Turn and face the changes
There’s nothing strange about online innovations
Do you remember the time when the Internet was just a combination of social media channels and info sources? A place where the sharing of information seemed free? Oh wait — that’s what the Internet still is! For most people, yes.
Well, have we got news for you. Because while you were looking at the facade, contractors, sub-contractors, renegades and rebels were busy restructuring the whole building. It’s like unknowingly participating in a make-over show on tv: one day you open the door, and as your jaw drops the only thing you can say is: “Well, it sure looks different.”
It does.
Cryptos, NFTs, blockchain and metaverse — see how we oh so casually dropped the four most popular buzzwords of the Internet? — are taking over. Some say these innovations will allow users to wrestle away control of the internet from tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon. We’re not here to prove or disprove that claim — you can find literally hundreds of articles representing each side. Hundreds promising utopia, hundreds others promising the apocalypse. And not much in between. Who’s right?
Frankly, it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that at the moment billions of dollars worth are circulating in a blockchain-based online environment. And that the boundaries between physical and digital are disappearing. They are getting intertwined, and it’s not a matter of opinion anymore — it’s a fact.
Sports are a nice example of what’s going on. Examples are everywhere: early January, Manchester City football club struck a deal with sports virtual reality platform Rezzil, allowing users access to the pitch of their virtual Etihad Stadium and try and score a goal there. Currently, 17 out of 20 Premier League teams have sponsorship deals with the cryptocurrency industry.
Last December, the winners of an e-sport competition on virtual reality cycling platform Zwift earned a paid contract as real world professional cyclists. And Belgian star cyclist Wout van Aert had an artist create three NFTs of his victories, yielding almost 50,000 euros.
In October, American car racing association NASCAR struck an innovative sponsorship deal by entering into a collaboration with blockchain-based horse racing simulator ZED RUN. Through that platform, users can buy virtual horses as NFTs and see them race in a NASCAR environment. Earlier this year, current Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen participated in a virtual edition of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The crash that terminated his chances was live broadcast — the Dutchman suffered no physical harm.
And of course it’s not just in sports alone: Airbus and Boeing are now designing their new airplanes in the metaverse first, testing them virtually before sending them up into the air. Engineers working on a new high speed rail link in Britain have a metaverse copy of their project available, allowing them to inspect and plan repair jobs remotely. The same thing goes for oil rigs and other offshore locations: people don’t have to be physically present anymore at difficult or dangerous locations.
There’s no need anymore to wait for things to change — change is already there.
Our motto at Sinc is: choose or lose. It’s up to you which choice you make, but we feel it is as clear as a night sky full of stars that success resides with deciders. Are you already following a coherent marketing strategy and do you opt for continuing that route for the months or years to come? Do you prefer to stay out of the metaverse (“or whatever it’s called”) for a while, and check in later again to see whether it has added value for your business? Fine. Keep on doing what you did, and do so with all your energy. No one is saying that you’re doing a bad job.
Though there is one specific question that comes to our mind. We’re not sure every business owner has an explicit answer to it. Or is aware of its far-reaching implications:
Do you know where your client is going?
You may trust your clients to be there for you: you send them newsletters and personalised emails, you target the relevant online platforms and websites, you understand why they chose your product or service over that of a competitor. And you see a steady revenue stream. So, everything is A-OK?
Alas, that’s Mr. Today that is doing the talking. He has a strong confidence in what you are delivering and how you are running your business. Yet there is a complacent element in his personality: he dislikes change, because he sees no need for it. It’s an understandable character trait — there’s no strong incentive to do things differently when everything is going well.
Now that the online world is entering a new phase, your clients may not be as trustworthy as you think they are. In other words, if your clients have not embraced the changing online environment yet, that doesn’t mean they won’t ever. Because they may do it tomorrow.
And subsequently be successfully targeted by your competitors. It’s up to you to choose, or to lose.
