VOGUE | Is it time to hire a chief metaverse officer? ÔªÓîÖæÊÇʱÉдóÊÆ£¿

How a brand appears in the metaverse could help them make a successful splash, or risk alienating millions of loyal users. Now, a new need is emerging: someone who can oversee and integrate these projects.

¡°It¡¯s very much on the minds of some of the most leading brands that understand they need that next generation,¡± says Karen Harvey, CEO and founder of fashion advisory and executive placement firm The Karen Harvey Companies. She is currently in the midst of placing a couple people in these types of metaverse-related roles, with two-year stints to begin, with the potential to extend. A role akin to ¡°chief metaverse officer¡± could be next. ¡°Among fashion and luxury brands, some are diving headfirst, some are putting a toe in the water,¡± Harvey says.

The metaverse, characterised by shared virtual spaces, ownership of digital goods, and decentralised data, promises new ways of communicating and marketing to customers, plus new revenue streams in the form of digital twins and in-game avatars. This new era is often considered the successor to the mobile web, with the potential to impact brands as the rise of social media did a decade ago.

¡°This became a significant thing that required a budget and resources ¡ª the way people bought goods and expressed themselves shifted to the online world, and brands started waking up to that and hired experienced social media experts ¡ª and the seed was sown,¡± says social media consultant Matt Navarra. Similarly, as new skills centering around the metaverse become essential, a chief metaverse officer would manage a company¡¯s brand, vision and mission across virtual worlds and goods, says Cathy Hackl, chief metaverse officer and CEO of the Futures Intelligence Group, a consultancy with a number of fashion clients.

Part marketing, part business strategy, the role of the chief metaverse officer would need to understand both creative and technical aspects, says Hackl. Some brands have started to assemble teams dedicated to metaverse collaborations, says Rudy Lee, chief strategy officer at Zepeto, the social networking and avatar simulation app that has recently partnered with Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Dior Beauty and Nars Cosmetics.

Establishing a need

Often, metaverse-related projects require coordinating a range of experts and technologies to come together. On Friday, emerging designer Charli Cohen debuted a collection of both digital and physical items created in celebration of Pok¨¦mon¡¯s 25th anniversary. The items are sold in Selfridges and also debuted in an immersive, shoppable digital-only world, with special perks including avatar creation via Ready Player Me, and AR try-on using Snapchat. The project was overseen by creative studio Yahoo Ryot Labs, who also tapped tech partners Block V (adding virtual content onto physical goods), Wolf 3D (avatar creation), Aircards (AR marketing) and the Fashion Innovation Agency (to help with motion capture).

London-based fashion designer Charli Cohen created a virtual immersive shopping experience (left), a digital-only range that includes AR try-on, and a physical collection sold at Selfridges.YAHOO RYOT LAB AND CHARLI COHEN

Moin Roberts-Islam, technology development manager at the Fashion InnovationAgency, says that the agency has been talking to a number of brands about how to assemble "digital asset" teams to create digital garments, environments and content, spanning both luxury players and brands who produce at higher volumes.

¡°I didn't realise how much time is spent on emails,¡± says Samuel Jordan, a digital fashion pioneer and Roblox creator who has partnered with brands such as Stella McCartney to create digital assets, when he started working with fashion brands to create assets for Roblox, and he is working on multiple undisclosed projects. ¡°Every team wants to know they've been involved, and usually the core team in charge of brand representation wants the final sign-off. Building a chief metaverse officer is so useful. There are so many people to coordinate, so it¡¯s about understanding the company they work for and who needs to be involved and who doesn't.¡±

The chief metaverse officer would liaise between necessary people for a range of projects. These could include virtual goods, avatars, NFTs, gaming, extended reality, and more, Hackl says. Additionally, they would need knowledge of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, gaming engines and digital design. ¡°They will need to be translators between the technical side of the metaverse and the business and creative sides,¡± she says. Besides acting as a ¡°point person,¡± Jordan adds, the metaverse officer would ideally be someone who has been in the space and understands the language. ¡°I¡¯ve seen a lot of people talking about the metaverse but I haven't seen people creating something in those spaces.¡±

Currently, a range of different roles and departments are overseeing metaverse-related projects at luxury fashion brands. Hackl usually works with digital marketing teams, innovation teams, strategy leads and ¡ª often ¡ª c-suite executives contact her directly.

¡°It varies from brand to brand,¡± says Lee, of Zepeto. Brands might form initial teams for metaverse collaborations out of their digital experiences team, while sometimes digital marketing or event marketing teams oversee projects.

Most projects require collaboration across a business, depending on expertise and needs. Gucci gaming partnerships are overseen in part by the company¡¯s brand and experience team, with participation across multiple functions, including the new role of director of new business gaming and collectibles. At Ralph Lauren, platform partnerships such as the recent Zepeto and Bitmoji projects fall under the role of chief digital officer and chief content officer, while other projects have fallen under the chief innovation officer¡¯s role. Burberry¡¯s projects combine its channel innovation team and the digital commerce function. (The brands declined to share specific comments regarding current or future plans for metaverse teams.)

¡°With fashion brands, metaverse-related decision-making often goes to the very top, so chief digital officers and chief marketing officers are involved. However, if a brand wants to push more aggressively and pioneer something in the metaverse, it would be natural to appoint a chief metaverse or gaming officer,¡± Lee says. ¡°It won't be long before the meaning of ¡®metaverse¡¯ in the brand's business plan surpasses marketing because it can be connected to meaningful sales metrics.¡±

Timeline and first steps

According to a number of tech platforms, luxury brands and creatives thatVogue Businessspoke to, there is currently no formal function or role that oversees metaverse projects for brands ¡ª yet. Hackls predicts that brands will begin to consider this type of role by at least 2023.