While the debate on metaverse's potential has been doing the rounds for quite some time, the one thing that most marketers are still comprehending is its 'effectiveness'. 

With India slated to become an $800 billion metaverse market by 2024, it is expected to change the way businesses function and also enable a number of initiatives like the Make in India & alike. Experts took the center stage at the BW Marketing Whitebook Summit 2022 to discuss their view on the current-day definition of the metaverse and if it is a sine qua non for brands to engage with consumers. Shwetal Basu, Customer Care Associate and Chief of Marketing, Shoppers Stop agrees that it is a mere buzzword at the moment. "Everyone still trying to understand the concept. There are enough opinions and misconceptions around it. While it exists in certain forms, there is time for brands to engage and use it in the right format. It is important to, at least, start thinking about it, as it will soon become a way of life," she comments. 

Abhishek Gupta, CMO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance also believes that the possibilities that the metaverse offers are endless. "However, we are still grappling. As a community, we must harness the power that metaverse can offer."

Puneeth Bekal, Director, Area Marketing, Mastercard looks at metaverse as grey and not binary. For him, the metaverse is a massively scalable, interoperable network of real-time 3D rendering virtual worlds, where people can synchronously experience it, along with having a disctinct identity as well as continuity of thought. "But all this needs to come together for it to exist. There are stepping stones and building blocks that will lead us to metaverse like AR, VR, Gaming," he shares. 

Sridhar Rajagopal, Head of Sales, Marketing, Strategy and M&A, Otis India rather alerts the marketers who wish to invest heavily in the metaverse. "Brands, beware. Don't burn too much cash on it. It is just another marketing tool. You are not going to be in it in the near future." For him, brands must focus on solving the real problems of the world and not think about metaverse too much.