Were you not able to attend the event? You can find all of the summit sessions in our library. Here is the place to watch.
The metaverse can be defined as a large-scale societal shift from viewing flat media in the third person to viewing it in the first person. The implications are still profound despite this honing the concept down to just its core features. The role of the user will be fundamentally changed because of the metaverse.
Almost every industry will be affected by the shift to immersed media, but marketing will be the most significant change. The tools, techniques, and tactics of digital advertising are based on flat images. The core marketing methods will change to more interactive experiences in the metaverse.
Digital media used to be viewed in the third person, but now it's more like the first person experience.
Immersive Marketing has the potential to be more persuasive than traditional methods. Immersive tactics can be abused through predatory practices. The two core techniques that are likely to dominate marketing in the metaverse are Virtual Product Placements and Virtual Spokespeople.
MetaBeat is a sequel to Meta Beat.
Thought leaders will give guidance on how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business in San Francisco on October 4.
Register HereIn the metaverse, advertisements will be used as promotional artifacts and activities that are injected into environments that are paid for. The VPPs will be encountered by specific people at certain times.
People around you wouldn't see the same promotional content because it's a VPP. Users near you will see different promotional artifacts tailored to their profiles. VPPs can be defined as follows.
A virtual product placement is a simulation of a product, service, or activity that is injected into a virtual or augmented world on behalf of a paying sponsor.
The promotional content will be integrated into the daily life of the consumer. Advertisers have the potential to abuse VPPs if not regulated. Virtual Product Placements could be mistaken for authentic experiences that a user encounters in a virtual world. If users can't distinguish between authentic experiences and targeted promotional content, advertising in the metaverse could become predatory, deceiving users into believing that specific products, services, or activities are popular in their community when in fact they are observing a promotionally altered representation of their surroundings.
You might think that the community is very supportive of a particular candidate, but that is not the case. The danger of promotionally altered experiences is that it could amplify social divisions and drive people from their current information bubbles to entirely separate realities.
Virtual product placements in the metaverse should not be used for predatory purposes. All VPPs need to look different from organic experiences. If a virtual product is placed in your surroundings as a targeted advertisement, it should not be confused with authentic artifacts that you come across. Injection activities and other targeted promotional experiences can be confusing to consumers.
Consumers could easily tell the difference between authentic encounters and promotionally altered experiences if regulations were put in place. It is good for consumers, but it is also good for the industry because without such protections users would stop trusting anything they see in the metaverse.
In the metaverse, promotional content will encompass more than just objects and silent characters, it will also include artificial intelligence-driven characters that engage users in promotional conversation for paying sponsors. VSPs are likely to be deployed in metaverse platforms in the near term due to the recent breakthrough in the field of Large Language Models and Realms.
A virtual spokesman is a fictional character that is injected into a virtual or augmented world to communicate with users.
Users are likely to be targeted by passive observation or direct engagement. Two virtual people are having a conversation in the metaverse about a product, service, or idea. A virtual couple could be placed near a target consumer. The target may not realize that a third party injected virtual people into the environment as advertising.
The couple talking about their new car might be overhears by the targeted user. The user might think that the comments are authentic and not promotional. Similar tactics can be used to convey a promotional message from a product or service. Because metaverse platforms will collect detailed profile data about each user, the overheard conversation could easily be crafted totrigger very specific thoughts, feelings, interests, or discontent in targeted users
Consumers should be protected from predatory tactics. Regulators should consider requiring promotional VSPs to be different from authentic users. Consumers wouldn't be confused by overheard conversations that are targeted promotions with authentic observations of their world.
VSPs will be most persuasive when they directly engage consumers. The user might not realize they are talking to an artificial intelligence-driven conversation with a plan. Recent advances in LLMs have made it possible for conversations with artificial intelligence agents to be authentic.
Detailed profile data collected by metaverse platforms about each targeted user, including their preferences, interests, and a historical record of prior promotional engagements are likely to be accessible to the artificial intelligence-driven chat agents. Real-time emotional data from facial expressions, vocal inflections, and vital signs of targeted users will be available to these agents. The agent will be able to adjust its tactics in real time.
The visual form in which these virtual spokespeople are presented will be custom made. It is likely that the gender, hair color, eye color, clothing style, voice and mannerisms of VSPs will be custom generated by artificial intelligence that predicts which sets of features will most effectively influence the targeted user. Fourteen years ago, I depicted this in my book. The characters in the graphic novel were made to look more and more sexualized by an artificial intelligence system that determined the tactic to be an increasingly effective form of influence. This was written as ironic fiction over a decade ago, but I fear we are very close to it becoming reality.
The potential for predatory advertising is significant and likely needs regulation. In order to alert consumers that the conversation is targeted promotional content instead of an authentic encounter, regulators should consider requiring that virtual spokespeople be visually distinct from authentic users. The manipulation should be regulated.
Recent research shows that artificial intelligence-generated characters can fool consumers. Virtual people are indistinguishable from real humans when they are created using GANs. Users think virtual people are more trustworthy than real people. In the not so distant future, advertisers will prefer artificial intelligence-driven virtual spokespeople.
The metaverse is coming and will affect society at all levels. Artificial intelligence will be used for optimal persuasion in marketing tactics. VPPs and VSPs should be visually distinct from authentic products, services, and persons in the real world.
I have been involved in virtual and augmented reality for over thirty years, both as a researcher and a founder. I believe in the potential of interactive media. In addition, I firmly believe consumer protections would be good for advertisers and platform providers, for users in the metaverse would be unable to trust the authenticity of any experience
He is a pioneer in the field of virtual and augmented reality. Thirty years ago, his work began in labs at NASA andStanford. The first mixed reality system was developed in 1992. He started Outland Research in 2004. He is the Chief Scientist of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance and the Global Technology advisor to theXR Safety Initiative.
The VentureBeat community welcomes you.
Data decision makers can share data related insights and innovation.
Join us at DataDecisionMakers to read about cutting-edge ideas and up-to-date information.
You could possibly contribute an article of your own.
Data decision makers have more to say.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
