Traditional Brands Entered Web3. How Imaginative is Technology Marketing？
As a term for the virtual world, Web3 refers to the free interaction and decentralized space for living and communication. On top of this, the virtual economy as a derivative industry, has increasingly become an important track for investors and developers. Among them, Metaverse, NFT and digital human are all key elements of the virtual economy. Digital human is an interactive avatar in Web3. NFT is the transaction vehicle of Web3. Metaverse is the open space of Web3. These three correspond to the “people, goods and fields” in the real commodity retail model. With these characteristics, many well-known traditional brands started to enter Web3, actively updating their brand concept and enhancing their brand value in the Web3 world.
From the perspective of online marketing, on July 18th 2022, Du Xiaoxiao and the AI experience officer of JD Cloud Jingmaimai jointly interpreted consumer data, attracting the attention of more than 140 million people. Honor cooperated with Baidu to create the first virtual idol AIGC song “Every Minute, Every Minute, Every Day”, which helped Honor gain online exposure of hundreds of millions of attention and helped broaden mobile phone sales channels.
With the help of hot concepts such as Metaverse and NFT, the brand has also opened up the experience link from online to offline: opening new product launches, exhibition auctions, concerts and other activities, even brands began to set up a virtual digital platform, build a Metaverse community and start on the business landscape in the Web3 era.
Whether it is a fashion luxury brand, a tea shop for public life or a new energy car company……, they are all using Web3 marketing as a way to upgrade their brand value and bring a new experience to consumers. Let’s take a look at how these brands are “doing it all”!
Fashion Brand
Nike
Nike has left a positive and bold impression in Web3, digital + fan interaction is Nike’s concept of entering Metaverse marketing. Back in 2019, Nike partnered with Roblox to launch virtual item packs, followed by a partnership with Fortnite to have the game’s characters wear the classic Air Jordan 1 to promote the brand. In 2021, Nike’s marketing pace has become faster, joining forces with Tmall to launch the Nike membership advanced program. The program incorporates 3D avatars into the membership system, allowing consumers to choose “Trendsetter”, “Sportsman”, “Functional Man” and other exclusive categories. In December of the same year, Nike announced the acquisition of RTFKT, a virtual fashion brand and NFT collectibles startup. Nike increased its investment in the Web3 fashion field, which has nearly 232,000 fans in the Discord community.
In 2022, Nike began to move towards building “Dot Swoosh”, a Web3 ecosystem platform. As Nike’s virtual creative home, it has become a platform for users to buy and trade digital collectibles such as virtual sneakers or sweatshirts, which could be worn in video game simulation. The Dot Swoosh is still in beta and the first digital collection is expected to be launched this month, so let’s wait and see!
Gucci
As a luxury brand sought after by young people, Gucci has created a brand ‘treasure house’ for Web3. In February 2022, Gucci purchased a number of digital plots on The Sandbox platform and planned to build a virtual world — Gucci Vault Land. The Sandbox is a blockchain-based decentralized gaming community platform, brands and users are invited to build digital worlds and generate assets in the form of NFTs. The Sandbox and Gucci are cross-border integration, not only allowing consumers to experience the Gucci concept store, but also various mission levels that unlock Gucci Vault chests, allowing for more opportunities to win SAND and exclusive digital collectibles.
In addition, Gucci cooperated with designer toy brand Superplastic to launch the SuperGucci NFT collection, presenting physical handicraft souvenirs with colorful and vivid images, which are very popular in the market. In the area of social marketing, GUCCI has designed a virtual sneaker library SNEAKER GARAGE, which users can wear and share online via the Gucci App and the VR social platform VR Chat.
Dior
Among the giant fashion brands, Dior joined Web3 even earlier. Dior first told history from an immersive experience, and then opened a Metaverse experience store. Last year, Miss Dior Immersive Journey was launched, allowing consumers to explore the development of Dior through the online space, take selfies to create their own Ready Player Me character, and use this character to enter the Dior virtual world.
