In her latest book Into the Metaverse, Cathy Hackl, one of the world’s first Chief Metaverse Officers, alerts us to the importance of training in virtual reality professions. Portrait of a fighter who travels through cyberspace and is already included in the list of Vogue Business 100 innovators.
“Today we have 200,000 chief executive officers, 125,000 chief financial officers and 62,000 chief information officers in the United States, but as I write this, there are only six Chief Metaverse Officers and I I’m one of them. «. In the preamble to her book “Into the metaverse”, Cathy Hackl, recognized as the specialist in the 3D virtual world, lifts the veil on the urgency of training in professions linked to new technologies which are shaking up the high-tech planet and whose potential income the 2030 horizon challenges businesses. “The Metaverse is a 3D virtual universe that represents the future of the Internet. With the rapid evolution of technology and virtual applications, these new responsibilities must be assumed to enable businesses to keep pace.” As the head of Journey’s Metaverse Studio, a leading company in metaverse experiences, Cathy Hackl has forged her career through her natural curiosity and constant need to bring «something new» to entertainment. Journalist for CNN, she says that a conference on virtual reality changed her life: “I felt a real shock when for the first time in my life I tested a virtual reality headset. It was both a magical and life-changing experience…I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to do. «
An evangelist of the cyber world
With faith firmly anchored in her body, she sets out to meet large companies, showing them the immensity of the field that opens up to digital marketing: “I am a communicator coupled with a sort of technology futurist. » Cathy Hackl developed her overall vision of the metaverse but also its impact on the public, working for HCT Vive, Magic Leap, and Amazon Web Services, before launching her consulting company “Futures Intelligence Group” in 2020. Acquired a year later by the innovation consulting agency Journey World, she has since served as “Chief Office Metavers” within the group: “I told my new colleague Andy Zimmerman that my title does not was not negotiable. I wear it as a sort of honorary badge, which obliges us to consider these new needs as essential internally in companies. «. Our cyber evangelist seems to have found her definitive footing: she founded the Metaverse Studio of Journey, which dominates the market in offering immersive events and unique experiences combining real-world and metaverse technology. For eight years, she has been supporting her clients by implementing personalized extension strategies (metaverse, NFT, games, virtual fashion, etc.) of their brand. For example, for the American distribution giant Walmart, she has created virtual worlds (“Universe of Play”, “Walmart Land”) where she produces events such as a virtual concert festival or several ready-to-wear collections. luxury connected. His latest book “Into The Metaverse: The Essential Guide to the Business Opportunities of the Web3 Era” aims to combat preconceived ideas that his job is akin to that of a social media guru and that the metaverse is just a topic. fashionable. She sets out the specifications for the ideal position to serve the companies of tomorrow: knowledge of video games and the Web 3.0 ecosystem with in-depth skills in crypto-currencies, cloud computing, and blockchain. She defines herself as a communications director who relies on technical skills to manage the brand, its image, its mission and its vision. “We must be able to help their companies capture Generation Z and Alpha (from 1997 to 2020). They hang out more often on Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft than on traditional social media. «. If some big names in fashion (Nike, Balenciaga, Ralph Lauren, etc.) have plunged headfirst into the metaverse (collaborations, exhibitions or fashion shows), large companies are now fighting to recruit the best talents to build their cyber universe.
Through these new opportunities, the question of inclusiveness is also raised by Cathy, for whom diversity is not an option: “The metaverse that we are building takes into account everyone under the sun.
It’s an immersive, three-dimensional world… a virtual world but with very real interactions, and where diversity, equity and inclusion are central to the platforms. They are at the heart of the foundation of the decentralized metaverse, which means it is accessible by everyone and there is no ownership or operation by a single entity. Everyone is invited to be who they want to be. » She specifies that to make the metaverse more inclusive, culture must be the central point of its development.
In the public report »Exploratory mission on the metaverses», the success in France of large structures like Ubisoft, Dassault Systèmes or even Ledger, proves that there are many assets in this common horizon of metaverse technologies. the immersion. For example, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will create “the opportunity for immersive experiences before, during and after the Games”, with the participation of brands like Nike, which has imagined a virtual venue. »Nikeland» will be a space where sport and creativity coexist and in which people can meet and share experiences, and even invent new sports using the virtual equipment available. “The metaverse is the future and the future is now” for Kathy Hackl… this is the challenge for companies who do not want to miss the next iteration of the Internet.
