse offers a range of real-world use cases for consumers, enterprises, and the public sector, including socialising, fitness, commerce, education, and collaboration. These applications create a compelling case for Metaverse marketing efforts.
• The rise of influencers, strong demographics, evolving consumer perceptions, and an increasing preference for virtual experiences drives the growing Metaverse consumer base. Consumers are willing to spend on digital goods, further supporting marketing in the Metaverse.
• Senior executives are crucial to unlocking the Metaverse's potential. Most of them expect a positive impact on their industries within five to ten years, with early adopters reporting significant gains in operating margins.
• The Metaverse’s growth potential is substantial, with projections of its value reaching up to $5 trillion by 2030. However, even conservative estimates suggest that its market size could be much larger, possibly exceeding $150 trillion under specific scenarios.
• Technological advancements in blockchain, interactive technologies, and artificial intelligence drive Metaverse development and create new marketing opportunities. These advancements facilitate the Metaverse’s growth and strengthen the case for marketing in this field.
• New marketing capabilities within the Metaverse include gamified customer experiences, monetisation of virtual assets, CRM transformation, direct-to-avatar sales, branding and promotion, product development, strategic product placement, and customer journey modification. These combined applications support the case for attention and investment in Metaverse marketing.

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