Why your brand needs to enter the metaverse today

The metaverse is an emerging technological medium that will bring the internet into a new era of three dimensional, immersive experiences. Simply put, the metaverse can be defined as a three dimensional, immersive representation of the internet. 

Directly on the horizon is that of experiences. Metaverse experiences take the idea of two dimensional websites and provide a 3D element to them, completely revolutionizing what can be built. So, experiences are the equivalent of 3D websites.

Why should brands enter the metaverse today?

The most successful websites in history were all launched prior to the exponential growth period of the internet. This includes Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and others. The growth of the internet from the 1990s up until today gives us three key takeaways:

1. User growth and the number of websites both scaled in correlation with one another, including through their respective exponential growth phases.

   
   

2. To achieve long term relevancy, brands need to be forward-thinking in how they appeal to upcoming generations and global audiences.

   
   

3. The most successful websites (and companies) of the web2 era established themselves early in the user on-boarding process.

More experiences, more users

Let’s start with the first of these takeaways. In the early days of the internet, there was significant criticism surrounding its longevity. In the early 1990s, internet users were fleeting at best and there existed only a few hundred websites. However, a few short years later, there was a +2000% increase in the number of existing websites. Yahoo was established in 1994, starting with only approximately 9,300 users. What came by the end of the decade was an internet with millions of websites (including Google, Paypal, Amazon, etc.) and 250 million users.

Today, the hyper-exponential growth of the internet is visible in the graph below:

As websites began to rapidly scale, so did the user counts of the internet. This massive growth led the internet economy to grow to an estimated size of ~$17 trillion in 2023, or approximately 15% of the world’s GDP of $112.6 trillion.

So, what makes this relevant? An on-going criticism of the Open Metaverse is that the medium lacks the active user base to warrant building experiences and executing brand activations. 

The Sandbox, for example, has a fleeting user base that is most active during event periods like Alpha Season. The Alpha Season events are showcases to the progress of The Sandbox in terms of game mechanics, connectivity, and active metaverse experiences. Alpha Season 3 just concluded in October 2022 with a total of 4.1 million user hits with 1.6 million hours played. This was spread across just over 90 experiences.  From season to season, The Sandbox has seen a dramatic increase in both its active experiences and its active users. 

Each metaverse platform that is a part of the Open Metaverse, such as The Sandbox, Decentraland, Somnium Space, etc., are all subject to the website vs user growth graph shown above. 

With LandVault’s announcement of Matera Protocol, this will exponentially increase the ability for stakeholders to generate new metaverse experiences. Over time, this will help to achieve the rate of website growth the internet in the 1990s achieved, leading to an equivalent explosion in growth for the user base of the Open Metaverse. This is similar to how technology scaled website growth on the internet.

Future generations and maintaining brand relevance

Generation Alpha (those born on or after the year 2010) are expected to push the metaverse well into the mainstream. Between Gen A and Gen Z, these two generations will account for the biggest customer segment by 2025. Additionally, Gen A will become the single largest generation in the known human history at 2.5 billion members.

Engagement rates between these two generations is higher within metaverse experiences, just as the gaming industry has achieved revolutionary growth over the past two decades. Consider the success of Fortnite and Roblox as of 2023 in this regard. With the metaverse implementing the best elements of gaming and digital interactions, Gen A and Gen Z are expected to become the most affluent groups utilizing the metaverse in the future.

What does this mean for brands today? Just as the internet and social media granted brands new mediums to engage with and reach new audiences, the metaverse will provide the same benefits to those who take advantage of it. Today, it is extremely difficult for businesses and brands without an online presence to adequately compete. Even highly relevant brands in the pre-internet era that did not adapt lost significant recognition amongst new generations utilizing these digital mediums almost exclusively.

Brands need to be thinking forward thinking today to ensure that they maintain their own relevancy with upcoming generations, especially when it comes to Gen A.

Early adopters gain exposure to the most growth

After understanding the correlation between website/experience and user growth, and considering the massive impact that upcoming generations will have on the consumer economy this decade, it becomes apparent that early adopters are naturally exposed to the most growth. This is not to say that only early adopters become successful in the long term, nor is it to say that all early adopters are successful. However, some of the most successful companies in human history were early adopters on the internet. 

Shown below are when leading websites were launched in relation to the growth of the internet:

Source: Statista

On the chart above, both Google and Facebook were launched in the early stages of the internet, capturing growth over the next two decades by:

• Introducing a novel product to the internet

• Having the time and ability to refine their business model to best capture value

This allowed Google and Facebook to grow into two of the most valuable companies ever. Brands that are entering the Open Metaverse today, such as Nike, MasterCard, and Heineken, will benefit both from the ability to learn and refine their business models, as well as benefit from the coming exponential growth in other experiences, users, and value creation. 

The key takeaway here is that as more brands are entering the Open Metaverse, there is more data on how to capture value in this new consumer market, what efficiencies can be introduced to improve business strategies, and, overall, what data is most important to ensuring that the brand captures relevancy over the next decade and beyond.

As the internet population continues to improve its understanding of what the metaverse is, the Open Metaverse is entering something of a “golden period” for early adopters. With the knowledge gap closing, similar to what occurred for the internet, brands are beginning to understand exactly how to monetize their presence and offer value to the Open Metaverse. The brands that do this best will capture considerable value over the next decade.

Learn how to launch a metaverse experience today

LandVault is the world’s largest metaverse builder. With over 120 builders and 10 million square feet of metaverse real estate developed, LandVault is the leading solution for brands, IPs and celebrities who want to enter the metaverse, across platforms like The Sandbox and Decentraland.

Click here to learn how to launch a metaverse experience with LandVault today