While the Web 3.0 ecosystem is not fully here, it's very close and too many brands underestimate its potential.
“All you need to do is ask an 11-year-old, would you rather have your allowance in Australian dollars or Robux [Roblox money]? - and you immediately know that digital goods have value,” Chris Bower, CEO, Dentsu Solutions ANZ said at AdNews Sydney L!VE.
Investing in the Metaverse and NFTs now ensures marketers can shape the future of the platforms to benefit society and customers.
This is especially important when targeting Generation Alpha for future marketing who currently have the biggest stakes in the 3D worlds through video games such as Roblox and Fortnight.
“My team bought 10 acres of land on a virtual moon, and while this was exciting it was also terrifying, because what exactly are we going to do with it? Was it too soon?” said Bower.
Eventually, Bower figured the best way to use the Metaverse right now is as a market research tool to educate themselves about the platform, its users and where the Dentsu’s brand fits within the platform.
“We can use this as an opportunity to show clients how to bring products into the third dimension and create a much more immersive experience.
“Evolving more into an innovation platform and maybe a sandbox for our clients to experiment with their own Metaverse executions - and who knows, maybe in the future, it becomes a platform for commercial application.
“But we're a long way from that, and the technology isn't there yet.
“When experimenting with the Metaverse, it's really important to think about how your brand’s maturity curve matches with the technology - where are you today? And where do you want to be in a few years?
“What are the design choices you want to make now that are going to enable you to represent yourself in the future?"
Social credit is the real potential of Web 3.0
“Social credit is like the egotistical value users get from wearing brands which says alot about an individual in a social context," said Bower.
“I think NFTs are yet to really unlock that social credit, and the key to developing that is through true interoperability.
“Getting there is going to be really hard because there's a lot of legal and technological hurdles - but it's critical to work towards.
“NFTs are powerful tools and are the cornerstone of the Metaverse because in a digital world - where just about anything could be copied infinitely - NFTs provide scarcity, and authenticity to digital goods, which is the cornerstone of value.
“The most effective way to provide more value to NFTs right now is to link virtual benefits to the real world - and those benefits don't have to be one-to-one.
“It doesn't have to be: I get the digital dress because of the physical dress or vice versa.
"I think the real value here is in the longer-term - brands need to think about how to bake in long-term social credit and utility, both on and offline with NFTs.
Bower discussed Heineken's Metaverse brewery as an example, "the virtual tasting room was a fun and engaging experience with a DJ, dance floor, and NFTs to validate entry.
“I thought really carefully about what they were trying to achieve with it.
“Is this the future of brewing? Probably not, but it does say a lot about the brand, what they want to do and what they want to stand for.”
The Sydney L!VE event is powered by supporting partners Dentsu, LiSTNR, Pubmatic, Foxcatcher and Boomtown as well as associate partners Piano, Amobee and Resolution Digital.
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