In a world where people are increasingly connected by technology, a metaverse based on augmented or virtual reality previews seemingly boundless opportunities for product and brand advertising, which, at its core, is inevitably connected with the personal branding of individual customers.

Metaverse is a virtual environment where brands transport their physical stores using virtual reality or VR technologies like headsets to enter that virtual world, enabling customers to shop around anytime, anywhere.

"It's a game changer. Before, you need physical stores in different areas. Now you'll be able to reach customers nationwide," Philippine Marketing Association, or PMA, president Sy Bryan Lato said in the Daily Tribune's show Business Sense with Komfie Manalo.

However, he said Metaverse also deepens brands' relationship with customers using a gamified approach, which allows customers to express themselves as a virtual character.

Lato likened this approach to Mobile Legends, where players can choose skins to change their characters' appearance.

"In Mobile Legends, players use skins. In Metaverse, you are also wearing a suit like what you are wearing in the real world, or would you like your character only to be wearing a t-shirt because you want to be a rockstar," Lato said. "We are talking about personal branding in the real world," he said.

PMA's research shows 80 percent of Filipinos in the future will be migrating to the Metaverse using mobile phones as VR, digital assets or NFTs and blockchain evolve, building on the phygital world. This combines physical and virtual spaces where physical products are recreated into digital products.

"For example, you can sell digital assets. You can buy digital shoes in the form of NFTs, and the company can send you the physical shoes simultaneously, so you can choose to wear them through your virtual character, too. The ultimate meta verse would be an interconnected world," Lato explained.

Technology-driven world

Enthusiastic about other metaverse-linked technologies, Lato said blockchain, a digital database prohibiting identical inputs or transactions, could allow customers to create unique virtual characters by mixing clothing pieces from various brands.

This exposes brands to a broader audience as people in their virtual selves interact with one another in the Metaverse, which includes virtual conferences.

Lato said a big market consisting of the tech-savvy millennials and Gen Zs, or 70 percent of the country's population, is awaiting brands that aim to diversify their marketing into the Metaverse. "Brands must react based on what their customers were born into and grew up with," he explained.

According to global market researcher Statista, the VR market could grow from $12 billion to over $22 billion by 2025 as VR headsets evolve for comfortable, more affordable, and extraordinary customer experience.

"There would be smart, light glasses instead of bulky ones, and we will experience true augmented reality once headsets have lower prices," Lato said. "It's similar to the iPhone. From QWERTY keypads, phones now have touch screens as technology continuously evolves," he added.

Apart from the retail industry, Lato said real estate and tourism could boom as companies use Metaverse to recreate destinations and tour customers around. "Customers can see the routes and establishments in an area. They can see how big rooms are in a property," he said.

Inspired by the virtualized country of Monaco, computer engineers are now recreating Philippine destinations, including Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and Subic in Zambales, Lato shared.

However, he cautioned companies to carefully analyze their target market before investing in Metaverse's sophisticated technologies and limiting their physical store presence.

"Thirty percent of the boomers or the older generations are now fewer than the youth, but they have the buying power. You have to understand where your customer engages or what your customer wants," he said.

As PMA president, Lato also aims to protect the marketing profession by spurring collaborations with government agencies to prevent cybercrimes and identity theft.

"Before the Metaverse reaches advanced phases, we must help the government set rules and regulations. Its pace of development is super flexible, and by the time anomalies arise, the government would be imposing measures, and industries will be limited," he said.

PMA held its first hybrid conference last 8 November in Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City. Attendees toured the hotel using virtual reality as a testament to Lato's aspirations.