Direct-to-avatar (D2A) commerce is a relatively new concept that emerged into the market in the last few years. It is steadily increasing in consumer popularity and fast becoming a tool that businesses should incorporate into their marketing strategy.

But before we are going dive into it, just a quick briefing, If you’ve been playing any game with character figures, you know that you can customize them. This character also may be known as an avatar.

Avatars are personalized graphic characters that users can create on internet forums, video games, social networking sites, and any virtual world to represent themselves.

The ability to customize your avatar is essential since other users may see it. Hence, you want it to do a good job representing you and maybe even make a statement regarding your hobbies, your political opinions, and perhaps a “cause” you support.

Avatar customization and appearance can vary depending on the platform they are created. Some offer fundamental changes to a 2D avatar, while others offer extensive clothing and customization in 3D. They are used mainly in online role-playing games such as Fortnite or Roblox. At the same time, 2D avatars are familiar with websites and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

One of these games is Fortnite. Teens are asking for V-Bucks on Fortnite so that they can buy their favorite gamer’s skin. According to Mike Brown from Lend EDU, you can see that an average teen spends almost 50$ only on an outfit for the avatar.

The survey shows that the average gamer spends between six to ten hours a week.

With more time spent on these platforms, businesses need to adapt their strategy to target consumers as they consume, connect and create, emphasizing the importance of direct to avatar marketing.

As we move towards Web 3.0, and the Metaverse, avatars are the extension of ourselves in the virtual world. They are more customizable than ever, and users can express themselves through their online personas more extravagantly than possible in the physical world. Some people also opt to introduce a foreign version of themselves via avatars.

This customization allows businesses to target avatars through unique consumer experiences tailored to their platforms.

Direct-to-avatar marketing is going beyond the traditional and heading straight for new territory. The marketing strategies in this new digitalized world are soon to be drastically transformed. Where previously, people may have seen digital billboards advertising brands in the game world. The new direct-to-avatar marketing allows brands to create a fully immersive experience and a real presence within the new worlds and realities that are being made. This is directed at the avatar rather than directly to the consumer.

Gucci open tournament is an in-game tennis tournament that allows them to compete against each other while sporting their best Gucci look. This is a fantastic form of direct-to-avatar marketing as it provides users with what they want for their avatars, getting them interested by creating within the user’s world.

For fashion and clothing brands, the skins are a way to plant the seeds within a game world, representing an entirely new blue ocean of avatars to sell to.

The metaverse will decentralize access to Direct to Avatar marketing strategies.
There is a significant untapped market for new brands in the space. Statistics show the power and future behind this new digital economy of D2A as “Free-to-play games generated $20.6 billion in 2019”. One of the biggest games, League of Legends, earned $1.5 billion in revenue from these skins in 2019.” competitor Fortnite generated $1 billion of its total $2.4 billion from in-game skins on the avatar marketplace.
Today, this market is not just exclusive to professional or amateur gamers but a broader spectrum of the world audience. “Gen Z” are immersing themselves in virtual worlds like no generation before, demanding brands across beauty, retail and lifestyle to collaborate across these platforms.

The direct-to-avatar economy is expected to reach $50 billion by 2022, highlighting the importance of a brand’s ability to understand what is valuable to avatars in the digital world and the best channels to communicate with them. Looking further than purely cosmetics, how can they provide digital services to target avatars to get a slice of this enormous pie?

On the 11th of September, people worldwide came together for the exclusive experience Fall ’22 cross-over multiverse fashion event, with a digital runway on Roblox and a Livestream of the NYFW show.

if till now we talked about a few minor events. the New York Times and Vanessa Friedman wrote an article The Avatars Wear Prada which include an interview with Eva Chen, the director of fashion partnerships for Instagram. and talk about fashion and the metaverse

We spend more time online

We like to do this with style

We have no problem to spend on it money

It is something that everybody does

For brands it is just a way to make more money without shipment and cut all the middlemen

Five things you should know about Direct to Avatar was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.