Major companies and brands are investing money and technology into the metaverse with visions of endless marketing and promotion potential – from NFTs and avatars to games and digital products. As the technology is still growing and evolving, how can we learn from those who are already diving into this virtual world? And what are the experiences of major brands inside the metaverse?

Jim Feng, VP of NBA China, joined moderator Hanson Wang, the Deloitte China Metaverse CoE leader, to discuss the business practices of big brands in the metaverse and share their views and methodology when analyzing the metaverse market. The discussion took place at the BEYOND Expo 2022 tech conference, held online at BEYOND Metaverse.

The text below has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Jim Feng, NBA China VP

We believe the metaverse does have huge potential value for products especially to increase different experiences that we cannot experience in our real life. VR is a very good example. If you wear and watch VR, it will create another world for you, something that you can never imagine until you try it out.

Though there are still some technological boundaries of VR that might be too heavy to wear, and sometimes the resolution of goggle glasses is not that cool, but fundamentally it just creates a new experience to compare with our real life. There are so many things we already have in real life. It’s very hard if we want to create a new world or experience, but once you create it, you have a new industry like the cell phone or the Internet. Nobody knows what the future will look like at the beginning here, but people need to keep polishing and improving the experience, the quality value of the content, and the production value of the content. Once it passes the line, then it will become a new part of our life.

The NBA is already trying different things in China, and my suggestion for those big brands wishing to start or to continue their pilot of the metaverse in the Chinese market is that they have to comply with the law in China. And regulations can be different from territory to territory, so don’t just assume that what works in other regions will work here in China. Companies have to be very conservative and explore what the regulations allow, and the type of restrictions.

Companies or brands also need some good partners and some reliable big companies. Lastly, they should be conservative, patient, and accumulate in small ways.