Johannesburg, 02 May 2022 – Award-winning through-the-line advertising agency Happy Friday and veteran, leading digital agency Carver Media have formed an alliance to create a “new kid” on the digital, marketing and media block. Swiitch is a partnership between two established industry players that have come together to decode the Metaverse through creativity and technology.

According to Happy Friday Co-CEO, Craig Naicker, the purpose of Swiitch is to craft immersive brand experiences that can co-exist in the real world and in the vast cosmos of the digital Metaverse. Naicker elaborates, “The two ‘i’s’ in our name represent a future state where everyone will have a presence in both the real and virtual world – a human and digital version of you that co-exist.

“Happy Friday’s partnership with Carver Media makes perfect sense in this context. As a team, we aim to create a bridge between the real world and the virtual world. Carver Media brings 19 years of mastery in the digital space, using their vast technical knowledge to create immersive digital experiences for their clients.

“Happy Friday delivers singular creative experiences in other spaces. The two companies coming from different sides complement each other perfectly. And as Swiitch, we are coming together to create experiences that live in both worlds simultaneously.”

Among other real world/digital/hybrid services, Swiitch’s portfolio of offerings includes product launches, exhibitions, events and conferences, brand experiences and eCommerce. But according to Praneetha Aniruth, Co-Founder of Carver Media, there are many more dimensions to decoding the Metaverse and gaining the ultimate commercial traction for clients.

She explains, “The Metaverse is still a fairly new concept. It encompasses so many different aspects in the digital space and there is still some apprehension about key factors of it for some – blockchain technology, for example.

“We're steering clients into the Metaverse holistically, so education and collaboration with our clients is one of the most important things we as partners can do. Among other things, we will offer masterclasses – both for marketers and for CEOs – to make the Metaverse a friendlier space, and to break down any barriers attached to its adoption as a commercial tool.”

Decoding the Metaverse

The Metaverse is an online, 3D, virtual space, connecting users in all aspects of their lives. It combines multiple different virtual spaces. It is driven by augmented reality, with each user controlling a character or avatar, and it opens a whole new world of immersive experiences for brands. That is where Swiitch comes in. Naicker continues, “The immersive experiences Swiitch aims to create are a harmonious marriage of the offerings that Happy Friday and Carver Media offer as separate entities. Every experience comes to life from both a creative and a tech perspective. This thinking makes the experiences more personalised for consumers. Avilash Aniruth, Co-Founder of Carver Media expands: “If we consider a traditional activation or event, you might have a core group of ‘VIP’ guests experiencing the event in the real world. But in the Metaverse, that doesn’t mean the rest of the world needs to be excluded anymore.

“The Swiitch approach potentially opens brand experiences to a limitless number of people, who can immerse themselves in the event in the Metaverse and the real world all at once.

“Swiitch also has an established R&D team that is always watching what's happening in the industry. The digital world is never constant. It is always changing and in a state of flux. To stay ahead of the game, we need to be paying attention all the time.”

Swiitch is staking its claim on the digital, marketing, media, tech and creative map with immersive brand campaigns and experiences in the real and virtual worlds. These include tech-forward strategic solutions for brand strategy, positioning and development; customised virtual and augmented reality solutions; innovative web design; digital communications and social media; and forward-thinking UI/UX solutions.

To find out more about the Swiitch experience, visit www.swiitchagency.com