“We are building in multiple spaces already, and as platform-agnostic partners we will continue to show up in any and every space where audiences are engaging,” said Tim Dillon, Media.Monks senior VP of real-time & virtual worlds. “It’s less about picking which space, and more about doing the research to find out where your audience is naturally engaging and why. Part of that research is active participation in these worlds, and we build in these spaces because our people inherently spend time in these worlds. It’s not enough to just speak about it, you have to be willing to spend time in these spaces, experience it firsthand and learn what is working.”
For Smithingham, operating in virtual spaces is about finding ways to add value.
“It’s easy for companies to rush in on the literal land grab right now and try to replicate 1:1 their relationship structures and spaces in the real world,” Smithingham said. “Any company contemplating a move into the metaverse should first ask themselves if they can add value and meaning in a way that’s authentic to their brand, and more importantly, their audience. For agencies, the same rules apply.”
The agency has helped create some notable digital activations recently such as a virtual Post Malone concert with a Pokemon collaboration component, and a virtual halftime interview during an NBA game with two-time WNBA champion and co-owner of Atlanta Dream Renee Montgomery within Horizon Venues. The agency has employees that match many skills needed to work in the virtual world, such as 100 employees that focus on the creation of NFTs, a group of Web3 solutions engineers, and 300 social media experts working on the metaverse. However, a key to its flexibility has been opening metaverse projects to anyone who has an interest in learning about it.
“We don’t have one team that focuses on the metaverse,” Media Ridha, executive producer at Media.Monks said. “We believe that virtualization represents a foundational change in the fabric of our industry. As such, our entire 8,500 person company is a metaverse team. We didn’t announce we have a metaverse team, because that would be like announcing you have internet teams.”
