Disney, P&G, LVMH, and other large companies have hired chief metaverse officers to capitalize on Web3 trends, but it's unclear how long they will be needed
Advertising giant Publicis Groupe SA introduced the newest member of its C-suite at a technology conference in Paris this year. Tweets: @bizboyle , @bizboyle , @armstrongdrew , @eliotwb , @alexweprin , @martinsfp , @carlquintanilla , @oliviasolon , and @jonathanex Tweets: Matthew Boyle / @bizboyle : So who are these chief metaverse officers? Well, sometimes they're not even human: @PublicisGroupe has “hired” a lion-esque avatar called “Leon” who promises to lead blue-chip clients like @WalmartInc and @Nestle through what Leon calls the “meta-jungle.” Matthew Boyle / @bizboyle : Every company is trying to figure out its metaverse strategy. So P&G, LVMH, Disney and others are paying big $$ for “chief metaverse officers,” the latest addition to an already-bloated c-suite. What do they do all day? (thread) https://t.co/fdzQb0my7L Drew Armstrong / @armstrongdrew : Meet the hot new corporate role, Chief Metaverse Officer. I personally look forward to a bunch of people with cool haircuts, abstract responsibilities and big paychecks, but I loved the early part of the 00's so maybe it's just nostalgia https://www.bloomberg.com/... Eliot Brown / @eliotwb : omg. great headline https://www.bloomberg.com/... Alex Weprin / @alexweprin : A lot more cost efficient for companies to hire fictional avatars than actual employees IMO. https://twitter.com/... @martinsfp : Companies are welcome to pay me $1m to tell them to have ‘wait and see’ as their metaverse strategy. https://twitter.com/... Carl Quintanilla / @carlquintanilla : * Procter & Gamble * Creative Artists Agency * Telefonica SA * LVMH * Crate & Barrel “.. have all decided they need a chief #metaverse officer.” (via @business @Techmeme) https://www.bloomberg.com/... Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : Shingy 3.0? https://twitter.com/... Jon Cresswell / @jonathanex : I will happily take a million dollar wage to tell you not to do the bulk of the metaverse crap, therefore saving you billions. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The chief metaverse officer title is the C-suite endpoint of a hype cycle that began when Disney, Qualcomm, and Coinbase executives started weaving the metaverse into their Q3 2021 earnings calls, followed by brands like Nike, Forever 21, and Chipotle opening virtual storefronts on Roblox. By September 2022, that momentum had formalized into org charts: Disney, P&G, LVMH, CAA, Telefonica, and Crate & Barrel all named dedicated metaverse executives, and Publicis Groupe went furthest by installing a non-human avatar, "Leon," to guide clients like Walmart and Nestle through what it calls the "meta-jungle."
The timing is awkward. Weeks later, Meta's own overscripted Connect keynote showed the metaverse pitch struggling even with its chief evangelist, and the subsequent retreat — Meta refocusing on efficiency, Decentraland land falling from ~$45 to ~$5 per square meter — has left these newly created roles defending budgets for a trend their own champion deprioritized.
First-order effects
- Disney, P&G, LVMH, CAA, Telefonica, and Crate & Barrel each now have a named executive accountable for metaverse/Web3 strategy, giving virtual-world experiments a budget line and a C-suite sponsor they previously lacked as scattered marketing stunts.
- Publicis's avatar hire turns metaverse strategy into a client service: Leon is positioned to sell Web3 navigation to blue-chip advertisers like Walmart and Nestle, making the agency a guide rather than just a participant.
Second-order effects
- With Meta itself pulling back and Decentraland land prices collapsing, these officers face immediate pressure to show revenue or engagement from virtual storefronts and NFT-adjacent projects, or see their mandates folded back into existing marketing and innovation teams.
- Agencies and consultancies now compete to arbitrate which Web3 experiments survive, shifting influence over brand digital budgets toward whoever can credibly separate durable virtual-world value from hype.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, trend-driven C-suite titles — chief metaverse officer today, as chief digital officer before it — become a recurring feature of hype cycles: created at peak enthusiasm, consolidated away when the underlying market fails to materialize, with Meta's own efficiency pivot setting the tone for corporate retreat.
- The non-human hire at Publicis points to a stranger structural possibility: as avatars become brand assets, the boundary between executive roles and synthetic brand spokespeople blurs, decoupling the title from any actual person.
The trend: Corporate America's metaverse build-out is peaking just as its catalyst retreats, turning trend-named executive roles into a test of whether hype-cycle titles can survive contact with collapsing demand.