Agencies, consultancies step up metaverse investment, experiments

• Accenture has made a strategic investment in Forma Vision, a provider of livestreamed video technology that enables 3D holographic images to be broadcast into the metaverse, according to a company press release. The deal is part of Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight initiative; terms of the investment were not disclosed.
• Separately, Publicis Groupe Benelux has launched The Metaphone, a giant red telephone that rings constantly, in Decentraland, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The Metaphone allows users to share personal information in a message and is a tool for the agency to recruit Web 3.0 talent.
• The investments and experiments in the metaverse by agencies and consultancies alike come as marketers continue to interest in the emerging technology but still view implementation as a challenge.

The moves by Accenture and Publicis Groupe Benelux demonstrate just two of the ways that agencies and consultancies are working to help marketers make moves in the metaverse. Marketers continue to show optimism about technology, with just 10% believing the metaverse is irrelevant to their industry but 45% viewing development and implementation as a challenge, per Deloitte’s 2023 Global Marketing Trends report.  

Accenture’s investment in Forma Vision through its Accenture Ventures program could make it easier for its clients to increase the kind of avatar-to-avatar interactions that are central to the metaverse. Forma Vision provides low-cost, livestreaming volumetric video technology that can bring people, objects and environments into the metaverse. As part of Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, the company will receive investment as well as connections to Global 2000 companies and access to Accenture’s expertise and enterprise clients.

“Volumetric video allows people to show up as their authentic selves in the metaverse,” said Tom Lounibos, managing director of Accenture Ventures, in the press release. “We believe video holograms can dynamically enhance everything from e-commerce, gaming and other media, sports and entertainment experiences to virtual healthcare, medicine and even product design.”

With The Metaphone, Publicis Groupe Benelux is demonstrating a unique use case of the metaverse while it attempts to staff up around Web3 technology. The giant red phone will ring day and night in Decentraland, allowing users that find it to share their personal information with the agency group, possibly for a chance at employment. This type of activation that spans the virtual and real worlds demonstrates the power of the metaverse.

“Brands and agencies will play a vital role in the transition from the real to the virtual world, but only if they understand what moves people there. The Metaphone is a bridge between worlds and a bold new way to approach creative talent that understands the Metaverse and can help us build it,” said Eva Devos, co-CEO at Publicis Groupe Belgium, in a statement.