Advertising in the Metaverse: Opportunities and Challenges

With the continuous upsurge of virtual and augmented reality, technology is seen precipitously evolving introducing new innovations that would have been formerly unbelievable. One of these innovations is the metaverse, a distinctive and immersive virtual world, a network of 3D virtual environments resided by avatars of actual people that focuses on social connections. This virtual world would continue to evolve and develop based on consumers’ choices and interactions within this space, synchronized with the real world that has no end. The metaverse can be described as an indefinite universe that continues to swell as more and more users are involved, merging reality and virtuality in one. In the field of digital advertising and marketing, advertising agencies and strategists need to keep up with the speed of the latest artificial intelligence developments, with a full understanding of the metaverse and its potential. Keeping in mind the main target audiences, Gen Z and millennials, as they have been already spending time in virtual worlds and participating in a range of metaverse behaviors through virtual games such as Roblox, and other virtual reality technologies. This research aims to explore the potential of advertising within the metaverse universe, the challenges it would face, the virtual strategies that can tie in with the real world, and how brands can forge their own virtual pathways in relation to consumer behavior.