Firm’s Metaverse Studio Helps Brands Embrace Tech Innovation 

The Journey company helps brands build tech and products in any platform.

To that end, it’s just opened virtual offices in Core Metaverse, Decentraland, The Sandbox, Roblox, Fortnite Creative, RecRoom and VR Chat.

Journey CEO-co-founder Andrew Zimmerman and Cathy Hackl, co-founder and chief metaverse officer, also netted some attention by recently ring the opening bell at Nasdaq in Times Square and in a virtual version on its Core Metaverse platform, a digital social space.

“Journey’s Metaverse Studio was formed by brands’ need to grasp Web3 and the metaverse,” said Hackl. “We construct virtual worlds, metaverse experiences, bespoke NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and virtual fashion collections with our global partners. Our clients design the future, create effective strategies, and meet fans and customers where they are — and where they’re going.”

Hackl leads the company’s Metaverse Studio, which helps worldwide brands with education, strategy, road-map creation, implementation and execution.

The Studio team consists of developers, strategists, creatives and futurists who have pioneered this sector for years. The Studio has worked with various meta-involved companies, including Clinique, HBO Max, Ralph Lauren and the Orlando Economic Partnership.

Journey is a design consultancy that helps brands navigate the possibilities that emerging technologies can offer. The mission of its Metaverse Studio is to create best-in-class metaverse solutions to help brands keep ahead of consumers’ expectations.

“Journey integrates best practices in physical experience design, conversational AI and metaverse/web 3.0 to suit audience needs. We will do this by establishing voice programs and choreograph physical-to-digital interplay in connected spaces where they live, work, learn and play,“ Zimmerman. The company is backed by private-equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners.

In May, Journey announced its official launch with the acquisitions of three companies: ICRAVE, Hackl’s metaverse consultancy, Futures Intelligence Group, and voice agency Skilled Creative to create an award-winning team with capabilities across physical, digital and virtual innovation.

“The Futurescape is the ‘space’ in which we imagine the next chapter in the customer journey and then build it,” said Zimmerman.

“Our digital lifestyles are catching up to our physical lives, and Journey is here to help organizations break free from two dimensions into a fully 3D environment that encompasses virtual and physical worlds,” said Hackl.

For those unfamiliar with the metaverse, here’s a useful definition: It’s a “digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually,” Investopedia.com said. “Augmented reality overlays visual elements, sound, and other sensory input onto real-world settings to enhance the user experience. In contrast, virtual reality is entirely virtual and enhances fictional realities.

Produced in association with MetaNews.

Edited by Fern Siegel and Matthew B. Hall