Why we care about metaverse activations

Half of marketers in a new MarTech flash survey say they are considering a metaverse activation either this year or some time in the next five years. This survey was conducted in March and included 209 respondents, primarily marketers in the U.S.

Responses from marketers were divided evenly into four main quadrants. One quarter is considering a metaverse activation this year, while another quarter is considering doing this some time in the next one to five years. A quarter of respondents said they’d never consider using the metaverse. And the final quarter would be considering breaking into it more than five years down the road.

Survey results. Respondents to the MarTech flash survey were asked: “When will your company consider a commercial use of the metaverse?”

The results by percentage and number of responses are as follows.

• Within one year: 25.4% (53)
• In 1-5 years: 28.7% (60)
• In 6-10 years: 7.7% (16)
• In 11-20 years: 7.7% (16)
• Not for at least 20 years: 4.8% (20)
• Never: 25.8% (54)

VR becoming a reality. A number of big brands have recently rolled out metaverse presences, and Hogarth Worldwide has spearheaded The Metaverse Foundry to provide services to help get metaverse activations up and running.

These developments we’ve been covering add some shape to a broad emerging channel that is still largely undefined. But as brands set up more outposts in VR environments, some of the confusion among consumers will dissipate.

Dig deeper: What does the metaverse mean to consumers and marketers?

For instance, a Gartner study from February found that 60% of consumers had no opinion about the metaverse, and 38% had heard of it but weren’t sure what it meant. That’s understandable as marketers break ground in this new frontier.

With a full quarter of marketers in our survey considering a commercial use for the metaverse in 2022, expect at least some of these questions to be answered for consumers in the months ahead.