Metaverse marketers favor virtual reality over NFTs

Marketers who have the metaverse on their roadmap are veering toward virtual reality (VR), while still trying to crack the NFT conundrum, according to a study just out from social media management software company Sprout Social.

In a survey of 500 marketers, the report found that, overall, 24% plan to drop some kind of campaign in the metaverse in the next year. (This is on par with our own MarTech flash survey back in March.)

Of those who have metaverse activations in the works, 39% say they are trying VR or augmented reality (AR) experiences. A mere 17% are attempting some kind of NFT promotion. And 67% of marketers who are delving in the metaverse are committing a quarter or more of their marketing budget on these efforts.

Why we care. The commitment from these brands is real and explains why agencies like Hogarth Worldwide are stepping up to provide metaverse services. 33% of marketers say they think they’re “ahead of the curve” in adopting virtual reality. This interest in VR shows the close connection that metaverse activations have with in-game ads and the gaming audience – which isn’t a niche so much as an entire generation of consumers who don’t watch TV and unwind by playing games instead.

On the NFT side, don’t confuse waning investor confidence in crypto with brand love. The whole point of a branded NFT campaign is to engage with real fans at a deeper level, not for them to flip your NFT and make a buck. That’s why there are very specific strategies as the marketer playbook evolves.

Read next: How the gaming universe is preparing marketers for the metaverse

About The Author

Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.