Citi Bank made a pretty bullish shout that the Metaverse it's going to be worth a whopping $13 trillion by 2030! The biggest use cases, according to the investment bank, will be gaming and crypto. NFTs are obviously expected to play a part as well, but what about the smaller players in this market - is there an opportunity for early adopters who you wouldn't expect to be in the market to get a slice of the pie?
Citi wrote in its metaverse report. "We believe the metaverse may be the next generation of the Internet, combining the physical and digital world in a persistent and immersive manner,"....So do we! Whilst it wont replace the physical world, there will be a significant amount of people who will engage in it!
Early Adopters of a virtual world... Second Life
Some of you ... no, many of you, will think 'gamers' and they were, but more and more businesses are seeing the potential to dip their toe in this new digital world. Think outside of this concept and how it can be applied! This video includes interesting insights from the founder or Second Life, including what worked and what didn't. Its also interesting to get a feel of how much revenue is being invested, turned and indeed returned!
Heading down the Rabbit Hole
For those of you who are new to this, believe me - it is a whole new world!
Once you start digging, it really is a rabbit hole to explore. The characters, the creativity, the madness of it all. Although the concept of a virtual world is quite simple, the sub-culture it reveals can be somewhat intimating and its very easy to feel VERY out of place in this virtual world, yet if you go with it that rabbit hole is quite intoxicating!
We have picked a few videos, not to blow your mind, but to provide a flavour of what might just be possible. From full-on digital commercialisation, to building on-line communities with a view for a softer approach, one to enhance your brand; however, the options are literally limitless. This next video explores the use of avatars and how they shape this new world. Being virtual your imagination is the only limiting factor...
Now that you feel like reshaping your body for the new world :) What about reshaping your environment? This is where you imagination can run wild too, from creating a virtual twin to something completely out of this world.
Is it too much of a leap to meet your clients, or prospective clients in a virtual world?
I'm not sure it is?...certainly not after 2 years of Zoom / MSTeams calls. We certainly have been given an opportunity to join digital communities on line during the pandemic. Now maybe there is an opportunity to expand upon these new possibilities.
In January 2022, one of our clients @Vii-Events created a virtual 3D London - in conjunction with London & Partners to showcase the destination as a potential location for Global Event Bookers. In addition to a number of well known London Landmarks we recreated the @Renaissance St Pancras 5* Hotel, including their iconic façade, their main meeting room (the Hanson Hall) and a virtual impression of their smaller meeting room - 'The Ladies Smoking Room'. In essence we created a digital twin of the hotel, in which we could host on-line events with the community we were building. Since January we have held events in this virtual space every 2 weeks and our #EventProf community has grown from 1,000 to almost 4,000 regular community members, all who meet in this virtual London on a regular basis. NOW, is this a #metaverse? ..... Yes I genuinely believe it is, but it in our example it is also crosses over to the REAL WORLD! As we have now also hosted 2 live, in person, events at the venue and shared it with the on-line community, so it has become a hybrid model.
We see huge opportunities way beyond the world of gaming and indeed events, for so many more forward-thinking companies to grab this idea and adopt it for their purposes. Whether is is a virtual gallery, a virtual factory, a virtual campus, a completely branded 'company world' there really is no limits. You can create what you want and use it when you want to...without the need to travel saving on your carbon foot-print and without the relative expense; additionally it can be re-branded as you want it through some creative re-skinning!
Want to know more? - Lets Dive down that Rabbit hole together
I'd be interested in speaking with those who can look beyond reality and who would like to know how this can be applied today.