Why the Metaverse Makes Brands Feel Closer Than the Real World, Web, and Social Media? - in 3 Minutes

Why the Metaverse Makes Brands Feel Closer Than the Real World, Web, and Social Media?

Imagine walking into a Nike space where you don’t just browse shoes—you wear them, move in them, play games with others, and shape the experience through your own avatar. You’re not scrolling. You’re not watching. You’re inside the brand story.

The research shows that moments like these do something powerful: they make brands feel psychologically closer to consumers than physical stores, websites, or social media ever do.

And that sense of closeness turns out to matter a lot.

The Hidden Gap Between Brands and Consumers

Marketers have long assumed that physical experiences create the strongest connections. After all, touching a product in a store feels more “real” than seeing it online.

But closeness isn’t just physical. It’s psychological.

Psychological distance captures how close or far a brand feels from the self—whether it feels like “a brand for people like me” or “something out there, not really part of my world.” When that distance shrinks, people don’t just like brands more—they prefer them, choose them, and are more willing to buy from them.

The question we asked was simple:Which brand environments make consumers feel the closest to brands?

Testing the Metaverse Against Everything Else

Across five controlled experiments, we compared brand interactions in the metaverse with interactions in:

• Physical environments

• Brand websites

• Social media platforms

Participants didn’t just see brands—they interacted with them. Sometimes by walking through branded virtual worlds, sometimes by browsing websites or scrolling social media, and sometimes by watching brand content in physical settings.

Again and again, one result stood out:

Brands experienced in the metaverse felt closer to consumers than the same brands experienced anywhere else.

Even when the brand, content, and time spent were held constant.

Why Does the Metaverse Feel So Different?

The metaverse changes the role of the consumer.

Instead of being a viewer, the consumer becomes:

• A participant

• A co-creator

• A main character inside the brand’s world

This shift matters because immersive environments collapse several psychological barriers at once:

• Spatial distance disappears (you can be “inside” a brand anywhere)

• Social distance shrinks (avatars interact as equals)

• Temporal distance fades (experiences feel immediate and ongoing)

• Hypothetical distance drops (you can experience products that don’t even exist yet)

In short, the metaverse doesn’t just show brand stories—it lets consumers live them.

Quality Is the Bridge That Creates Closeness

One of the most important insights from our research is why metaverse interactions work.

It’s not novelty. It’s not hype. It’s perceived brand quality.

When consumers interact with brands in immersive virtual environments, they perceive those brands as:

• More thoughtfully designed

• More consistent

• More innovative

• More trustworthy

Those quality signals make brands feel “safe” and worthy of being closer to the self. And once that psychological distance shrinks, behavior follows.

We found that metaverse interactions indirectly increase:

• Brand preference

• Purchase intention

• Actual brand choice

Not because people are persuaded—but because the brand now feels closer.

Why Social Media and Websites Can’t Compete

Social media excels at visibility. Websites excel at information.

But both keep consumers at arm’s length.

Scrolling, clicking, and watching are passive experiences. Even when content is engaging, consumers remain observers. The relationship stays one-sided.

The metaverse, by contrast, is relational.

Consumers don’t just encounter brands—they encounter themselves with brands. Through avatars, movement, and interaction, brands become part of the consumer’s extended identity.

That difference is subtle—but powerful.

What This Means for Brands

This research offers a clear takeaway:

The metaverse is not just another digital channel. It’s a relationship-building environment.

For managers, this means:

• Metaverse investments should prioritize interaction, not exposure

• Brand-owned virtual worlds can outperform traditional touchpoints in building closeness

• Success should be measured by felt connection, not clicks or impressions

Importantly, the metaverse isn’t about replacing physical stores or social media. It’s about doing something those channels cannot: making brands feel personally close at scale.

The Bigger Picture

As consumers spend more time in immersive digital environments, the lines between physical, digital, and psychological experiences are blurring.

Our findings suggest that the future of branding isn’t just about being seen everywhere—it’s about being felt somewhere.

And right now, that “somewhere” is the metaverse

If you are interested in more: https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2025-5707