Brand Management and Metaverse: A Data Mining Exploratory Approach

Integrating emerging technologies, such as AI, the Metaverse, and IoT, revolutionizes management and brand practices. Brands can create captivating virtual experiences within the metaverse, including virtual storefronts and interactive events. Scientific data on brand management in the metaverse must be improved due to the concept’s early-stage development. While virtual environments exist, they do not fully encompass the metaverse’s scope. So, this research bridges this gap by exploring the relationship between brand management and the metaverse, focusing on consumer perceptions and their contribution to brand equity in this virtual realm. Netnography with a data mining approach was the methodology followed in this paper. Data were extracted by a metaverse community on the Reddit platform and, in total, 696 posts and comments were analyzed from June 2022 until May 2023. The results highlighted a positive and favorable consumer perception of brand management in the metaverse reality. This research contributes to the emerging field of metaverse brand management, investigating the impact of consumer perceptions on brand equity.