McDonald’s is hinting at entering the world of virtual reality by tendering an application for 10 trademarks in the metaverse. According to McDonald’s application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods and operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery.

McDonald’s Enters the Metaverse

This is not the first time that McDonald’s is teetering into the world of virtual reality.

In November of last year, it offered fans and customers a limited number of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in celebration of its McRib’s 40th anniversary. It later followed it up in January this year by collaborating with Humberto Leon, co-founder of fashion brand Opening Ceremony to create a collection of zodiac animal designs for the Chinese New Year in the metaverse.

The move by McDonald’s indicates a growing trend by companies to enter the world of virtual reality to reach and engage with more customers and fans. An apparent shift in strategy following a trending Twitter exchange last month with Elon Musk founder of Tesla and SpaceX where the fast-food franchise had mocked cryptocurrencies.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk Says He’ll Eat a Happy Meal on TV if McDonald’s Accepts Dogecoin

Why are Businesses Going Bonkers Over the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a virtual reality world that allows users to work, meet, game, and socialize together in these 3D spaces. As users gradually flock and spend more time in the metaverse, brands and businesses have started taking note. Businesses are seeing the metaverse as an opportunity for increasing customer touchpoints and some have even started advertisement campaigns in virtual reality spaces.

Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligence all offer ripe opportunities to increase engagement with customers. Microsoft, Home Depot, Starbucks, and Whole Foods now accept the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

Virtual reality spaces like the metaverse offer marketing opportunities for companies to offer customers and fans personalized and interactive experiences. Customers can engage directly with brands as avatars in real-time. In turn, brands will understand their customers better and develop meaningful and lasting relationships with them. Facebook, Microsoft, and Qualcomm Inc have created their own metaverse to capitalize on the trend.

The future of the Metaverse

With advances in computing and the proliferation of the internet vis a vis 5G, the Metaverse’s applications in business and marketing are limitless. Already the metaverse offers unique experiences and interactions at an affordable price.

As adoption of the metaverse increases, it could rank as the number one channel of customer engagement. As of now, the metaverse allows a fairly decent quality of interactions, and as the technology improves it will no doubt incorporate additional possibilities and capabilities to connect us all even more.

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This article, “McDonald’s Enters the Metaverse, Selling Big Macs and NFTs” was first published on Small Business Trends