Virtual revival tempts marketers to take another swing at the metaverse

The metaverse may be back on the marketing agenda, thanks to Apple and Meta’s new virtual reality devices. Two recent sports ‘metaverse’ experiences point to its potential in Australia, but the platform is still relatively nascent in the market.

A still from Web3 golf company PlayToday's NSW Open Championship metaverse

Fresh interest in the so-called metaverse has come courtesy of two devices released in the past week that promise to take consumers further into immersive virtual reality experiences: Apple’s Reality Pro, and Meta’s Quest 3.

Consumers are already spending time and money in virtual worlds, with some metaverse activations in Australia clocking user numbers that range from the tens of thousands to the millions.

A survey conducted by Yahoo, released in March, found 73 per cent of APAC consumers are aware of the metaverse. In Australia, 59 per cent of consumers are familiar with the metaverse, while 46 per cent have expressed interest in it.

According to the research, gaming is an especially popular mode by which Gen Zers experience the metaverse, with two thirds of Australians in that cohort playing Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnight or other “open world” games.

But the channel is still relatively nascent for marketers in Australia.

Dani Bassil, chief executive at creative ad agency Clemenger BBDO, said in her previous roles in the UK, including at the helm of Digitas, the metaverse was presented to brands much more regularly than in the Australian market.

The agency hasn’t taken an executional metaverse brief in the past year, although it has offered strategic responses in this space, particularly for FMCG brands. Clemenger BBDO has also responded to client briefs with creative executions in the metaverse where opportunities have arisen.

Ms Bassil said most marketers and clients she had spoken to in Australia were not yet certain of how the metaverse could properly be used, and often question how it was relevant to their brand.

“And those are good questions, because it will be exponential all of a sudden,” Ms Bassil said.

“I think there are incredibly interesting applications, for sure. What brands need to be asking themselves is – is there a value for them and their brand in reality right now?

Ms Bassil said in the UK, creative metaverse executions could cost in the region of £250,000 ($465,000), depending on scope.

“The investment can be fairly insignificant compared to other forms of media. You’re not buying TV spots et cetera, but you’re also potentially not getting as many eyeballs on it. So that’s where the value creation needs to be explored and understood based on who you are targeting and what sort of experience they can have with your brand.”

Mass reach is possible, as some recent metaverse applications in Australia indicate.

One wide-reaching example is the Australian Open’s metaverse, which takes the form of a Roblox game called AO Adventure. It is about to clock 10 million sessions – around five million of which have been recorded since the last Australian Open tournament ended in January. The game currently sees an average of 40,000 sessions per day, with the total hours of game played reaching 1,629,00, according to the Roblox figures. The game is free for users to sign up to and play. However, purchases can be made using Roblox’s own currency called Robux.

According to Ridley Plummer, senior manager of metaverse, NFT, Web3 and crypto at Tennis Australia, the virtual world it has created for fans has helped extend engagement with the event between tournaments. In a normal year, some 900,000 people attend the Australian Open, and between 700 million and 900 million people watch the tournament globally.

“That was an opportunity for us to start talking to a new audience that may … not otherwise be engaged with tennis directly, or give the existing audience what we call a second or third screen innovation where they could enhance their ­existing viewing experience,” Mr Plummer said.

“But we could also use it as an education platform to tell them more about what actually happened at the event.”

It was also an opportunity for the Australian Open’s sponsors beyond the January tournament. Metaverse users, for example, can purchase virtual Ralph Lauren merchandise, where players can dress their virtual selves (avatars) in the same fashion as a ball kid.

AO Adventure is Tennis Australia's Roblox metaverse game

Emirates also has a virtual presence, and its own digital collectable items which can be obtained by users who complete obstacle courses within the metaverse. More than two million gamers have attained a virtual mini A380 aeroplane, which their avatar can also wear in the game.

As you’d expect, gamers can also play tennis in the Australian Open’s metaverse. According to the latest figures, 3,663,548 have played tennis once.

Sporting events appear to particularly well-suited to the platform because of its ‘immersive’ potential.

Tech entrepreneur Clive Mayhew is a firm believer in the commercial and creative potential of the metaverse, tipping $1.2m into Web3 golf company, Play Today, in January this year.

In March, it ran a livestream of the NSW Open Championship in its own metaverse, in which users can participate in virtual experiences and purchase products with a digital wallet.

A still from Web3 golf company PlayToday's NSW Open Championship metaverse

Brands such as Callaway, Adidas, Drummond Golf and Golf NSW joined as partners, and as part of their investment received dedicated “innovation centres” within the metaverse livestream.

The virtual reality experience attracted more than 15,000 unique visitors, 76 per cent of whom visited the brand partner spaces, with an average session length of 13 minutes. Apart from these statistics, Mr Mayhew said it doesn’t collect other data about its audience, including gender and age.

He thinks this could make some iterations of the metaverse a hard sell to marketers. However, he said the platform can offer more engaging and interactive sports experiences than other broadcast channels.

“My advice is just wake up and start playing with this. Because Web3 marketing is very different from traditional, direct marketing that (marketers) are used to.”

However, when choosing where to focus resources, there are other rapidly evolving tech tools competing for the attention of brands.

Ms Bassil said: “I suspect, as more active daily users get on board, (the metaverse) will start to come back into the forefront of people’s minds. But I do also think that AI has taken over the thoughts and minds of everyone, probably globally,” she said.

“AI has dominated most conversations that I’ve had over the past couple of months.”