Metaverse Marketing: It's a Trillion Dollar Game; You Need Storytelling Skills to Win

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The metaverse, broadly defined as the immersive digital platform in which people will work, play, and socialize, is likely to become the next major technological step for the internet.(1) Facebook recently changed its company name to Meta to reflect its focus on building the metaverse(2), and other companies, such as Epic Games, have recently raised significant capital in pursuit of similar ambitions.(3)

The growth curve that entrepreneurs and investors hope will occur, notes Maury Rogow, CEO of Hollywood's Rip Media Group, is like that of e-commerce. "Twenty years ago," says Rogow, "eCommerce was an insignificant portion of overall retail. In 2021, they will reach nearly $5 trillion.(4) The same path could happen with the metaverse."

There are, Rogow notes, some obstacles to metaverse growth on this scale. One is the need for connectivity, a virtual reality (VR) headset can run from $300 to $1,500, depending on needed features and responsiveness.(5) Although, according to Rogow, one can access the metaverse without a headset, the experience would not be as immersive. Another issue is that the various metaverses at the moment need continuity.

What is needed by providers of metaverse spaces, and the brands they hope to attract, says Rogow, is messaging that will overcome these difficulties and attract the users and the buyers they seek.

To be effective, this sort of messaging, says Rogow, which is at present mostly aimed at business leaders in a very high-tech environment, should be based on traditional and longstanding principles of marketing. As an example, he cites the experience of RedFOX Labs, a Southeast Asia-based venture builder that recently sought market support in the sale of 20 retail spaces (SHOPs) in its RFOX VALT metaverse.(6)

"I'm not a fortune teller regarding the metaverse," says Rogow, "but I know how to market a brand. We follow the creative steps of what worked for thousands of campaigns, which led to all shops being sold in weeks. The question is, how would you market the metaverse?"

The approach, says Rogow, is inside what he regards as a fundamental credo of marketing: a brand will live or die based on the story it tells. His company's guidelines for telling an effective story have been collected as a set of general principles, which are known as "the 10 Commandments of Brand Story." One of Rogow's favorites for novel or complex products is to make certain that the story focuses on the benefits provided to customers and not just on the product. Following commandment Number Three (sell the hole, not the drill) and its fellows, RedFoX Labs' vision became successful through videos, landing pages, and podcasts. RedFoX sold each space for $100,000 using the RedFOX bitcoin, raising $2 million in capital.

The metaverse, Rogow acknowledges, is difficult to talk and write clearly about, largely because so much of it is unknown. Exactly the same was true 25 years ago, he notes, about the World Wide Web. Even so, companies with an easily communicable idea—overnight delivery of best-selling books, for example, or easily searching—were able to thrive and become the billion-dollar companies of this decade.

"In one form or another, the metaverse is coming," says Rogow. "To thrive, brands will need a clear and compelling story to tell. Finding that story, refining it, and selling is what professional marketers do."

About Rip Media Group
Rip Media Group, founded in 2007, is a trailblazing video marketing company based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by digital pioneer Maury Rogow, Rip Media Group brings a unique combination of storytelling, art and ROI strategy to the field of marketing. Maury is a member of the Producers Guild of America, with several feature films to his credit. His unique background in film production led to an epiphany in the intrinsic value of storytelling in marketing, no matter how technical the subject. This led to his work in a high-tech firm and its purchase by Cisco for more than $1 billion. He went on to form Rip Media Group, a collection of award-winning storytellers, technicians, and artists, selected from the Producers Guild, Writers Guild, and Screen Actors Guild. Their Green Light Production Process™ and other proprietary systems are used to create world-class voiceover, animation, and live action video to grow businesses of any size. For more, visit  https://ripmediagroup.com/ 

1. Hackl, Cathy. "The Metaverse Is Coming and It's a Very Big Deal"; 5 July 2020; Forbes; forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2020/07/05/the-metaverse-is-coming--its-a-very-big-deal/?sh=2aceea87440f
2. Molina, Brett and Guynn, Jessica; "Facebook changes name to Meta: Mark Zuckerberg announces company rebrand as it moves to the metaverse"; 28 Oct. 2021; USA Today; usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/10/28/facebook-meta-name-change-metaverse-instagram-whatsapp-zuckerberg/6180303001/
3. Newsroom; "Announcing a New Funding Round of $1 Billion to Support Epic's Long-Term Vision for the Metaverse"; 13 April 2021; Epic Games; epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/announcing-a-1-billion-funding-round-to-support-epics-long-term-vision-for-the-metaverse
4. Chevalier, Stephanie; "Global Retail E-Commerce Market Size 2014-2023"; 7 July 2021; Statista;statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/
5. Greenwald, Will; "The Best VR Headsets for 2021"; 18 Nov. 2021; PCMAG; pcmag.com/picks/the-best-vr-headsets
6. Newsroom; "Southeast Asian Venture Builder Redfox Labs Launches First Shop Auction for RFOX Valt Metaverse"; 15 Sept. 2021; GlobeNewswire; globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/15/2297173/0/en/Southeast-Asian-Venture-Builder-RedFOX-Labs-Launches-First-SHOP-Auction-for-RFOX-VALT-Metaverse.html

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SOURCE Rip Media Group