Episode 84: Maury Rogow: Every Corporation Will Have A Metaverse Strategy

Maury Rogow builds a solid case that your brand will live or die based on the story you tell in the metaverse.

Maury is a pioneer in applying the art of storytelling to convey the value of technology in the Internet age. He built a successful approach to storytelling that made direct contributions to the success of some of the most important firms in the early wave of Internet companies. He later leveraged storytelling expertise and insights into a career in Hollywood which included producing films and helping craft storylines. After six years in Hollywood he shifted focus to how to help major brands tell their stories. His company Rip Media Group has helped companies from multiple sectors of the economy leverage the mobile Internet and video to improve their marketing and storytelling.

Today Rip Media Group, is preparing for another big shift, the transition to the age of the Metaverse. In this OODAcast we dive deep into how Maury sees the Metaverse shaping corporate strategies and ways leaders should be positioning themselves to serve the early adopters of the coming Metaverse.

What does Maury see coming?

The metaverse is the third big wave of change to sweep across the Internet. The first was the client server world of the initial Internet. Then the video mobile world of the last decade. Now the metaverse promises to be just as, or maybe even a bigger change than those first two shifts.

Maury encourages us to think of the Metaverse today as an infant, so new that it is hardly functional yet. But there is enough there to see something incredible is coming. Those that are grasping the power and potential of the coming metaverse today are those that are probably interacting with large online communities like those around the big 3D games. There are other use cases including medical, healthcare, industrial and retail already coming into focus. But all are in their infancy. The real power of the Metaverse will come when users will have persistence across multiple platforms including an ability to exchange value and be productive.

An example of a retail metaverse is RedFox, which has built a shopping mall which enables retail, entertainment, interaction with others and a blended approach to purchasing that bridges the virtual and real worlds.

We discuss retail and the huge economic potential for retail in the metaverse. We also discuss how just becoming part of the metaverse is not going to guarantee success. It will take marketing and advertising that helps people understand why to visit an online destination. Maury has crafted campaigns for metaverse companies already, and has found success by building stories that leverage timeless storytelling practices. When it comes to marketing to bring attention to metaverse capabilities, he describes his methods with an acronym that helps people understand the importance of action. The acronym is STUFF, which stands for:
1. The sizzle and sexy elements of a story
2. Touching or nostalgic story
3. Unexpected or unique
4. Funny
5. Fear of something

We dive into several use cases other than retail, including how metaverse enabled technologies are already helping in delivery of healthcare. The use of the metaverse for testing and training for the military, the use of the metaverse for education, real estate, legal advice, and business planning was also examined.

Maury and Bob discuss views on the great SciFi stories that have helped people understand the potential of the metaverse, including Snowcrash, Neuromancer, Enders Game, Ready Player one. SciFi stories can help conceptualize potential benefits and also potential pitfalls and problems. One example of the latter is conceptualizing security challenges, something rarely discussed these days.  Bob mentions two SciFi stories that can help us think through security issues related to the metaverse, one from Star Trek (Kirk hacked the Kobayashi Maru scenario) and one from Ready Player One (there was a credential theft scene). Bob and Maury discuss the "so-what" of potential security issues in this domain.  Clearly as we build our metaverse we really have to think about security, privacy and counter crime.

Maury’s advice for corporate metaverse strategies:

We are early. Which is good! Get involved nad keep a watchful eye on the space
The worst decision you can make is to do nothing.
As you build your metaverse strategy, build your communication strategy and know how you are going to tell your story across the brand.

Related Resources:
Rip Media Group

Maury Rogow on LinkedIn

The Metaverse at OODAloop

The Metaverse Is Coming And It Will Disrupt The Current Internet

The age of the Metaverse is upon us. The Metaverse is the successor to the Internet of today. It is a future state that will include persistent interoperable virtual worlds and the platforms required to support and interact with them. It will have its own thriving economy and deliver experiences unavailable in the physical world. It will be a primary means of educating our youth and delivering knowledge through life, and will be a leading form of social interaction and entertainment. For more see: What To Know And Do About The Coming Metaverse