LONDON: Virtue Worldwide, Vice鈥檚 creative agency, has created an office inside the metaverse for Vice Media Group. The virtual building will be home to Vice鈥檚 many businesses, including Virtue, and act as a permanent residence for the group in Decentraland, a 3D virtual platform.
The initiative was created by Virtue Futures, a dedicated innovation division within Virtue that helps brands to innovate in new platforms, technologies and spaces.
Last year, the Virtue Futures division launched Coca-Cola鈥檚 first NFT, or non-fungible token, marking one of the first examples of how brands and agencies can use the technology.
Built in Decentraland鈥檚 open digital world platform, the space will serve as the agency鈥檚 virtual innovation lab where teams can experiment with NFTs, decentralized autonomous organizations and Web 3.0.
鈥淭he creative opportunities within the metaverse are hugely exciting and as we鈥檙e already helping brands navigate this new space, it makes sense to have an office there ourselves,鈥� said Morten Grubak, global executive creative director at Virtue Futures.
The Decentraland headquarters will serve as the central point for Virtue Futures鈥� global team. Clients and collaborators can meet for briefings, presentations, and demonstrations of recent projects in the virtual space.
The virtual office also showcases a range of digital experiments and has 鈥渉idden extras for curious explorers,鈥� such as a route for young creative talent to reach a selection of highly acclaimed global 鈥淢eta-Mentors,鈥� according to a company statement.
It will also serve as a launchpad for digital field research into the sociology of digital communities.
The virtual building is designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, the architectural firm behind The Pyramid in Manhattan and Google鈥檚 Mountain View North Campus.
鈥淰ice has always been about being inside culture, going to places where our audiences are,鈥� said Nancy Dubuc, CEO of Vice Media Group. 鈥淭his is a new frontier filled with potential and once again, we鈥檙e proud to be pushing the boundaries.鈥