Marketing in the metaverse: An opportunity for innovation and experimentation

Talk of the metaverse has been ubiquitous over the past several months. 1 1. The term "metaverse" was first coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson, in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, as a portmanteau of "meta" and "universe." A decade later, the online role-playing game Second Life introduced people to the notion of "living" in an always-on virtual world. For several years after its 2003 launch, it was nothing short of a phenomenon, attracting millions of regular users and persuading several Fortune 500 companies to build a virtual presence. Then the metaverse seemed to fade from our collective consciousness--until recently.