Product placement in the Metaverse

Product placement in the Metaverse

The arrival of the metaverse has given us a new life to create new social experiences between the real world and the virtual one. And therefore, day by day new sales and advertising channels are created in the Metaverse such as product placement.

From Letslaw by RSM we can help you in all kinds of issues related to Digital Marketing and new measures to implement products in any media such as new technologies.

What is product placement?

When talking about Product Placement, we can consider that it is an advertising technique, which consists of inserting a commercial product or brand within movies, series and programs.

Product placement is a much more effective marketing technique than an advertisement.

The formal definition of product placement is an advertising technique that consists of inserting a product, message or brand within the narrative of a film, series or program. 

Product placement can occur in 3 different ways:

• Passive: the product is shown in the scene and serves the function of being a prop.
• Active by mention: a character mentions, during the dialogue, the product or brand in question.
• Active by action: the brand has an important weight in the scene and is integrated into the narrative action.

In order for a “Product Placement ” to comply with the provisions of the Law, certain requirements must be met:

1. The public must be clearly informed of the product placement at the beginning and at the end of the program.

2. The “Product Placement” may not condition the responsibility or editorial independence of the audiovisual communication service provider, i.e., it must not influence the content or script of the programs.

3. It may not directly incite the purchase or rental of goods or services, or make specific promotions of these, for example, by means of verbal or visual mentions to the possible virtues, merits or other characteristics of the product or service.

4. May not give undue prominence to the product, service or brand, either by their recurring presence, or by the manner in which they are presented or highlighted (e.g., by their duration or by the treatment of the image).

Is it possible to do product placement and other types of advertising in the Metaverse?

With the arrival of the new virtual universe, new opportunities to advertise in the metaverse come into play, one of these lines lies in product placement, that is, placing a brand in the metaverse. 

In this way one of the main actions that are being carried out is to dress the avatars with known brands, also subliminal advertising can be placed along a route or as in the day to day, use advertising to promote ourselves and all this will bring value to the customer in their virtual experience, events are also being created and in which environments are sponsored and any customer can visit, such as fashion week in the metaverse.

Risks and opportunities

One of the main barriers in this new emerging marketing is the means of payment; while we can still talk about fiat currency (based on the belief of the community and the value established by the markets), we cannot leave behind cryptocurrencies which have a wide range, so a standardization of currencies, assets and backing it with NFT’s will be the next step in the Metaverse and all that entails in the coming years.

While overcoming hurdles, we can also see ample marketing opportunities in the Metaverse, such as some of the following: 

• Leveraging current options to connect with new people. 
• Experiment with the possibilities of new technologies: AR or VR to improve the conversion of our eCommerce.
• Generate media visibility as a leading company in the adoption of new technologies.
• Prepare brands for the future: new services, products, etc.