How Extended Reality Tactics Can Benefit Your Marketing Strategy

Many marketers feel a little burned by metaverse promises. Take virtual real estate, which was supposed to be a safe bet, an investment that would definitely pay dividends. Now that real estate in the metaverse has 85% lost of its worth, marketers who have stood on the sidelines understandably feel like they dodged a bullet.

Maybe spend too much $900,000 for a plot of land in Decentraland is a bit premature, but make no mistake, the metaverse is coming and it will become a major engine of the global economy. According to McKinsey & Co, it has the potential to exceed $5 trillion in value in the next seven or eight years. That’s not far in the future. Now is the time for any marketer to start experimenting with the metaverse and the opportunities it offers.

One of the challenges marketers face is that the whole idea of ​​the metaverse is rather vague. What is it exactly? And does it serve any purpose other than providing a platform for cool games and avatars who visit virtual stores to buy virtual luxury clothes?

It does, and to be honest, time is of the essence. Here’s an analogy we can all relate to to understand the urgency. When COVID-19 appeared, companies were told to send their employees home. Those who had embraced digital work tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack made the switch easy. Those with a corporate culture that demanded face-to-face interactions faltered. In other words, those who used digital tools were prepared for the new reality being forced upon them. Their preparation has paid off immensely.

The same goes for marketers experimenting with metaverse-like trends, such as extended reality. Plus, they can experiment without investing in virtual real estate, mining an NFT, or mining a new cryptocurrency. If you’re a marketer, your biggest game right now lies in the 3D assets your company has created developing new products on a computer.

Expanded reality and the role of 3D assets in solving marketing challenges

Any company that uses computers to create products has 3D assets scattered throughout the organization, usually on an on-premise storage disk. Instead of leaving them there, marketers should start exploring how to use them in new ways in the sales and marketing funnel. 3D is the recipe for being in the metaverse, and building the skills and resources needed to create and deploy these resources in business use cases will be off the table.

During the pandemic, Cost Plus World Market (a customer of Rightpoint) created a virtual holiday store inspired by online games. Instead of clicking menus to access photos of items for sale, shoppers strolled the aisles, discovering new and interesting products. Though conceived as a way to break through the doldrums of lockdown, the real value to the global market is how the company began to think about what it’s like to do business in a world that is inherently 3D and digital.

Extended reality is the backbone of 3D marketing. It is a combination of different types of digital realities, all of which will eventually drive three-dimensional and spatially aware environments.

In a 2D world, users interact with a screen via their thumb or a mouse and click through menus. 3D offers an extra level of depth: How does this piece of content, whether it be a sweater or a replacement water filter for a refrigerator, relate to your body or physical scale? For example, in a spatially conscious environment, a user can hold the sweater to their chest to get an idea of ​​its length, fundamentally changing the way they interact with content.

Virtual experiences similar to physical

Spatially aware environments open up a world of opportunities for all types of businesses. We are currently working with an insulation company that only makes physical products. What use is this company for virtual products? you may wonder. The company wants to make its factories visible to its customers so that they can see first-hand all the details that go into making insulation. Instead of flying every potential customer to a factory, they offer tours of a 3D factory that allows people to look around and explore different aspects of it. The company has added another use case for its 3D factory and relies on it to train new employees.

Consider what this means for people who have mobility issues that prevent them from safely entering physical locations. Companies can create virtual experiences that are similar to physical ones, especially with the new tools coming to market, such as improved headsets with microphone voice isolation and the ability to simulate touch.

This is game changing. last Dec, Boeing has announced plans to unify its design, manufacturing and aviation services activities in one digital environment. Fully immersive 3D engineering designs are linked to robots that speak to each other, and the mechanics are linked by Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets. The goal is to put engineers in a virtual airplane so that they can identify and solve potential problems in the design phase.

3D assets can also solve some of a marketer’s privacy challenges, starting with getting prospects to disclose their contact information so the brand can create relevant purchase paths. Consumers are understandably reluctant to give their email and mobile data to brands, but that could change if they get access to great 3D experiences in return. Would I provide my email address if it means doing a 3D joyride in a BMW Series X1? You bet I would. And the experience just might put BMW on my list of potential new cars to buy.

3 steps to get started with 3D and extended reality for marketing

The first step is to think about the possible ways you can help users self-help with your 3D content. For example, you can use augmented reality for live triage when consumers call about a broken product.

Then identify the scope of your company’s assets and determine how those assets can be deployed in a 3D world. For many companies, this is a major undertaking, especially if your entire library of assets resides with a third-party vendor or is spread across your organization. You may need to work with a partner who can help you integrate these assets into customer- or employee-centric environments, but the rewards will be worth it.

Finally, start experimenting. For inspiration, take a look at what companies like Boeing, Maytag and Cost Plus are doing. Once you’ve thought through your asset pipeline, many interesting use cases will come to mind. Platforms like get together can even allow you to host virtual meetings in the metaverse to engage with customers in new and interesting ways.

These are not pie-in-the-sky use cases. These are the things that real companies do today, and they will shape the way we do business in the future.

As Rightpoint’s Jonathan Dominguez, leader in emerging digital products, is passionate about building digital products and immersive experiences using 3D, VR, AR, and MR platforms.