Since Facebook announced its transformation into a metaverse company, a lot of chatter is going on about the metaverse. Some call it the future of the internet. But it actually is already here today and super relevant for startups in the sustainability industry. In this article, we tell you more about the metaverse and why it is important for you to dive in.

What is the metaverse?

To give you the short answer, the metaverse is a 3D digital world existing next to our physical world. You can either experience it in VR, AR or so-called extended reality. You don’t have to wait until Facebook has moved into the metaverse, metaverse companies already exist today. Think of Roblox and Fortnite. Both are digital environments where you can experience things and own things. And the experiences are huge, Ariana Grande for example recently gave a concert on Fortnite.  

Gen Z is already very active in this space and used to buy stuff that is only available to them in the digital world. It’s becoming more common every day to have a digital life next to your physical life. In the future, all of these environments will be connected into one digital universe. 

Digital ownership

Imagine yourself in the metaverse. Your avatar represents you and is looking super cool as I’m sure it is an improved version of yourself or the person you always wanted to be. You can dress your avatar and it can own stuff you don’t own in the real world. Gucci, for example, is offering products your avatar can wear. And Gen Z is buying it for their avatar to wear during a party on Roblox. They already understand digital ownership. 

NFT baby!

The most common way of owning things in the metaverse is done by buying NFT’s. Non-fungible tokens. This means that the item you buy is unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible. Trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. Art, however, is non-fungible; it’s unique. NFT’s are hot! Christies recently sold a purely digital piece of art for 69 million dollars! Even Visa bought an NFT recently for 150.000 dollars. There is big money going around in the NFT space. Imagine people will buy your products as an NFT, this would give you access to an unlimited new market beyond your imagination. 

The metaverse marketing ecosystem

Looking at marketing, there are huge opportunities in the metaverse. The marketing ecosystem consists of many interesting parts you could jump into as a marketer.

Avatar technology

To be someone in the metaverse, you have to have a cool avatar. Genies is a company that is building a digital human race as they say. Avatars that represent you in the digital world and will be available in every digital place you go. Eventually, avatars will become our digital identity. These avatars can be dressed and can own things, like a Gucci bag, that you would have to buy and will only be available to you in the metaverse. Imagine what would happen if you make your sustainable product available to avatars. It could sell massively and at an unlimited scale. 

NFT’s

Speaking of selling, NFT is an ecosystem on its own. You have creators of digital products and marketplaces enabling creators to sell their products. If your company sells physical products, you can create unique virtual versions of them and sell them in NFT marketplaces. Think about art, drawing, pictures, music, videos. It can be anything digital. Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey turned his first Tweet into an NFT and sold it for 2.9 million dollars!

Virtual spaces

When you have a cool avatar and own stuff, you want to be able to go places with it to show it off. There is no need to wait for Facebook to turn into the metaverse. Today you can visit many virtual spaces in Roblox or show off your best self in Fortnite. Creating these virtual spaces is called virtual programming. Why don’t you create a virtual space for your brand? Avatars coming into your virtual store and buying things that they can own is becoming a realistic scenario (think Cucci). 

MILE’s

Virtual spaces are very suitable for organizing events. MILE stands for a massive interactive live event. Using a virtual space you can interactively connect large groups of people together. A concert in Roblox or a digital expo is very well possible. 

Metaverse for your sustainable startup

As Gen Z is the perfect audience for sustainable startups, you should definitely dive into the metaverse. Your target audience is already there and very open to interacting with your brand. If you are becoming as enthusiastic as we are about the metaverse, let us know! We are looking forward to exploring together what it can do for your brand and help you take the next steps towards an unlimited digital future.