Using the Metaverse as leverage into a Hyperconnected World

What do we mean when we talk about “personalisation”, “authenticity”, or “connectivity”? These terms are heard so often that their real meaning is lost amid excitement about the potential of the metaverse. Tawana Murphy Burnett, head of global clients and categories APAC at Meta, sheds light on the hype and explains what online branding looks like in 2022.

Tawana, who was speaking at Advertising Week APAC 2022, zeroed in on key elements that influence hyperconnected branding: the integration of AI; multidimensional storytelling; and learning via experimentation.

On AI, Tawana offered an extraordinary example of how this new technology can revolutionise personalisation. To highlight the need to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach, she cited a recent campaign from Cadbury India. During Diwali, Cadbury ran a series of ads highlighting thousands of small businesses across India, but varied the delivery based on geo-tracking through AI. This meant that consumers saw Cadbury ads that were specific to their needs and locations.

With regards to multidimensional storytelling, Tawana emphasised the value of consumer-driven storytelling, in the form of reels, influencers, or other social media posts. “So you've got the short-form entertainment content, like reels,” Tawana explained, “and already it makes up 20% of time spent on Instagram… Then you've got the longer form content, where over 2 billion people every month are watching in stream… And 74% of those in-stream video ads are being viewed to completion.” This content offers brands an opportunity to make their customers feel seen and represented. Anything operating on these terms, Tawana explained, drastically increases the degree and depth of brand-consumer connection.

Tawana also explained that the constant feedback loop now available to brands means that learning can be far faster than it was historically. “Machine learning and AI models allow us to predict… how creative will play out before we make significant investment,” she says. Tawana elaborated on the need to experiment with this technology, “A recent study in the Harvard Business Review found that businesses that run at least 15 experiments a year see, on average, 30% higher ad performance that same year.”

The insights Tawana shared were simple, and built on a long legacy of thinking from the pre-online age. But she made clear that in order for marketing to fare well in the metaverse, these age-old instincts will need to be updated - not with regards to ends, but in terms of means. The hyperconnected world offers endless opportunities for brands to connect on a far deeper level with customers, often in ways we cannot yet imagine. It’s time, Tawana argues, to embrace them.