Insights How Businesses Can Leverage the Metaverse For Good

The Hong Kong International Airport was designed in Unity, a popular game engine, because it was better at simulation than the exisiting alternatives. The Metaverse has been around for a while, (well before Meta), and has interesting applications for businesses in every industry.

A Chance For Consumers to Get to Know Your Product Better

If you’re a gamer on Fortnite, Roblox or Second Life, the idea of a metaverse — or an immersive internet — isn’t new. Hyundai Motor Company launched Mobility Adventure on Roblox featuring Hyundai products and mobility solutions to build brand awareness. Louis Vuitton created a game to celebrate their founder’s centenary. Gucci created Gucci Garden in Roblox with themed rooms paying homage to the brand’s campaigns. The metaverse presents opportunities for brands to build and grow a following, offer virtual in-store tryouts and customisations, launch exclusively virtual products, direct-to-avatar digital goods, branded characters and real estate, and host interactive live events. Brands are experimenting in the space to transcend geographical limitations, and pandemic restrictions, as DBS did with their virtual night club on Fortnite.

Gucci Garden: The metaverse as an opportunity to showcase, customise and promote products

Training systems in a parallel universe

The advantages of an immersive environment aren’t just an opportunity for consumer-facing companies. Companies like Unity are creating synthetic worlds, where you can train systems, and test scenarios much faster than the real world. Engineering, automotive, transport, manufacturing, architecture, events, filming, government — there are opportunities to shift workflows to interactive, real-time 3D worlds. In the case of airports, these simulated worlds have helped improve decision-making, predicting and handling people movement and disruptions, and identifying what can be done better with every iteration. Real world applications include training medical students, testing new products and simulations of manufacturing and logistics scenarios to minimise waste.

Hong Kong and Vancouver created virtual airport “twins” to improve operations. Image: SITA Lab

Bring your avatar to work

COVID-19 brought remote, virtual workplaces into the mainstream. Decentraland takes this idea further, with workplaces that are exclusively virtual — office buildings, meeting spaces, lounges, and dining rooms, for employees across the world, spaces to work, interact and collaborate, and hire talent in real time. VICE recently took up a permanent

The “ViceVerse,” headquarters for employees in Vice’s Virtue Futures division, Image via Dezeen

Making the Metaverse Work for You

Designing the metaverse to address obvious issues: virtual world fatigue, social isolation, privacy, technology and talent gaps are significant challenges — the distinction between utopia and anti-social dystopia comes down to thoughtful design and supportive communities. Building trust is critical — planning and communicating early on what you might expect from your metaverse initiatives and how you will mitigate the potential risks. For brands, focus on telling metaverse hype from reality — explore the authentic experiences and services that make sense in a virtual ecosystem, and determine a strategy before diving in.

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Keen to get more out of your brand? Exploring NFTs or Metaverse applications for your brand or business? Reach out to our team for expertise and actionable insights.