Digital advertising veteran Tim Armstrong thinks Facebook’s rebranding to Meta Platforms was “number one in the best marketing jiujitsu moves of the last 200 years.” But while he thinks there is a big opportunity in the metaverse long term, he is more upbeat about the near-term opportunity of what he calls the “Earthverse”—reaching consumers in the real world.

“People don’t go on vacation on their phones. They don’t swim on their phones. They don’t marry on their phones. They don’t marry their 3D goggles. Maybe someday and again in the future, the metaverse story will eclipse the human story, but I think that’s a long time away,” Armstrong said in an interview with The Information.