Metaverse, the buzziest buzzword in the marketing community until a month ago, is fast losing its SOV to ChatGPT. However, it’s highly unlikely that its glory is going to fade so soon. Metaverse is here to stay as most brands still want to join the bandwagon; marketers are still going gaga over it and trying to make waves even before testing the unchartered waters.

Certainly metaverse offers a playground for innovation and experimentation to the marketers but the fact is – majority of them don’t have ample clarity on the subject and don’t have the answers to the basics: what, how and why. They don’t have the justification in terms of ROI and the relevance from brand/product standpoint. Everyone just wants to jump on the bandwagon out of sheer FOMO. And probably that’s the reason for their myopic vision which doesn’t let them see the other side of the picture – the other side which is dark as hell but nobody is talking about it.

THE GOOD

Gartner predicts that 25% of the population will spend at least one hour per day in the metaverse by 2026. Citi sees metaverse market reaching $13 Trillion by the end of 2030. And according to KPMG, people will spend more time in the metaverse than the real world by 2030. Good news for the marketers. With investors going south, start-ups advertising spends drying up and consumers becoming anti-social (media), metaverse seems to be the silver lining for the marketing fraternity. We now have a new platform, rather an entire universe, to serve on the media-mix platter to our clients. 

Global brands have already thrown their hats in the ring. So, Nike created Nikeland on Roblox, Samsung came up with 837X store on Decentraland. Back home, Airtel launched Xtream megaplex to provide an immersive experience to consumers.  People are selling real estate on the metaverse. Customers are spending whopping sum to buy NFTs and a chunk of ‘land’ on the metaverse. Sounds promising, no?

THE BAD

However, the problem is – All these good things have been overhyped. Over exaggerated. Moreover, the market and the consumers are not ready for it yet. Reminds me of the dot com bubble of the 90s.

As of now, except the gaming sector which has been the frontrunner and seems to have understood the game of metaverse, no other businesses really know how to ace this game.  

THE UGLY

Can we trust the creators in the virtual universe? Does it make sense to invest in exorbitantly priced NFTs?  Would it be prudent to go for an ICO? Informed marketers and consumers’ minds are full of doubts but does anyone have a concrete answer? I don’t think so. 

NFT sales are drying up.. Artists/original creators are shutting down their online shops as people are stealing their work and creating digital versions to sell it off as NFT!  IPR infringement big time! Any regulations to control this menace ? Nothing as of now.

Another challenge with the NFT business is the exorbitant and unreasonable price that the creators demand. What’s more, as per a recent report, 95% of all the activity on NFT marketplace LooksRare has been attributed to wash trading and as per the recent estimate, total wash trading volume as of now is over $8 trillion globally.

Big Daddy Ape Club alone swiped 9,136 SOL ($1.3m), from would-be collectors, marking the biggest “rug pull” in the solana blockchain’s history. 

What’s more, metaverse, if continued to gain popularity, might become the haven for sex offenders and safe playground for paedophiles. Incidentally, Hamleys has also joined the bandwagon to provide an ‘immersive’ experience to the kids. 

I’ve just scratched the surface and the ‘bad’ part talked about here is just the tip of the iceberg.  

Anyone listening?