Meta unveils first campaign following rebrand to hype up metaverse

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Meta has launched its first campaign, less than two weeks after it rebranded from Facebook. The video campaign shows four youngsters looking at a painting, which seems to slowly come to life. The tiger in the painting then says, “This is the dimension of imagination.” As the youngsters groove to the beat and immerse themselves in the realm of the painting, the video closes with the caption "This is going to be fun."

https://www.facebook.com/Meta/videos/371497191427299

The campaign was posted on Meta's social platforms, as well as on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook. The post on Meta's socials was also captioned: "Step into a world of imagination with Meta and the endless possibilities as 2D becomes 3D." The video depicts Zuckerberg's vision of the possibilities the metaverse holds for Meta and its audience.

At the same time, Zuckerberg recently posted a video on his Facebook, teasing some of the experiences that await users in Meta, such as having a go at fencing with Olympic gold medalist Lee Kiefer. The video shows him in a virtual match with the Olympic fencer. His post included a tongue-in-cheek caption: "Spoiler alert: She will win every time."

https://www.facebook.com/zuck/videos/327135132552066

The rebrand comes as the tech giant shifts its focus from social media to the metaverse, with the new name representing the next chapter that is a future created by everyone that will take society beyond what digital connection makes possible today. The tech giant also set aside US$50 million in a XR Programs and Research Fund for a period of two years to collaborate with industry partners, civil rights groups, governments, nonprofits and academic institutions to determine how to build these technologies responsibly.

Moving forward, Zuckerberg said Meta will be metaverse-first moving forward and not Facebook-first. As part of the rebranding, Facebook will begin trading under the stock ticker, MVRS, on 1 December. Just last week, Meta appointed Spark Foundry to handle its global media planning and buying duties following a pitch that launched in March covering Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Meta's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that Spark Foundry will be responsible for strategic thought leadership, media innovation, planning and investment, cross-channel approaches, tools, tech and operations.

At the same time, Meta said in a statement that it would shut down the Face Recognition system on Facebook as part of a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in its products. To that end, users who have opted in to Facebook's Face Recognition setting will no longer be automatically recognised in photos and videos, and Meta would delete the facial recognition template used to identify them.

Facebook may end up facing some competition from Microsoft as well, as the latter unveiled its plans to enter the metaverse with Mesh for Teams. The latest innovation by Microsoft will integrate Mesh's metaverse capabilities with Teams, allowing users to enter meetings using a customisable avatar, and organisations will be able to create metaverses for members to mingle and collaborate in.

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