Digital Marketing

What is Metaverse - and why are Fortnite, Facebook and Robolox getting in on the action?

Rumours began circulating mid-October that Facebook was changing its name and rebranding to reflect its focus on building the metaverse. Yesterday it changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand. In April, Epic Games, the company responsible for the hugely popular Fortnite, raised an eye-watering $1 billion from investors to help with its long-term plans for building one, while Roblox has big plans of its own.What is metaverse?The concept of the metaverse is quickly becoming a buzzword in technology and business. But what does it mean?Metaverse is a broad term as it isn’t a tangible concept. It generally refers to shared virtual world environments which people can access via the internet. Essentially, a metaverse is a 3D virtual world that you can explore online using an avatar (a digital version of yourself). The digital spaces are made more lifelike by the use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR).Is metaverse the future?The idea of the metaverse is attracting a lot of interest from investors and companies who are keen to be part of the next big thing.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in July that the company will try to transition from being a social media company to a metaverse company in the next five years or so.Is metaverse all about gaming?No. Even though there are so many ideas about what the metaverse might be, most visions see social human interaction as the core.Each company will have different ideas of what that virtual world should look like and the purpose it should serve, but the main idea is to create something truly immersive and fun to explore. Some people use the word metaverse to describe gaming worlds, in which users have a character that can walk around and interact with other players. Whereas Facebook has been experimenting with a VR meetings app called Workplace, and a social space called Horizons, both of which use their virtual avatar systems.The popular children's game Roblox describes itself as a metaverse company. Epic Games' Fortnite is also considered to be part of the metaverse. In June, Roblox collaborated with the Italian fashion house Gucci to sell a collection of digital-only accessories; a hint of how consumer brands are leaking their way into video game worlds.What is Facebook’s plan with metaverse?Facebook recently revealed that it plans to spend at least $10 billion this year on Facebook Reality Labs, its metaverse division tasked with creating AR and VR hardware, software, and content. This comes after CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he has hired thousands of European engineers to work on it.Facebook's version of a metaverse is going to look different to those which started as a game, or still function as one.Mark Zuckerberg has described the metaverse as “an embodied internet,” where people can have “different experiences that you couldn’t necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage.”How is the music and entertainment industry using metaverse?As everyday life increasingly moves into digital spaces, companies are taking advantage of consumers’ enthusiasm for virtual concerts to introduce them to the concept of the metaverse. Musicians can do virtual concerts within these platforms. For example, in September millions of people watched the singer Ariana Grande virtually perform in Fortnite,

Making an impact with forced perspective

2021 seems to be the year for forced perspective 3D LED advertising. We’ve seen the concept explode on billboards and captivate crowds across the globe, including prime locations in New York, London and Seoul.First spotted in Asia, using flagship 8K LED Samsung digital signage, DOOH creative agency d’strict created an 80m by 20m giant wave which was crowned the ‘world’s largest anamorphic illusion’.  When viewed from a certain angle, the rectangular screen in Seoul, South Korea, gives the impression that the massive wave has volume. The project took four months from start to finish, including three months of digital design work.  The wave then made its way over to New York where the LED illusion appeared in Times Square showing it crashing into a blue whale on a 1,400 sqm 10mm LED screen and a waterfall that cascades down four vertical LED screens totalling 102.5m in height.Image credit: TimeoutRecently joining the attention grabbing trend was LG with its back-to-school themed animation series on curved LED digital signage again overlooking New York’s iconic Times Square. Taking full advantage of the curved design, the 3D animation plays with the power of forced perspective with an explosion of crayons, scissors and school buses dancing around the screen. Slowing to a stop, the school supplies form together to spell out “LIFE’S GOOD”. This is the latest in LG's efforts to engage with viewers directly around seasons that people experience universally, despite the distance created by the new normal.Image Credit: LG NewsroomIt’s not just the tech world that’s been taking advantage of the arrival of quasi-3D advertising. We recently saw fashion company Balenciaga team up with Fortnite in an attention-grabbing campaign at key locations across the world. The immersive billboards used deep screen technology which is seen as the future of digital-out-of-home (OOH) advertising.  The partnership, which Vogue described as ‘digital-to-physical’, allows players to purchase a collection of in-game garments along with limited edition physical garments. The digital clothes, which were influenced by Balenciaga's previous collections, were created for four in-game characters. Players of Fortnite, a battle royale video game developed by Epic Games using the Unreal Engine platform, are able to purchase the skins and accessories to customise playable in-game characters.Image Credit: The DrumA slightly different approach was taken by retailer Zara who commissioned a CGI animation by motion designer Shane Fu. A wave of colourful balls appear to swell around the windows at its New York store in a video shared on TikTok, mirroring the 3D billboard effect. But in reality, this hyper-realistic creation only existed online and fooled many viewers into rushing to the store to see it in real life.To create the animation, Fu visited Zara's Soho location where he filmed a slow pan of the storefront. Using 3D software, he created the illusion of a three-dimensional room behind the windows filled with a swarm of rainbow-coloured balls. Fu posted the video on his Instagram while Zara shared it on TikTok.Image Credit: Instagram