This week, iHeartMedia launched iHeartLand, a space dedicated to music and games within the virtual online game Fortnite developed by Epic Games.
The Metaverse destination was built using Fortnite’s creative toolset with help from the game developer team at Atlas Creative. Fortnite players will be able to visit iHeartLand to play mini games and participate in exclusive celebrity encounters.
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Interact with the public. “Our goal is to meet audiences where they are – delivering innovative and incredible programming to constantly challenge ourselves to take entertainment to the next level,” said Conal Byrne, CEO. of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group, in a company statement. “From interactive performances and intimate stories to immersive, native platform gameplay – this new world allows us to expand the reach of today’s greatest creators, artists and personalities in groundbreaking way, and is an important next step for iHeartMedia in expanding our engagement with our users.
Read next: How the Gaming Universe Prepares Marketers for the Metaverse
Metaverse Live Events. iHeartLand will be the virtual location for 20 events, including the first-ever Metaverse concert by GRAMMY-nominated artist Charlie Puth on September 9.
This concert and other events will take place in the virtual arena at State Farm Park, where the insurance company acquired the naming rights in June.
Mini games. Fortnite players who visit iHeartLand also have the opportunity to play mini-games and earn gold, the in-game currency.
The mini games include “Speed of Sound,” a car racing game around a marked heart-shaped track, and a cloud-based obstacle course game called “Leap of Faith”.
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Why do we care? Although Epic Games is closely guarded by the number of current users, Fortnite is very popular and has expanded its reach through mobile and free versions. It underscores iHeartMedia’s mission to “meet audiences where they are.”
For Fortnite players who don’t immediately head to iHeartLand to play mini games, they may be forced to watch a virtual performance by a headliner like Charlie Puth. Maybe even some of Charlie Puth’s 44 million monthly Spotify listeners who haven’t played Fortnite will dive into iHeartLand and take a look. As they say in the Metaverse, this is in his infancy. But metaverse activations aren’t just about reaching specific gaming audiences, they’re about a new generation of cross-promotion.
About the Author
Chris Wood brings over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he serves as an Associate Editor, providing original analysis of the changing technological landscape of marketing. He has interviewed leaders in technology and politics, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins to former Cisco CEO John Chambers and Vivek Kundra, who was named by Barack Obama as the nation’s first federal CIO. He is particularly interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the world of marketing as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “Theatre of Innovation” at Fintech Inn, Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades such as Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood also writes for KIRKUS and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several book blog. He studied English at Fairfield University and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.