And then, Dior took another step forward in e-commerce innovation, partnering with British luxury department stores Harrods to launch the luxury fashion house Dior Beauty. Covered with purple and gold flowers, the virtual fashion house offers a variety of Dior beauty collections, fragrance collections and festive collectibles for consumers to view, as well as a VR experience to extend the interactive layer of the Harrods pop-up store, allowing shoppers to purchase their favorite Dior Beauty items directly from the virtual shelves.
Last May, Dior partnered with Meta Media to create the Meta Ziwu Metaverse fashion show — “On the Road.” The fashion show was based on the spiritual core of Dior Menswear’s Fall 2022 collection. It used Metaverse to enhance interaction to showcase the new season of menswear in the virtual world. The virtual male model is paired with Dior 2022 fall haute couture, and users can immerse themselves in the online show to observe the details of clothing and feel the charm of Dior’s brand.
Tea Drinks Brand
Coca-Cola
As a popular beverage brand, Coca-Cola is not limited to independent brand marketing, but cooperates with Internet giants. TMELAND x Coca-Cola Fan Festival, Tencent Music’s first virtual social platform, jointly created the Metaverse Fans Block. Users only open the TMELAND WeChat mini program to enter the Metaverse space with one click, and step into TMELAND’s exclusive block to interact with partners. TMELAND not only lowers the threshold for participation in Metaverse, but also meets the needs of users for the integration of games, social networking and entertainment, truly creating a Web3 interactive fan community.
TMELAND sets up a guide map to enter the center experience venue, which displays various Coca-Cola products. Users can choose their favorite beverage style “open and drink”, and “touch” with other users to get Coca-Cola happy bottle. Each independent product space for users to choose, in the Fanta section “one-click dress-up”,and taking photos with the stars stand-ups in the Pure Joy section… A series of intimate interactions between brands + stars have enhanced users’ sense of identity with Coca-Cola. TMELAND x Coca-Cola Fan Festival integrates leisure experiences such as cross-dimensional shopping, gaming and star chasing, bringing consumers unlimited imagination of social, living and entertainment experiences.
Wong Lo Kat
In October 2022, Wong Lo Kat pharmaceuticals announced the presentation of a co-branded herbal tea NFT package with Dr. Ji. This NFT project is a deep export of Wong Lo Kat “Ji culture” in Metaverse. Dr. Ji is a typical PFP project with two characters: an old man with a white beard and a girl with elf ears. Each type of image is made up of these two basic characters, complemented by different decorative elements (costumes, hairstyles, accessories, backgrounds, etc.) to ensure that each NFT is unique.
The NFT project, based on the PFP algorithm, also has a magical worldview in which participants can choose sides and decide the course of the story in a murder mystery game. In the Discord community, Dr. Ji invites fans to participate in collecting NFT projects and share in the creation of a murder mystery game. Members can play different sides and win a whitelist of pre-sales as a team. If they are selected, they will be added to the Dr. Ji story. It must be said that this wave of NFT marketing by Wong Lo Kat has captured the psyche of young consumers. It has further expanded the brand’s exposure and increased the number of passers-by.
Bear Tea
After the new tea drinking sector entered the second half, various milk tea brands became more and more competitive. The name Bear Tea is not familiar to everyone, but it is a new tea brand that skillfully combines tea drinks and Metaverse. Founded in 2016, Bear Tea launched the concept of “Bear Tea V2.0 — Metaverse Fresh Milk Tea” for ACGN and young fashion groups, with the virtual motion capture IP image — Bear Qiuqiu as a brand symbol.
(Virtual animation capture refers to the use of motion capture equipment to allow the avatar to perform exactly the same movements as a real person wearing a device of animation capture, which is the soul of the avatar.)
