South African advertising agency M&C Saatchi Abel has opened an “office” in the so-called metaverse, after purchasing its own “plot of land” in the newly created “Ubuntuland”.

Ubuntuland, the agency said on Monday, is a “unique afro-themed metaverse”.

“It allows M&C Saatchi Abel and our partners access to a global network through social technology designed to remove terrestrial borders and open up trade, collaboration and regional or global partnerships.

“Ubuntuland will showcase some of the best of African art, fashion, entertainment, sport, tech and creativity and will provide a platform for artists from across the continent to showcase their work,” the agency said.

The move “establishes local representation in a growing global digital universe and will open our continent up to significant digital and economic growth opportunities for both talent, clients and industry colleagues to come together to solve business and even societal challenges with creativity“, said CEO Mike Abel in a statement.

Ubuntuland is being developed by Africarare and Mann Made Media and will be open to public land sales later this year.

The virtual hub is also intended to house the largest collection of African contemporary art from the M&C Saatchi collection, host sport and entertainment experiences, establish an open-source platform to share skills and learnings, and will host workshops from agencies across the M&C Saatchi Group.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, will form an integral part of Ubuntuland. These digital assets or tradable tokens are created from art, music, videos, pop culture references or unique creative creations that can be bought and sold online, M&C Saatchi Abel said.