The world “Metaverse” became mainstream in 2021 when Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg,

announced that he was embarking on the development of a shared metaverse for users. Along the
way, he renamed his company Meta. According to Zuckerberg (2021), in this digital universe, "you
will be able to teleport instantly in hologram to be at the office without having to move, or at a
concert with friends or in the living room with your parents to make up for lost time". Not alone on
the spot, the tech giant Apple has also embarked on this presumed race, as the company must soon
release its new virtual reality equipment (2022).

Creating a new world means expanding the economy with goods and services that do not yet exist
and, likely, inspiring the generation of new businesses along the way. Business experts agree that a
single company is unlikely to be able to build and sustain the cyberworld. Bloomberg Intelligence
(2021) estimates that the metaverse market could reach 800 billion US dollars by 2024. Also, Bank of
America includes the metaverse among the 14 technologies that will revolutionise our lives by
mentioning that “The metaverse will include countless virtual worlds connected to each other and to
the physical world, and these new platforms will generate a robust economy that spans from work to
play, while transforming long-established industries and markets, such as finance and banking, retail
and education, health and fitness. , as well as adult entertainment", the experts wrote in the recent
report. Raymond Kurzweil (2003), a pioneer in the development of several technological
breakthroughs, predicts that "By the end of the decade - in 2030 - we will be spending more time in
the metaverse than in 'real life". This context attracts the interest of investors and business to
explore new opportunities in the area. Benjamin Dean (2021), a senior executive from WisdomTree,
an American investment and research firm says that "Metaverse is nothing new. What's new is the
amount of investment going into it and the growing acceptance of digital assets among an
increasingly digitally native population"

Based on the "Concepts and practises of digital virtual consumption" (Denegri-Knott & Molesworth,
2010) article, we can conceptualise consumer practises that are yet to emerge in digital virtual
worlds. In the paper, the authors try to help us capture emerging consumer behaviour in this terrain
in relation to virtual and material consumption, mentioning that, in a consumer society, these
tensions and potentialities makes the digital virtual consumption a terra incognita worth exploring
for brands. But how to measure if this terra incognita is worthwhile? - By analysing existent cases
there. By combining these ideas with the research agenda of advertising in the metaverse, proposed
by Kim (2021), we aim to find answers about "How to evaluate the impact of brand-consumer
interactions in the metaverse towards brand equity?", by analysing the real case of "Nikeland" on
Roblox. To reach this answer, we plan to use observational data through qualitative research. The
data can be opinions from Roblox users and Nike consumers, statements of brand managers, media
coverage, open numbers by the companies, and user opinions through social media and the digital
platform itself. To access this kind of data, we aim to apply netnography research and semi-
structured interviews, interacting and analysing user behaviours in Nikeland and on forums
dedicated to the metaverse topic.