The talk about the METAVERSE that almost no one is giving

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The philosopher Byung-Chul Han, in his book THE TRANSPARENCY SOCIETY, discusses how we are currently transitioning from the age of Things to the age of Non-Things. He argues that it is not things, but information, that determines the world we live in. For those of us in marketing, communication, digital innovation, or technology, it is not a recommended essay to read because it portrays our contribution to an increasingly impoverished, shortsighted, and hasty world in which infomania, turning us all into a kind of information hunter, distances us from any practice requiring careful and prolonged observation.

And so, in our day-to-day lives, we fill ourselves with more and more, and even more, content, messages, ephemeral experiences, because after all, that's what we've all practically become, consumers of experiences that travel through time at the speed of light. And amidst that noise, that confusion, it's relatively easy to place messages that don't necessarily need to be truthful, but rather sound good, are better packaged, and are easily swallowed. Silicon Valley's “fake it till you make it” has become globalised into a kind of “talk – intoxicate – until you stun” that all companies worldwide have adopted as a mantra.

How we understand the Metaverse

This reflection comes about because last Thursday, our agency MIG PRISMA was invited as a speaker to two major forums for two major industries. On the one hand, we participated in the MCSA, a relevant marketing and communication event for the insurance sector organised by INESE, and on the other, in SMART-PROP 2022, a forum for innovation and technology in the real estate sector, organised by the publishing group CESINE. The reason for our participation was to talk about the Metaverse and present to attendees our understanding of this reality that is making headway in the concerns of marketing, communication, and technology teams, and of course, senior management, based on the experience accumulated over the years in the implementation of different projects.

Almost everyone in our industry is talking about the Metaverse today. And the degree of commitment to this fascinating future idea, which has been put into our heads by big tech companies and consultancies, is surprising. However, the lack of approach, in general, to the current reality and the immediate stages is striking. In this sea of words and concepts swirling around the Metaverse and all the emerging technologies that will converge in these radically immersive virtual worlds, an immense opportunity opens up to talk a lot and concretise nothing. They all continue to fuel the initial hype, and almost none deeply analyse the real expectations to connect with an audience unfamiliar with these immersive environments, unless they are passionate gamers. And the reason is because they haven't actually experienced it; it cannot be otherwise, because otherwise, such a globally inaccurate message would be incomprehensible.

Within our company, we've been working in the Metaverse for three years, but we don't spend our time constantly talking about what in 4, 5, or 10 years, it doesn't matter, will be a reality where we'll all be, either frequently entering it or living deeply within it. That's very easy to predict. The challenge is how to help brands plot a strategic roadmap that guides the different evolutionary stages of this environment, ensuring that the right steps are taken and obtaining the appropriate ROI at each stage. That's what we've wanted to do, and we hope to have done in these presentations. Not to generate more noise, but to instil ideas based on reflection and experience so that attendees can decide what to do today in the Metaverse, connecting it to what they will be able to do tomorrow.

And if you've made it this far, you'll want to know what we propose to do in the immediate NOW. Explore at a very low cost, design an experience based solely on training, interpret this environment as another piece of content or experience in the funnel, but not as a channel in itself. And don't get frustrated. If you get frustrated, it means you've done it wrong or you were overwhelmed by the noise of those who led you to do what you did. You can get a fantastic return, huge learning, and multiple certainties for the next stage if you heed all of the above. Observe and pause. And if not, ask us; we'll be happy to chat... without the noise.