MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Independent digital house Propel Manila has pioneered Metaversity in the Philippines, a program in collaboration with American multinational technology conglomerate Meta that gives space for brands, creators, and even peers in the industry, to play and explore the Metaverse.
In the age of exploration, ideating many value-driven use-cases on what the Metaverse can bring customers and brand is the pinnacle north star as to how Propel Manila envisions the direction of its Metaverse Strategy.
One of its first manifestations is the country’s first fireside chat in the metaverse, which will happen on October 12, together with The Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As Philippines), Unilever, Elesi Productions, and adobo Magazine.
Beyond this, Metaversity will create exclusive programs, hackathons, and in the future, certification courses for Meta’s forthcoming Horizon Worlds, one of the platforms Propel is betting on to ensure the first-hand experience of its teams and clients in getting creative in the metaverse to deliver ideas that matter to people, our brands, and our communities.
In exploring its possibilities and learning from its endless potential, Propel expects development in talent upskilling and improvement in creating real-time briefs, point-new solutions, and more innovation, to co-exist in the metaverse.
“At Meta, we believe the metaverse can enable better social experiences than anything that exists today, and we will dedicate our energy to helping achieve its potential,” said Dale Lopez, Creative Strategist at Meta Creative Shop. “We want to help accelerate the development of the fundamental technologies, platforms, and creative tools that will bring the metaverse to life. Through Metaversity, we aim to build for the metaverse and make it an everyday reality for Filipinos.”
Believing that technology has always been the long game, Propel invested in tech and innovations in virtual spaces, like the metaverse, incorporating Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to brand experience and the usage of Oculus hardware.
Prior to this, Propel Manila and Meta collaborated on a couple of innovation platforms like the Propel Manila x Meta Innovation Lab, a hub for radical ideas and new innovations. It gave birth to the first-ever IG reels hackathon in Southeast Asia which started with the country’s leading ecommerce platform, Lazada, that turned reels into a short-form theater and gave the brand far-reaching results.
The partnership also powered this year’s Meta Pride Walkway, the augmented-reality filter on Instagram that turned any pathway into a walkway for pride. It was engineered with easy-adjust floor mapping technology so any form of space can become a space for equality which has gathered marches locally and internationally.
“We see metaverse as an extension of one’s real-life experiences and we are extremely grateful to Meta for helping us build this infrastructure. This is a testament to how we resolve and ensure our part as the beacon who guides on how the metaverse can flourish in the country to propel towards creating a digitally-empowered Filipino community,” said Propel Manila CEO JC Valenzuela.
Join the 4As ARAL session: Creativity in the Metaverse, happening on October 12, 2:00 PM. Register here or catch the livestream on the 4As Facebook page.
