Caitlin Lacey describes herself as having always been curious, so it’s not surprising she tries to connect the dots wherever she goes. In her recent appointment as Senior Director of Product Marketing at AR leader Niantic, that same curiosity has undoubtedly put her in the right place at the right time.
Her LinkedIn profile states she’s ‘a Metaverse champion inspiring the hearts, minds and imaginations of developers with AR.’ Caitlin’s role at Niantic – product marketing for its Augmented Reality (AR) developer platform, Lightship – entails ‘helping business leaders understand the magic of augmented reality, and how it can enrich our relationships with each other, our favorite brands, and the world around us.’
She shares, “We’re helping people explore the world, together, by building delightful and engaging AR experiences that inspire movement, exploration and connection on a global scale and merging digital experiences with the physical world”.
Caitlin’s come a long way since being a former bartender where she ‘loved making margaritas from scratch.’ She has more than 10 years’ experience in tech, which includes leading marketing programs across Facebook (now Meta) and Twitter.
In ‘helping business leaders harness the latest technology to drive value for their brands,’ this soft-spoken mom of two daughters shares her excitement about being part of Niantic’s journey ahead ‘to build next-generation AR experiences.’
On its website, Niantic’s mission is ‘using technology to serve humanity is at the core of what we do.’ Previously an internal startup within Google, it’s best known for developing AR mobile games Ingress and Pokémon Go, as well as impacting millions with Google Earth and Google Maps.
Caitlin says she’s felt connected to technology since she was a kid, making friends with people in AOL chat rooms and learning to build early webpages with HTML. Over the course of her career, and while exploring emerging technologies, her big takeaway is that there is immense power in technology, but it’s most valuable when it serves humanity effectively and for good.
During a recent interview on the Women of Web3 podcast, Caitlin described Niantic’s AR platform, Lightship, as a set of tools and technology that allow builders of the realworld metaverse to start building out the 3D map of the world.
With her stated view – ‘the future is and always will be a story about people’ – Caitlin’s connecting more dots, this time, helping Lightship empower developers worldwide to build new AR and location-based experiences that will bring virtual content and experiences into the real world.
Turning to the Metaverse, her definition is the sum of the technology that will provide the next generation of connection. “It’s stitching the atoms and bits of the physical and digital together to make every interaction with the world around us richer and more meaningful.”
Personally, Caitlin began to see the shift to metaverse even before hearing the term being thrown around. The global pandemic’s advantage was ‘shining a light on the need for immersive technology like AR and VR to come into mainstream use to better connect people who can’t be physically together.’
“By making video calls more engaging with filters and games, to providing true cardio exercise at home through VR headsets, to capturing small moments from a first-person perspective through smart glasses – the pandemic made it apparent that humanity can be together even when we can’t be physically in the same space when the technology is built with connection in mind.”
She asserts this evolution would have taken another decade or more in the developed world to come true.
Caitlin foresees the Metaverse will take us ‘back to a more open, more fluid internet experience, with fewer walled gardens, more decentralized experiences and more freedom to ‘surf’ and explore like in the early days of the internet.’
VR will open doors to better, more distributed medical training, while blockchain will open rights and ownership for musicians and other artists.
Moreover, as a metaverse marketer, she predicts brands will begin to embrace the value of AR ‘as a tool to generate excitement and build community with their customers.’ Caitlin is confident as the technology advances, regardless of whether we’re in full headset or an immersive mixed reality experience, it will ‘continue to be magical.’
Yet, she cautions companies about thinking they can do this alone or ‘lead’ everyone to the Metaverse because many different pioneers will build the space. Besides driving the AR industry forward, Caitlin has a passion for many things, including creative thinking, small businesses, visual storytelling, mentorship and program development.
Work aside, she happily confesses to being a dog person, beach girl and music lover, revealing a reticent humor when mentioning she’s a ‘bad joke teller’ and ‘meticulous worrier.’
And her advice to others? “Join in! Take everything with a grain of salt, but lean in. And carve out a place you’re passionate about, because the metaverse will be vast, and no one can own every piece of it.”
Looking ahead, Caitlin mentions it’s the first time in the age of technology where minorities (women, BIPOC and LGBTQA communities), may surpass men in areas of expertise related to metaverse technologies.
“If that happens, the entire future of technology will look kinder, more inclusive, and brighter than the dystopian visions that Hollywood has portrayed. And I’m excited about that future!”
