I write this as I’m heading to Boston to give my first real-world talk in nearly three years, and of course, it’s about the metaverse.
The good news is that when my friend running the Magnet Global agency community asked me to give this talk, in part because of musings shared in this very newsletter, I was able to workshop some new material. I combed through hundreds of sources and had fun crafting a story in a way I haven’t had an opportunity to in way too long.
The bad news is that I’m giving a talk on something that may or may not actually exist.
Forrester just last month released a blog post entitled, “There is no Metaverse Today, but Be Prepared.”
The post reads even better if you sing the end of it a la Jeremy Irons’ Uncle Scar in The Lion King.
Even though Forrester declared that the metaverse doesn’t exist (yet), Forrester still offered a definition of it. There are so many definitions that I compiled some of them and included a cheat sheet here to compare which elements are included in them:
Here’s how the definitions read in various public sources:
Forrester: “the 3D experience layer of the internet”
Gartner: “a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality”
NY Times: “the convergence of two ideas that have been around for many years: virtual reality and a digital second life”
Oxford Languages (Google): “a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users”
Wikipedia: “a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection”
Accenture: “an evolution of the internet that enables a user to move beyond browsing to inhabiting and/or participating in a persistent shared experience that spans the spectrum of our real world to the fully virtual and in between”
Associated Press: “the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D… it’s a world of endless, interconnected virtual communities where people can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices”
Even with these sources, none should be considered canonical. The AP, famous for its Style Guide, may still describe the metaverse differently in different stories. A Forrester analyst may choose their own way to describe the metaverse based on whether they are writing a report about retail, video, or cloud computing.
Still, the snapshot is telling for its lack of agreement.
I experienced that disagreement just from writing this newsletter.
A couple of weeks ago, when last writing about the metaverse, a reader responded with this email, reprinted in its entirety: “I think you got the Metaverse wrong. It’s maybe 5% virtual and 95% physical.”
I wrote back, “Then how is it a Metaverse if it’s mostly physical?”
Several of the definitions refer to the physical world or strongly imply it. Even referencing augmented reality, as the AP does, describes a digital layer over the physical world.
In trying to understand the confusion over what the metaverse is, I stumbled on an absurd tidbit.
I tweeted earlier this month, “Tapioca will soon be more popular than the metaverse again, but I don’t see many industry keynote speeches on why marketers need to care about tapioca.” And I included this image from Google Trends:
It’s a reminder that so much of the hype about the metaverse makes as much sense as the tapiocaverse.
We can learn from pioneering brands and agencies while calling out what makes no sense and has no value for actual humans.
While the metaverse is many years away from being some scalable, immersive, everyday medium, I’m excited to give a talk in the real world and not a virtual one.
Even if I trip on the stage on the way up, it’s a real stage where I’ll elicit real emotions from real people. However realistic the metaverse becomes, I hope we never have to forgo what’s truly real, and I’ll relish every second of it while I can.
David
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- The AdForum PHNX Awards 2022 are accepting entries. I even get to judge them this year, so let me judge you. Submit entries now.
- Kargo Buys Parsec To Build Attention-Based Mobile Currency by Anthony Vargas
- 3 Reasons Your Emails Aren’t Getting Results by Annie Maguire
- The Most Honest Analysis Of Nielsen’s Acquisition You’ll Read Today by Alan Wolk
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JOBS
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Keep checking out the #jobs channel in Serial Marketers for more. Better yet, subscribe to get updates from our job listing board. Here are some great opportunities shared in these places or sent to me directly.
MULBERRY
Enterprise Account Executive
Remote
“We are growing rapidly and looking for an Enterprise Account Executive to join our sales team. As an Enterprise AE, you will have an immediate and significant impact. You’ll be responsible for establishing critical partnerships for Mulberry in a full sales cycle role.”
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MONICAT DATA
Startup Full Stack Developer
Remote
Via Jasmine in the community
“In this role, alongside Monicat Data leadership, the Full Stack Developer will support the Chief Technology Officer in the execution of technology development, Sunsett.io feature development and maintenance, technology performance monitoring. This role will report to the Chief Technology Officer, executing technical actions for both Monicat Data service projects and Sunsett.io alongside the Project Manager.”
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XAXIS
Managing Director – Product & Innovation
Via William in the community
“This is a critical role and is a part of our US leadership team, reporting directly into the US President of Xaxis. The core responsibility encompasses all aspects of establishing and managing the creation of new media products within the organization and overall processes to reiterate and have a continuous product release system. The ideal candidate must have a demonstrated record of accomplishment in product leadership, strategy ideation and development; owning product (new media offerings) roadmaps; and working proactively to drive results in the performance and growth of these product offerings.”
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FIRST DAY
Creative Strategist
Remote
Via Alexa in the community
“The Creative Strategist, Performance Marketing will help define the strategy online advertising creative. We’re looking for experts in paid digital advertising who know how to make social media ads that actually perform and convert. An ideal candidate is somebody who is versed in creative (watches ads, follows trends, idea hunter) and analytical (can read numbers and make data-driven decisions). The Creative Strategist will be the nexus of ad production for the entire company, facilitating great performing ads through leadership of both the media and creative teams.”
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Also, check out the Serial Marketers job board.
Other job resources:
- AMA Job Board: Listings from the American Marketing Association (maybe you can also ask them anything)
- Beeler.Tech: Job listings for ad operations, programmatic account management, sales operations, and more.
- Braintrust: A freelance platform where you are the owner and where freelance talent keeps 100% of the bill rate.
- Built in NYC: Jobs at a range of levels and functions, as long as you’re okay working in this quaint, backwater hamlet.
- Content Writing Jobs: Content marketers, enjoy
- Creative Women of Color: List yourself in the database and find talent, via Women Who Create
- Demand Curve: Growth and marketing jobs
- ExecThread: Senior roles spanning a range of verticals and cities; membership is free but fully vetted (this uses my referral ID to get you in faster)
- Gently Ventures: Helps scale businesses by finding the right talent
- Growth Collective: Apply to join this network of notable freelance marketers
- Grace Blue Transitions: A portal for hirers and seekers with resources from this exec recruiting firm
- The Hired Guns: An array of jobs in marketing and related fields at brands, agencies, and media companies
- Hue: Amplifying voices of people in color working in marketing
- Lunch Club: Match 1:1 around predetermined goals with accomplished professionals (free)
- NYC Ad Jobs & Networking: A popular Facebook group
- One Club for Creativity: COVID-19 jobs Board
- #OpenToWork: There’s a channel in Serial Marketers where you can share what you’re looking for
- Pangea: Hire college freelancers (and college students can get gigs)
- Pocit: A platform connecting people of color with jobs in the tech industry
- Questions to Ask for a Marketing Role: What questions should you ask when starting a new marketing role or job?
- Serial Marketers Job Board: Post regular and featured listings and subscribe for updates.
- Startup.Jobs: There’s a section for marketing jobs
- Teal: One place to organize and manage your job search.
- TechNY Daily: While more technical, there are also some sales and marketing jobs at NY startups.
- VC Job Boards: Aleph, Eniac Ventures, Pear, Sequoia, Union Square Ventures
- VentureLoop: Free startup job listings; their paid option is $15/month and might surface more leads (but it might not).
- Venwise: Submit your job interests here and get in front of their roster of hiring leads; select “Serial Marketers” under “How did you find us”
Do you run or enjoy other job listing sites? Let me know, and I’ll share them.
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