We’ve been delighted to welcome Ellen Cavell-Clarke permanently to the Strat House fold this month. Never short of an insightful angle, Ellie is a long-time collaborator and friend of the practice, who brings fresh perspectives to everything she works on. We decided to ask her about the topic everyone is discussing right now: the Metaverse. Here she is, with some fascinating stats, tips …and a dark prediction or two.

In The House

Innovations and initiatives from Strat House clients and partners.

• Unilever helping women farmers to grow pineapples and their incomes
• Adidas takes on Samsung’s controversial ‘Night Owls’ ad in women’s safety campaign
• Unilever Study Reveals Influence of Influencers in Sustainable Behavior Change
• Dove are standing up for #KidsOnlineSafety
• Gong cha named best food & drink franchise at the 2023 Global Franchise Awards
• Find out why LinkedIn And Dove Are In It Together To Help End Hair Discrimination

Ready for a brave new world? Get set, go 😬

For years alternative realities seemed to be the stuff of fantasy: brave or frightened new worlds, swirling into existence on pages and in movie theatres. Then Second Life came along, and it felt like maybe fantasy was becoming a reality. The experience however was challenging for the uninitiated; I vaguely remember an empty yellow landscape and a hill. I didn’t stay. 

Meanwhile the world keeps turning. Covid accelerated a global population faster towards its digital future. As we stopped leaving our homes, our dependence on our digital experience deepened. We did everything online: shopping, playing, working, exercising. Our worlds patch-worked across the line and so now the Metaverse doesn’t seem like too far a leap for people already leaning so deeply into their digital lives. 

As Zuckerberg and various brands begin to explore the possibilities and the tantalising worlds they can build to house our needs more completely, I guess the expectation is that at some stage we step sideways, no longer concerned by where our physical self ends, our avatar begins and existing more purely in the Metaverse. I think that’s what Mark reckons. 

It’s no surprise that it is the biggest brands that are the first pioneers of the space. Not necessarily driven by wild passion for the possibilities the Metaverse offers humankind, but more through means: it takes wealth to bet long. So too, people’s access to the spaces will require the technology to do so, and the energy. As people twist in the grip of soaring energy prices, inflation and job insecurity it’s not an overclaim to say a digital future could well be the privilege of the rich.

But that’s the future. No need to panic. Yet.

For now, let’s consider a few of the simple things a regular person needs to join in the fun:

• You need the kit
• You need to be comfortable navigating AR worlds
• You need to be plugged in to and comfortable using cryptocurrencies
• You need highspeed broadband or 5G.

Let’s take these one by one:

The kit

Most people engaged with the Metaverse seem to envision the space as the development of a 3D virtual world that you enter while wearing a headset or AR glasses. There’s no agreement that you will *definitely* need them to get to the Metaverse but it’s hard to imagine how else it might be achieved on an individual level. According to CNET, A new wave of VR and mixed reality headsets are expected this year from Meta, Sony, Apple and probably others.

So, the tech is coming. How quickly it is embraced and distributed across populations will be a driving force in opening access and meaning of the Metaverse in people’s lives. 

 Comfortable navigating AR worlds

Brands are exploring Metaverse experience creation in established environments; Gucci has created a Gucci garden in Roblox, Nike created Nike world, and Coke has a café. 

Now, as Meta launches Horizon Worlds, a hybrid space built using Roblox and the OASIS VR world from Ready Player One, the universe is literally growing. Brands are getting their legals in order, ready to own their space. McDonalds is experimenting with ways of ordering food in Horizon that then arrives at your door. 

But let’s not forget that established AR worlds are currently the domain of the young. And all of them are gamers. The Roblox core audience ranges from about 7 to about 14 years old, which highlights a challenge for many brands trying to explore this space, this technology and their ability to meaningfully exist there.

Plugged in to and comfortable using cryptocurrencies

The Metaverse operates to tie the threads of current and emerging digital experiences into one hybrid experience: including AR, VR, NFT. NFTs require crypto. There’s no way to be established in the Metaverse, as far as I can tell, without having access to crypto. But here’s the rub: despite Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin being positioned as a way to democratise the financial field and increase investor diversity, people are not represented equally within them. The facts are that twice as many men as women invest in cryptocurrency, and this gender gap *exceeds* the existing gap within traditional investments including stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and real estate.

And, while younger males *are* creating some diversification by moving into the space, the contrast for women, and people of colour is stark. So the picture is building: a majority male, game-led, white, rich, young space. 

5G

While we don’t all have 5G now, it will come. In total, the number of people that own a smart and feature phone is 7.26 Billion, making up 91.62% of the world’s population and by 2025, 53 % of the world should have 5G coverage. The calculation brands will need to make is whether that’s enough. 

And another thing

Crypto, the Metaverse and NFTs come with another cost, and it’s the environment. At a time when we are trying to create packaging that doesn’t last for years or cost the earth, why are we also considering investing in NFTs that literally NEVER degrade, have no discernible value beyond the abstract, but will require energy continuously throughout their infinite life?

The big question here is: if a brand is working to be sustainable then the Metaverse and its associated infrastructure represents a challenge. How can we operate so that in our eagerness to build the future, we don’t compound past issues?

In conclusion

It’s clear that brands embarking on a journey to the Metaverse need to weigh up a number of things. In the face of multiple challenges that are (when it comes down to it) not the responsibility of the technology itself but of the people building it and funding it, brands can also work to build a better future. 

Until then, I can’t get rid of this slightly uncomfortable feeling: that there is a sort of twisted poetry to the whole thing: billionaires made richer by a pandemic that ripped the lives of regular people apart, are launching rockets to the moon and creating new universes for kids to play in. Meanwhile those same kids – so far the most likely to inhabit the Metaverse –  are marching against the perpetrators of climate change…