Best Metaverse Platform For Brand Marketing

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on March 03, 2022, and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness on June 14th, 2024.

Since the emergence of the coronavirus epidemic, consumer behaviour has transformed drastically, and more people are doing their shopping, working, playing, and studying online than ever before. The Metaverse is the next phase of the internet that claims to be a hybrid of physical and digital worlds, creating a digital world where virtual and real worlds connect. It aims to blur the boundaries between virtual and physical reality and transform how we see the world.

Overall, the Metaverse is loaded with business opportunities, and top brands are already dabbling in it, and you should, too. In the coming years, the Metaverse will become an everyday reality. While older audiences are sure to participate, the primary group getting acquainted with the Metaverse are millennials and Gen Zers.

Virtual reality is a great platform to advertise your brand

It’s time to consider setting up shop on Metaverse if your product or service appeals to an audience that is ready to immerse themselves in virtual reality and spend the majority of their time there. The ultimate goal is to reach their target audience where they already spend time for every brand. This implies you’ll need to do some market research to see where your target consumer is.

Since advertising and metaverse marketing are still in their initial stages, the costs of running a campaign are currently relatively low. This makes it a profitable alternative for brands looking for a creative method to reach millennials and Gen Z audiences. Businesses in fashion, retail, digital design, and entertainment stand to benefit significantly from the Metaverse platforms. With Gen Zs controlling the Metaverse, we can’t emphasise their importance as customers.

Top five virtual worlds for brand marketing

1. Decentraland

Decentraland is an Ethereum blockchain-based virtual social space. It enables users to develop digital properties such as residences, art galleries, concert halls, and theme parks within a virtual environment. The Metaverse platform was founded in 2015 by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano and is currently managed by the Decentrland Foundation.

Decentraland is a single-layer metaverse environment split into grids of equal size. EARTH is the name given to all links. Land allocation on the platform is limited to 90,000 plots, and only the community has the right to produce new land through the Decentraland DAO. Decentraland users can utilise a simple drag-and-drop construction tool to install 3D creations in space.

Decentraland has developed an open metaverse in which users can log in to play games, earn MANA, Decentraland’s native token, with which they can purchase NFTs such as LAND or collectibles, and vote on economic growth or create NFTs, granting them real-world interoperability for the value of their time being spent in-game. Brands can utilise Decentraland’s ecosystem to conduct conferences, build games, and virtual products for the marketplace; there is no limit to what you can accomplish in this vast virtual world.

Decentraland is one of the oldest Metaverse platforms that has grown in popularity in a short period, and it has recently partnered with brands such as Samsung opening a Flagship store in the Metaverse and hosting the Australian Open

2. The Sandbox

Sandbox is based on the Ethereum blockchain and is well-known in the Metaverse ecosystem for its reliability and security. The Sandbox Metaverse’s official currency is the SAND token, which can be used to buy and exchange LAND and NFTs in the Metaverse and pay Ethereum gas fees. In the Sandbox metaverse, LAND is a digital patch of land. Each LAND is a one-of-a-kind, non-fungible ERC-721 token.

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The Sandbox is more than just one game; it’s a collection of different games, locations, and other immersive virtual experiences. It is a limitless environment where artists and gamers can eventually develop, own, and generate revenue in the Metaverse. Aside from the Metaverse and tokens, the Sandbox ecosystem comprises two key components: the game maker and the Sandbox marketplace.

• The Game Maker enables brands and creators to build 3D game experiences for the Sandbox Metaverse. No existing coding experience is needed, so even novice game designers can get started with their projects.
• The Sandbox Marketplace lets participants monetise their digital assets by trading them with other Sandbox players.

Sandbox, founded by Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget, was released as a video game in 2012. In 2018, Animoca Brands purchased the company and implemented 3D and blockchain technology to the game. In November 2021, a metaverse change occurred that allowed non-tech-savvy consumers to develop, sell, utilise, and monetise their NFTs. The Sandbox platform employs vocalized characters and a pixelated Minecraft-style visual environment.

The Sandbox has already collaborated with several well-known businesses, including The Walking Dead, Smurfs, and Atari. These collaborations have taken the shape of virtual concerts from artists such as Deadmau5 and Snoop Dogg.

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3. Roblox

Roblox is a metaverse platform that allows users to play immersive games created by other players. Roblox is among the most successful performers in the metaverse industry. Since its inception in 2004, the platform has grown to include 47 million daily active users worldwide and 9.5 million creators who build “experiences” that are user-created environments and games. According to Roblox’s official website, more than 20 million games have been created by its users.

The Roblox community expanded from 32.6 million daily active users in 2020 to approximately 50 million daily active users in November 2021 across 180 countries. Roblox is a community-driven ecosystem where users can create and play various games. Several well-known brands have used Roblox to create immersive experiences centred around their products and content, such as Nikeland, Gucci Garden, and the Roblox recreation of Starcourt Mall from Stranger Things.

4. Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds is a free to use virtual world developed by Meta that allows users to socialise, play, explore, and create. Players can explore Meta’s adventures in an immersive environment where they can move freely with a legless avatar. In addition, users can explore community-generated virtual spaces and create their own experiences inside the Metaverse.

Horizon Worlds is Meta’s first initiative to release something similar to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse concept. It’s a large, multiplayer platform that combines Roblox, Minecraft, and Second Life into a single entity. The Metaverse platform requires a Facebook account and enable you to hang out with up to 20 people in a virtual location at the same time.

Horizon Worlds as a Meta product has the potential to draw millions of people. You can create experiences, host meetings, and build communities in the Horizon Worlds Metaverse. Furthermore, they are releasing additional features and templates for creators to build their own games. However, the app is only available to users over 18 in the United States and Canada. Although no official date has been given for the worldwide release, we anticipate it to arrive in the first quarter of 2022.

Here’s a look at the Horizon’s World:

5. Bloktopia

Bloktopia is a virtual reality skyscraper with 21 levels in honour of the 21 million Bitcoin. The high-tech tower emerges from a dying planet, and it’s based on an NFT-based economy that enables brands and creators to own virtual land and build it as virtual real estate, with commercials and events that generate revenue for users. The VR metaverse aspires to be the edutainment destination for all levels of cryptocurrency experience.

The Metaverse world allows visitors to engage in basic or advanced learning, earn cash, play games with friends, build networks, and much more. Bloktopia is similar to a shopping mall in that stores coexist with other activities and enterprises, where startups, influencers, and crypto brands can present their content and essential messaging. In Bloktopia, brands will be able to express their creativity by building settings and artwork using a simple builder tool. Bloktopia is supported by the Polygon network and constructed on a cross-platform gaming engine, Unity, by the founders of Sony Playstation VR.

The Metaverse has arrived, and digital assets are here to stay.

We’re looking forward to seeing how brands embrace the immersive environment and explore the Metaverse in 2022. A metaverse marketing agency can play a crucial role in helping brands navigate this new digital frontier by creating immersive XR environments for brand activations, offering platforms for informed decision-making and competitive analysis, and providing strategic and creative consulting. Throughout 2021, we saw how firms like Gucci and Nike embraced the Metaverse by selling digital versions of their products, some of which were more expensive than the original item. It is an exciting time for both brands and customers regarding advertising and brand building. Organisations must embrace this by being more innovative, inspiring brand loyalty both in the real world and in the Metaverse.

In the Metaverse, nothing is off-limits, not even the sky! Think broadly as you determine the best way to engage with the Metaverse, whether it’s forming an in-house Metaverse team or hiring a company like GrowthChain to lead you through the process.