Drp Group’s head of insight and innovation, Callum Gill shares his thoughts on where the metaverse will take us next.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the metaverse is probably the most important emerging group of technologies to ever begin pushing its way into the already platform-packed sphere of events delivery. The impact of the pandemic has been, in this particular sphere, to advance audience tolerance, understanding and desire for more digital experiences to be incorporated, as standard, into our event propositions.
Will the return to live events bury virtual technology?
My primary interest in any campaign, event-led or otherwise, is in audience. The virtual and broadcast tactics we adopted as an industry to manage the complete shutdown of live events have changed audience perceptions around events and, most importantly, what types of technology they expect us to deploy in any new dynamic when live events return. We asked 872 virtual delegates from across our virtual and broadcast solution in 2021: “when traditional live events begin to be available again, do you expect virtual technology to run alongside them?”A total 74% of respondents said that they definitely expect these solutions to continue, while 84% agreed that to not do this would be detrimental or very detrimental to the brand in question.
There is an unquestionable desire for people at large to return to live environments but thinking that the pandemic-driven digital experiences we’ve introduced are simply going to fizzle out is foolhardy. This is where the continued development, introduction and adoption of the metaverse sits. Rather than the reactionary view I’ve heard muted from a few quarters that virtual platforms and the metaverse sound the death-knell for face-to-face interactions. I see it as the biggest opportunity the industry has had in decades to break new ground, and ultimately, future-proof the entire industry.
Slow burn or overnight sensation?
As an avid sci-fi reader, I was aware of the etymology of the metaverse in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash, much as William Gibson originated the concept of the Matrix in his seminal cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer. But these things don’t jump to mainstream without tangible developmental elements influencing society and business simultaneously. And my own first extensive look into the metaverse and what it would undoubtedly mean for events came off the back of an early 2019 article written by Wired called AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform—Call It Mirrorworld.While exclusively focusing on AR, it opened my eyes to the sheer volume of development occurring in this space, seemingly disparate but waiting for something, someone or a business to pull it together into something easily deployed across events. Picture attendees either through wearables or their phone (and this access piece was a big part of my feeling as to why AR would take off) viewing directional signage personalised to them appearing around event spaces. Virtual or cinematic guides live translating and directing your seminars and breakouts, viewable virtual event assistants answering the myriad of mundane questions event organisers have to deal with right in the center of the high-intensity live event environment.
Providing the blocks to build brand loyalty
For whatever reason, AR has always flattered to deceive and now the metaverse is providing some concrete answers as to why: audience behaviour, expectation and platform familiarity. AR’s big ask was that we familiarise ourselves with and adopt something entirely new. The metaverse is here now and literally contains billions of meta-people going about their meta-lives quite happily. The ask is not the same and so the adoption and application of metaverse strategies will be far easier. Forward-thinking brands are already in metaverse spaces, and they have been led by their audiences or understanding of expected audience behaviours. Gucci and Ralph Lauren are not building gardens and snow lodges in Roblox for fun. They’re building digital event environments that will capture emerging audience attention and create brand loyalty now and for the future.
Why the metaverse now matters to event professionals
My view is that audiences are engaging with the metaverse at scale and that volume will only increase as platforms mature and younger audiences become more prominent in event audiences. Looking at platforms like Horizon, it’s barely out of the gate and they are already creating digital interactions in the metaverse for users on Workplace. On popular metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Decentraland, land is selling for 3.7 Ether and 3.46 Ether, respectively, which is about $11,717 and $10,957. Depending on how wide a definition you want to apply to the term ‘event’, Travis Scott’s Fortnite gig, which you could call the largest gig ever, attracted 12.3 million unique viewers. These numbers aren’t bubbles or fads, they are meaningful parts of people’s lives that are here stay.
Proving powerful audience interactions
Entire digital ecosystems have spawned around metaverse interactions, not least of all platforms like Twitch and Discord which in themselves (especially Twitch) account for literally billions of hours of content consumption. The dynamics of audience expectations are shifting to rich media environments in which they can place themselves. They are the closest thing to real live events we’ve achieved so far and therein lies their power. As younger generations such as Gen Z and Gen alpha start to become the biggest demographic in our audiences, they will respond to metaverse interactions as they chose to interact with them for pleasure. In much the same way live tacticians began to adopt immersive, narrative elements following the rise of Punch Drunk and Secret Cinema, this is no different, just digitised.
When is the right time to enter into the Metaverse?
Platform is undoubtedly a problem. The biggest metaverse misunderstanding is that it is already an out-of-the-box world everyone can jump on and explore. In reality, it is fragmented across a million platforms in a million ways, so to which CGI horse should you hitch your digital cart?
The answer lies in research. Some brands and event concepts will need to enter the metaverse much sooner than others. As mentioned, some already have. So let your audiences lead you. Some level of digital environment around your events is expected, but which platform will provide the most meaningful exchange comes from audience insight. Where are they now? What do they and you want to achieve? And which platform suits it best? A long-term metaverse strategy is going to be a must for event professionals. We’ll need to test and explore over the next few years to get it right. If we’re risk averse and shy away from the challenge, audiences will gravitate to the brave and the bold, so we risk more through inaction.
