[Marketing Week] Bob Koigi: Warming up to the metaverse revolution

As the world readies itself for the next tech revolution, consumers are struggling to adapt and understand the Metaverse phenomenon.

This has presented an opportunity to meta-aware companies to begin making sense of next-generation technologies to bring new products, services and experiences to the world around us.

According to a recent research by Gartner, over 35% of consumers have never heard of the metaverse. The survey found out that 58% of respondents have either heard of the metaverse but do not know what it means, or think they understand the metaverse but would struggle to explain it to someone else. Only 6% of people identify as being comfortable enough in their understanding of the metaverse to explain it to others.

Therefore getting people on board to see past the individual pieces of AI or head-mounted displays is paramount to them truly embracing the multiple technologies that make up a complete metaverse. There are complex, innovative new opportunities and business models that the average consumer needs to be able to grasp easily, or companies risk losing their interest.

This week on the advertising front, Outbrain Inc. announced the release of Engagement Bid Strategy (EBS), a new automatic performance optimization solution which does not require the use of 3rd party cookies or website tracking codes and can be optimized to a wider range of campaign goals.

The new solution automatically optimizes ad creative serving and adjusts cost-per-click bidding by analyzing data from the advertiser website analytics system.

Lamar Advertising, one of the largest out-of-home advertising companies in the world, has joined the World Out of Home Organization (WOO).
 
Founded in 1902, Lamar today operates more than 352,000 billboard, transit, airport and interstate logo displays in the United States and Canada, including the largest network of large-format digital displays in the US, with more than 3,900 digital units.

Walgreens Advertising Group (wag) has announced it will be launching new self-serve programmatic and clean-room solutions allowing brand advertisers to run campaigns more openly on their own terms.

The new self-serve programmatic solution will offer the ability to target consumers by applying audiences based on Walgreens first-party data to campaigns run on each advertiser’s preferred demand-side platform (DSP).

In partnerships and acquisitions, WPP recently acquired Village Marketing in North America, the industry leader in influencer marketing and creator economy partnerships.

Village Marketing will join the Wunderman Thompson network to strengthen its commitment to the creator economy. Given the ubiquity of social media, creators are among the most powerful voices of today. This acquisition will allow Wunderman Thompson to offer its clients and brands much deeper and more direct access to the creator economy.

Havas Group has acquired Inviqa – a UK independent digital experience agency– in a substantial, eight-figure deal. The company, which comprises more than 150 employees across eight offices, will be integrated into Havas Creative’s dedicated customer experience network, Havas CX, to significantly expand its specialism, scale, and capabilities in experience design, software engineering, technology consulting, and ecommerce.

At the same time, The Interactive Advertising Bureau , IAB UK has collaborated with The Podcast Show with a view to celebrating the growth and popularity of podcasting, as well as supporting new creators that are helping shape the future of audio

Taking place at Islington’s Business Design Centre on 25-26 May, The Podcast Show will see talent from across the industry come together to celebrate standout content and showcase the latest ad solutions.

And in appointments, Havas Media Group has promoted Greg James to Global Chief Transformation Officer, effective immediately.

This move comes as Havas Media Group realigns its global organization to harness the power of its 9,000-strong global network and accelerate growth, media innovation and transformation for clients.  

And, VMLY&R COMMERCE, WPP’s end-to-end Creative Commerce company, has welcomed industry authority Laura Mignott into new role as Global Chief Experiential Officer, supercharging its commitment to designing for the future of hybrid community-driven engagement. 

Laura will be focused on setting the agenda for a unified global experiential practice equipped to deliver next generation, immersive experiences at the intersection of culture, creativity and commerce. 

In other news, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a new campaign to tackle misleading online practices following a surge in ecommerce shopping as a result of the pandemic. The new “Online Rip-Off Tip-Off” campaign is aimed to help consumers identify and avoid these misleading online tactics which could result them in being tipped off.

Research commissioned by the CMA revealed that 71% of people shopping online had encountered these tactics, and 61% described their experience as negative. This is exacerbated by the fact they are often hard to spot and people don’t know how to avoid them.

Bob Koigi is an editor at Marketing Report EU

www.marketingreport.eu

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