With the 18-to-34 age group most interested in the Metaverse, cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible tokens), leveraging those concepts is something apartment marketers – especially in student housing – are exploring.

Christy McFerren, President at Catalyst; and Laurel Zacher, Vice President, Marketing and Talent Development at Security Properties; explored the Metaverse — what it is, how marketers can step into it, and how it might even drive leases while having fun in the session "Metaverse Marketing Mania — Driving Leasing with Crypto, NFTs, Streaming, and More" at the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference this week in Huntington Beach, Calif.

She said her student housing communities have had campaigns where residents were offered the chance to win $1,000 in bitcoin or have their design team work with residents to create their own NFTs if they renewed their leases.