PUBLISHED DATE: 2025-08-14 19:40:06

Inside The Metaverse Economy

April 7, 2021

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Are we in the matrix?

What’s the future of the 3D experience?

Will the enterprise play a role?

Look Beyond Gaming In The Metaverse Economy

Beyond virtual worlds, there’s more to this emerging market trend.

Metaverse Total Addressable Market

Growth rates by year:

Inside the Metaverse Economy Ecosystem

Interfaces

Neuralink and other brain-machine interfaces are at the forefront, enabling new ways for humans to interact with digital environments.

Worlds Have Been Revived

Platforms like Second Life have seen renewed interest, demonstrating the longevity and adaptability of virtual worlds.

The Youth Are Ahead Again

Brands like Forever 21 are engaging younger audiences through platforms such as Roblox, showing how the next generation is already active in the metaverse.

Gaming Platforms Play a Key Role

Platforms like Unity are central to the development and expansion of metaverse experiences.

Digital Twins Create New Opportunities

Technologies like Matterport enable the creation of digital twins, opening up new possibilities for simulation and innovation.

Interoperability Platforms Are Much Needed

Companies like Nvidia are working on solutions to ensure different metaverse platforms can work together seamlessly.

Creator Economies Meet DDDNs

The intersection of creator economies and data-driven digital networks is fostering new forms of value creation and consumption.

DAOs Define Membership and Governance

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are establishing new models for membership and governance, driven by AI and community participation.

Token Economics Drive Value Exchange

Token economics underpin the exchange of value within the metaverse, enabling new funding mechanisms that surpass traditional venture capital and private equity.

Blockchain-Crypto Tech Powers Value Exchange

The rise of digital assets, such as NFTs, is creating new opportunities, though the majority of these assets currently lack long-term value.

Web 3.0 Is the Backbone

The Web 3.0 ecosystem is advancing through decentralized infrastructure, maturing technology, research, open-source projects, and a wide array of participants including miners, developers, wallets, storage providers, exchanges, DAOs, and more.

Web 3.0 Has a Whole New Set of Tech

Key technologies include:

Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 Requires a Frameshift

Examples of Web 2.0 apps and their Web 3.0 counterparts:

Future of Work and Employee Experience

Collaboration and Meetings

Recruiting

Onboarding

Training

Internal Communications

Digital Twins

Reimagine Collaboration: Humans + Machines

Expanding Human Reach: New realities with Metamobility (Source: Hyundai)
Apply Digital Twins (Source: Nvidia)

Digital Asset Settlement

Adopt, Expand, Unlock, Amplify (Source: Bitwave)

Seven Steps to the Metaverse Economy

  1. Consider overall brand strategy in context with the metaverse economy.
  2. Choose an enterprise use case.
  3. Determine the desired business outcomes.
  4. Design and build reusable digital assets.
  5. Identify an experience strategy and engagement modality.
  6. Apply analytics, automation, and AI for scale.
  7. Use insights to power a data-driven digital network.

The Retail Metaverse Opportunity

The Metaverse Evolution: Opportunities to sell digital & traditional products

2020 → 2030

Current Traffic (Monthly Active Users):

Retail Monetization:

Gaming worlds have the highest MAUs but are less flexible and relatively lightly monetized compared to Networks of Worlds.

Monetization Pyramid

  1. Brand Activation & Partnerships (e.g., Burberry, Forever 21, Marvel, Gucci, LV, Wendy's, CocaCola)
  2. Digital Badges, Valuable Giveaways (e.g., NFTs, POAPs)
  3. Functional: Power-ups, world-enablers, digital twins
  4. Transactional & Marketplaces

Brands Are Getting Into the Action

Examples include CocaCola's Friendship Day campaigns and Forever 21's presence in digital worlds.

5 Reasons Retailers Should Be in the Metaverse

  1. Access to Generation Alpha and Gen Z
  2. Creation of new buying channels
  3. Collect new demand signals and enable product development
  4. Capture new revenue from NFTs
  5. Protect and position your brand assets

How to Get Started Now

  1. Enhance your commerce app to accept crypto payments
  2. Develop a strategy considering a range of business objectives, including digital products
  3. Appoint a clear Metaverse owner
  4. Build 3D models for use on your own commerce sites and in the metaverse
  5. Expand your loyalty program to include collaborative features

Bottom line: Treat web3 as an entirely new channel, with a new set of rules, users, and opportunities.

Unpacking the Metaverse: Technologies, Challenges & Opportunities

  1. Top Questions I Get Asked
  2. Applying the Metaverse to Brands
  3. Addressing the Risks
  4. Key Takeaways

What is “web3?”

Web3 represents the next iteration of the internet:

Web3 is:

Web3 promises a transformational future for the web:

Web1, Web2, Web3 - Distributed

What is the Metaverse?

It already exists in different forms—not just VR:

The Metaverse is mainstream and accessible in many traditional ways:

Data Privacy

Fungible Token: Interchangeable, divisible
Non-Fungible Token: Not interchangeable, non-divisible

Applying the Metaverse

The Metaverse: Social Interactions & Wearables

Gaming is the Metaverse’s gateway to mass adoption and attention:

The Real World: Digital wearables & connecting experiences between digital & physical

THE IMPERIAL PHYGITAL (Esquire x Satoshi Studio)

Non-Fungible Property Tokens (NFPT)

There Is a Lot of Scrutiny, and Rightfully So

Risks, Concerns & What to Do About It

Key Takeaways

  1. Don’t mistake your target
  2. Utilities are an easier way to go
  3. Be authentic and specific
  4. Consider an evolving roadmap

Authentication, Coupons/Loyalty Program, Ticketing

Final Thought

  1. Expand & Protect
    • Best-in-class retailers
    • Develop retail stores in the metaverse
    • Buy digital/physical
    • Scale with future NFT glasses
    • Examples: High-end retailers, Nike & Adidas
  2. Rebrand & Transform
    • Retailers wanting to innovate or rebrand
    • Develop off-brand metaverse experiences
    • Buy digital only
    • Scale with future NFT glasses
    • Examples: Atari, Flamingo Casino
  3. Inspire & Disrupt
    • Designers flipping the platform model
    • Direct to consumers
    • Rewards for ownership
    • Example: Phillip Plein buys $1.2M high-end land in Decentraland

Thank you

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