Above: VRChat's listing in the AWE exhibitor tradeshow
A small booth at last week's Augmented World Expo could herald a pretty big move for VRChat the company:
They are now partnered with Sawhorse Productions, a top immersive marketing agency that's done a number of brand activations in metaverse platforms Roblox and Fortnite -- including, most recently, a vampire game they created in Fortnite to promote Ryan Coogler's hit movie Sinners. (Trailer below.)
"Sawhorse is working with VRChat because we see it as an important UGC gaming platform for brands to activate on," CEO Nic Hill tells me, laying out his studios' upcoming plans:
"Our first phase is to build custom avatars for the new store. " (That was added to the platform this month.) "Then phase two is to integrate brands into game experiences and help them reach the VRChat audience and make impact there. We feel like brands looking to reach the more aged-up gaming audience of VR-first users should be leveraging VRchat."
He's right about aged up: Based on a survey I conducted with top VRChat YouTuber Syrmor, nearly 60% of the user base are in their 20s or older, with about 15% of them 30 or older.
Nic believes his existing clients could be a good fit for future VRChat campaigns:
"I think any brand could make avatars and digital wearables for the VRChat marketplace. So any of our previous clients could do that," as he puts it. Sawhorse clients include Netflix, Walmart, Honda, McDonalds, and Warner Brothers (hence the Sinners/Fortnite campaign). "With integrations and owned experiences, I think one good example would be the Sinners activation we did on Fortnite. We could do something like that on VRChat. Mainly because this is an R-rated film and we are targeting an older more mature audience."
Maybe I missed it, but I think this is the first time that VRChat actively promoted its platform to marketing companies/enterprise developers. Talking with people at AWE, I can definitely say VRChat is still off the radar for many of them; when I told 2-3 that VRChat actually has over 10 million active users, they didn't know or were surprised.
As for what kind of marketing would appeal most to the VRChat user base, I'd definitely tell record labels about its huge dance/rave community, and talk about its sizeable Japan-based audience. (Maybe a Dodgers Stadium-themed world, with Ohtani avatars?)
Hat tip to Neil Barbour of S&P Global the guy who told me about the booth, which was so small, I actually couldn't find it on the floor. (Then again, I only had a short time to find it in between singing books upstairs.) Fortunately Neil got to visit it, and came away cautiously impressed:
"VRChat has a sizable, dedicated community," as he puts it, "but it’s a different, maybe a more adult-oriented community, than what you’re likely to find in Roblox or Fortnite. The challenge will be identifying the brand partnerships that can play to that crowd.”
I reached out to VRChat about this partnership, by the way, and will let you know if they reply.
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