Group 2

1. The business phenomenon that our group has decided is “The use of metaverse
in marketing”.
Metaverse is a concept of a virtual space connecting users in all walks of life as
long as they have connection to the internet. It would connect multiple platforms,
similar to the internet containing different websites accessible through a single
browser. The metaverse will be driven by augmented reality, with each user
controlling a character or avatar. Furthermore, metaverse and virtual reality have a
close connection with each other. Virtual reality is practically one of the basic
automation for the advancement of the Metaverse. For example, you might take a
mixed reality meeting with a VR headset in a virtual office, finish work and relax in a
blockchain-based game, and then manage your crypto portfolio and finances all inside
the metaverse.
First, we have to understand that people are social animals, they meet and
communicate through social media and metaverse integrates offline and SNS
experiences into one. The metaverse serves as a tool to complement the real world and
serves as the target of the metaverse itself. The metaverse enables exchanges of
various experiences and new knowledge among users.
Big companies are applying this new technology. In the present, giant companies
in the world are investing their money into the metaverse. Mark Zuckerbergchanged
the name of his iconic social network, Facebook, to Meta. He declared that the
metaverse is the next evolution of social connections and promised with Meta a 3D
space where you can interact, learn, collaborate and play in many ways never before
seen. Microsoft is on the way to develop a number of Metaverse-integrated
applications with its Mesh platform. They are building a new augmented reality
chipset in collaboration with Qualcomm, which is helping to provide the hardware and
software fit for metaverse integration. Alibaba, the Chinese giant is the one at the
earliest stage, but it has already applied for several metaverse-related trademarks and
has declared its intention to run in this technology race. The first trademark would be
Ali Metaverse, but Taobao and Dingding Metaverse are also joining.
It is obvious that big companies are participating more and more in the
metaverse. Therefore, metaverse has a huge practical potential in many aspects of a
business model. Applying this new way of technology is apparently necessary for
companies to develop in this new era of the Internet.
Gauquier et al. (2019) found that VR ad positively affected brand personality
impressions, brand attitude, and purchase intentions, compared to traditional
advertising. The finding of Bailenson, Blascovich, and Guadagno demonstrates that
participants display more intimacy with VRS than with VRO. In a similar vein, Fox
and Bailenson (2009) revealed that participants in the VRS-running condition showed
significantly higher levels of exercise than those in the VRO-running condition and in
no virtual representation condition.Ahn and Bailenson (2011) uncovered that
endorsing products using the customer’s own appearance is more effective for
enhancing favorable brand attitude and stronger purchase intention than using VRO.
These studies collectively imply that VRS has positive impacts on customers’
evaluation of and purchase intention toward products advertised via VR.These
findings also show that there could be still some room for VR headsets to further
increase intention to purchase along with the technology’s future development and
utilization.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton and Justin Bieber have used the Metaverse as a way
to connect with their fans and promote their brand. Paris Hilton has used the
Metaverse to launch her fashion line and Justin Bieber has used the Metaverse to give
fans a behind-the-scenes look at his life. Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Rihanna
have also used the Metaverse to promote their brand. Kylie Jenner created an avatar
that looks like her and uses it to interact with fans on social media. Kim Kardashian
had an avatar created of her that was used in a mobile game. Rihanna has used the
Metaverse to launch her beauty line that includes products that can be used in the
Metaverse, including avatar makeup (Molina, 2021; Oxford Analytica, 2019). By
creating an avatar that represents their brand, businesses and celebrities are able to
extend their brand into the Metaverse and connect with users in a more personal way.
The Metaverse presents opportunities for businesses to create immersive, engaging
brand experiences (Umar, 2019).
Businesses like Coca-Cola and Nissan have used the Metaverse to create virtual
worlds that promote their products. Coca-Cola created a virtual world called "Coca-
Cola World" where users could interact with the Coca-Cola brand and learn about the
history of the company (Tran, 2021). Nissan created a virtual world called "Nissan
World" where users could test drive Nissan cars and learn about the features of the
vehicles (Alvarez et al., 2019). Nike also created a virtual world called "Nike+" where
users could track their fitness progress and compete with other users (Aymard &
Stacey, 2018). SMEs have also used the Metaverse to create virtual worlds for their
products, including furniture company IKEA and toy company Mattel. They have
found that a Metaverse is a useful tool for promoting their brand and connecting with
their customers, as well as for gathering data about their customers' preferences
(Dhelim et al., 2022). These are just a few examples of how businesses are using the
Metaverse to create immersive experiences for their customers.
Cite 1
Cite 2
Cite 3
Cite 4
2. 3 Keywords
Key words:
 1. Metaverse
2. brand-awareness.
3. Marketing
3. Key paper
As we mentioned in question 1, VR and metaverse, in several aspects, are similar to
each other. Our research will point out what Metaverse, the newer technology, does
better (or not) than VR in terms of marketing. Therefore, we decided to choose a
paper on VR as our key paper and apply its findings to Metaverse.
Link