In this virtual motion capture IP from Bear Tea milk tea, consumers can interact directly with “Bear Qiuqiu” through various devices such as mobile phones/PC/VR. In fact, the brand has been upgraded from “Miss B”, ear Tea which was positioned from “elegant, retro and romantic” to “Bear Qiuqiu”, a “positive and happy” avatar that meets the aesthetics of young people in the new era. This virtual IP combines an online interactive experience with offline milk tea drinks. It is more appealing to fans than a single brand promotion, as fans join the relevant community to share their love for the virtual IP and enhance consumer loyalty.
New Energy Brand
XPeng Motors
The Metaverse test drive is here! Stepping on the Metaverse virtual driving experience express is the new energy potential stock — Xpeng Motors. At the end of last year, Honnverse, a subsidiary of Inmyshow Digital Technology, and Xpeng Motors jointly built the first online brand experience center — “Xpeng Dare to Enter the Park”. It upgrades the Metaverse test drive experience, builds a new landing point for car company marketing, and opens a new era of driving in Metaverse.
Based on the latest digital twin technology, Xpeng Dare to Enter the Park” by Honnverse creates an unusual digital scene, in which users can enter two scenes: the outer scene focuses on the experience function and the inner scene on the visit function. Users can experience the virtual exhibition hall, take photos and set up redemption machines to redeem car ornaments, giant poster equipment and the ultra-rare “SS-grade Xpeng P7 Car Model Digital Collection”.
The core keywords of Metaverse experience scenarios are intelligence, comfort, security and privacy. Xpeng’s product features perfectly match the four core requirements of the Metaverse experience scene. Users can experience immersive gameplay in “Xpeng Dare to Enter Park” anytime and anywhere, get rid of the time and space limitations of offline traditional visits, test drives and other activities, aggregate C-end users to deepen the construction of Xpeng’s Metaverse digital space, and promote the Metaverse and automotive industry to explore more practical applications.
GAC Aion
In the competition of homogeneous marketing of new energy cars, GAC Aion has also taken advantage of Web3 to break a new path of brand marketing. In September 2022, GAC Aion launched the test drive event on the Aion Technology Screaming Day. This event set up a rich virtual experience program to bring celestial beasts to the scene to interpret the incarnation of technology through AR technology. There are multiple experience interactive areas, users can scan the QR code to enter the AION Metaverse space, immersively experience holographic dream theme car scenes, over-the-horizon calling for parking, the most beautiful road test… Immerse themselves in the unique charm of GAC Aion. Combining AR technology with digital models, consumers can understand GAC Aion’s brand culture and establish an emotional connection with the brand.
In addition, Aion created the AION S Plus “Roselle” car for virtual singer Luo Tianyi. The trendy car appearance and the super popularity of virtual idols attracted users to participate in creative design. In the hearts of Gen Z, the car is not only a means of transportation, but also a presence that increases the joy of life, so AR interactive content can make young people’s driving journeys more enjoyable and inject ACGN culture into the real world.
Conclusion
In the past year, Web3 has been rapidly entering brand marketing, taking full advantage of virtual experiences, enhanced interaction and proximity, allowing the public to perceive a more three-dimensional brand image. In 2023, traditional brands will still need to take advantage of the Web3 dividend to transform and upgrade their branding by taking root in technology and finding bright spots.
Integrating Technology Hotspots
For developers, brands that excel in the Web3 field also indicate cutting-edge technology hotspots. NFT digital collections allow brand projects to achieve virtual appreciation. The Metaverse community allows users to enhance interactive communication; Immersive experience changes the static concept of brand viewing… Perhaps, creating a Web3 project solution that integrates the attributes of “independent interaction + transaction circulation + IP collection” is the key for brands to seize more market share in 2023.
Strengthening Relationships of Trust
On the other hand, brand building and Web3 development coincide in the need to establish a deeper trust relationship with users. At present, many brands only focus on launching good-looking and fun experience categories, ignoring the peripheral guarantee of user participation. This is a good opportunity for project parties such as encryption algorithms, storage facilities, and identity verification to actively penetrate the next generation of brand building, provide consumers with the promise of quality and security experience, establish long-term value relationships, and continue to empower brand marketing of Web3.
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