Brands That Invest In Immersive Experiences Must Change The Way They Think About ROI

This post was created in partnership with Infinite Reality

Immersive experiences are changing how brands, creators, and audiences engage online. And marketers who immerse themselves in technology like extended reality (XR) and AI will reap the benefits.

At a live Adweek group chat at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, presented in partnership with Infinite Reality, industry leaders shared what that future might look like, with deeper customer relationships, sharper data, boosted efficiency―and even more fun.

“Imagine you’re a brand, and you want to target a particular audience around content, and you can actually have a one-on-one conversation and ask questions, and then you own the data, you own the customer, and you own the experience―not Meta, Google, or someone else,” John Acunto, co-founder and CEO of Infinite Reality, told the audience. “It’s about helping businesses be empowered to own their own data, own their customer, own their experience.”

At the same time, the spatial web lets brands convey “vivid personality,” said Mariale Marrero, the content creator and influencer whose Infinite Reality site has earned 32 million followers, and counting. “Creators are always beholden to the algorithm, you don’t have any of that here. I can build in this space. It’s not just, ‘Here, I posted this’. And I love that I can know who’s actually visiting.”

Immersive entertainment also brings consumers closer to brands, said Rhonda Hiatt, CEO, M&C Saatchi Consulting. “People will go where they’re entertained, and where they can be part of the story. Bringing that moment, and allowing people in, means a brand gets to put its thumbprint on it. The platform you’re creating starts to gain traction, and gain followers. It has an impact on them, and you get more data.”

Creators can become role models for brands, said Julia Moonves, svp of advertising partnerships at kids’ media company pocket.watch. “Creators are so interesting to this moment in that they are willing to test and learn, and they have direct access to the platform data where it’s, ‘OK, I can A-B test two things, and I can find what’s unique about this platform, try it out, see if my audience likes it, maybe try something else. And they also bring audience with them. So it’s a very smart group of business people to go after and partner with.”

While the promise of immersive tech seems limitless, marketers seeking instant ROI will have to shift expectations. “You can’t always look at the bottom line,” said Hiatt of M&C Saatchi Consulting. “The scale piece right now is not where you should be thinking. It’s about the experience and the longer term investment, and whether you’re putting the foundational pieces in play. These are opportunity costs. The scale is going to come down the road.”

But the technology will quickly have to prove its worth, said Justin Johnson, head of market development at fintech firm Acorns. “Brand ROI is measured immediately, and if we can’t deliver that, whether it’s experience or entertainment, or product, they’re not going to spend, and certainly not at a scale that’s going to build an entire industry,” he told the audience. “If you’re making content, you sure as hell better be able to deliver the efficiency that advertisers demand, probably down to a cost per view. Because that’s probably where it’s all going.”