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Over the past few months, Metaverse has received a lot of attention. Some brands are viewing marketing in the metaverse as an opportunity to reach a larger audience in an engaging manner. Increasingly, automakers are getting onto the metaverse bandwagon to enhance their customer experience.

Mindshare India recently conceptualised and enabled the first ever electric vehicle (EV) launch in the metaverse for Volvo Cars in a space called Volvoverse. This is a first-of-its-kind collaboration across WPP agencies.

Watch to find out how and why they did it. 

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Meeting Amin Lakhani and Amit Jain in Volvoverse 

The FMCG juggernaut Unilever said that its brands are beginning to explore the metaverse – a virtual realm where real-world limits don’t apply, but real-world representation absolutely must.

When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced his metaverse plans and even changed his company name to Meta to reflect his bigger ambitions, he said: “You’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine. Get together with friends and family. Work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today.”

So far people's experiences of metaverses have ranged from awesome to awful, with most falling in the underwhelming category. There's also a rising concern among privacy advocates and users around privacy, security and safety as the metaverse emerges from a buzzword to become a reality.

Brands and marketers across the board, however, are planting their flags firmly in the metaverse.

Here's how Unilever, one of the world's biggest companies, is approaching the metaverse. The company said that it is still early days for Web3 and the metaverse, but it's already taking strategic steps into these virtual spaces.

What is it doing: In the past year, some Unilever brands have begun to explore the metaverse through partnerships, gaming and experiences. Extending its purpose-driven brands philosophy, the company is working to ensure it plays "a part in making this evolving arena representative, inclusive and safe for everyone who uses it."

But how? The company said in a statement, "Robust governance around issues such as data privacy, safety, equity, diversity &amp; inclusion, sustainability and ethics needs to be established and we’re using our scale and global profile to help set some future-fit foundations for our business and beyond."

Unilever has an in-house Web3 Collective, a cross-functional group of subject-matter experts representing areas such as marketing, finance, legal, media, procurement, licensing and more. Supported by people across brands, categories and markets, and agency partners, that are helping Unilever navigate this new world.

Emily O’Brien, one of the Programme Directors of Web3 Collective, said, “We’re currently on the cusp of a seismic shift: the biggest change to the digital landscape, and culture, since the dawn of social media in the early 2000s with Web2."

She said that consumers are already immersing themselves in these spaces and spending more of their time with virtual experiences that enable them to explore their passions, participate in cultural events, and engage with like-minded communities.

“This is a great opportunity for brands, but they must offer genuine utility to consumers and not just jump on the bandwagon,” she added. “We’ve set up the Web3 Collective to tackle the risks and concerns surrounding Web3 and the metaverse that we want to mitigate and solve. As Unilever we have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to influence the industry and lead from the front."

The Work: Unilever's attempt to put purpose into practice in the metaverse

1) Degree Metathon - Rexona hosted the world’s first metaverse marathon

Deodorant brand Rexona, also known as Degree and Sure, is on a mission to give everyone the confidence to move more. In 2021, the brand announced the world’s first adaptive deodorant designed for people with disabilities.

Rexona partnered with metaverse platform Decentraland to host the Degree Metathon. The route took in 26.2 miles of the platform’s scenery, complete with accessible architecture to reflect a more inclusive landscape.

The first-ever adaptive wearables were introduced, including wheelchairs and running blades, to offer greater representation for people with disabilities and enable participants to create avatars representative of their unique identities.

[caption id="attachment_802" align="alignnone" width="1280"]<img class="wp-image-802 size-full" src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/maxresdefault-4.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Rexona partnered with metaverse platform Decentraland to host the Degree Metathon.[/caption]

2) Getting Closeup and personal in Decentraland

The oral care brand has long championed love of all kinds and in March 2022, it launched the Closeup City Hall of Love in Decentraland.

It’s a completely inclusive environment where users can mint an NFT marriage certificate, immortalise their love on the blockchain, and celebrate with friends and family.

3) Magnum’s museum in the metaverse

In June 2022, Magnum invited delegates at the MET AMS metaverse festival in Amsterdam to visit a virtual exhibition. Hosted in Decentraland, the Magnum Pleasure Museum showcased original artwork from Magnum’s collaborations with painters, designers and sculptors.

Guests enjoyed the gallery, and had the chance to order a Magnum from a vending machine in the metaverse – getting a glimpse of how ice creams might be ordered in the future. Simulating an evolution of an existing partnership between Unilever and Deliveroo, the ice cream was then delivered to them at the end of their experience, bringing the virtual world into reality – and giving users a taste of ultra-futuristic food shopping.

[caption id="attachment_803" align="alignnone" width="1280"]<img class="size-full wp-image-803" src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/magnum_remix_met_ams-80580169-jpg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> The Magnum Pleasure Museum (2022) showcased original artwork.[/caption]

4) Sunsilk’s safe space for girl gamers on Roblox

Unilever’s first foray into the virtual world of Roblox, Sunsilk City, is a space where girls can feel included, engage with a real-life role model, and learn about Sunsilk’s range of training programmes for real-world skills. There’s also a range of mini games, where users can design creative hairstyles for their avatars and even blast away negativity with a magic hairdryer.

[caption id="attachment_804" align="alignnone" width="1280"]<img class="size-full wp-image-804" src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/maxresdefault-5.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Sunsilk City on Roblox[/caption]

Web3 Collective's O'Brien said, “Things are changing fast but one thing we’re certain about is that the new virtual landscape must be more equitable than the internet – and indeed the physical world – is today. It must be more representative and more inclusive for everyone – from the avatars we can build to attitudes we embody and experiences we enjoy. And it must be sustainable. From our work in this space so far, it’s clear that just as purpose connects with people in the real world, it matters in the metaverse too.”

Inside Unilever's grand plans to move in to the metaverse

It is said that the ugliest sound in the world is the tick tock of a clock because it tells you time is passing, never to come back again. It is the one thing we cannot get more of, or get back.

Mark Zuckerberg would agree. But the relentless TikTok that pains him is that of the eponymous Chinese social media giant. Launched only five years ago, TikTok is one of the world’s fastest-growing social media platforms. Sensor Tower in its “Q1 2022: Store Intelligence Data Digest” reported TikTok as the top app by worldwide downloads in Q1 2022. The app previously had surpassed 3.5 billion all-time downloads in the first quarter of 2021, becoming just the fifth app (and the only one not owned by Meta) to achieve this milestone.

Since the start of 2022, TikTok has been downloaded more than 175 million times. TikTok has surpassed 10 million downloads for the past nine quarters now. No app has had more downloads than TikTok since the beginning of 2018.

This is significant for two reasons: Firstly, this stellar performance has punched the entrenched Silicon Valley social media giants in the nose and they are bleeding. Secondly, TikTok is seen as a danger to those who see the business as an extension of China’s new internet ambitions. It is an indication of the finesse with which China players can deal in such areas. The followership, brand appeal and gush of content has left everyone awe struck.

TikTok might be the easiest social act to be a part of but lurking under the simple interface is bleeding edge Artificial Intelligence which adapts and adopts content at a blinding pace. No wonder TikTok signed up its first 1 billion users double as fast as arch-rival Facebook.

In America, the average TikTok user, on a daily basis, spends 50 percent longer on the app than the typical user spends on Instagram. Powered by such reach and engagement, advertising revenues have surged. TikTok’s revenues are expected to reach $12 billion this year and $23 billion in 2024. Meta has been particularly hard-hit as tech stocks have taken a beating on flattish growth and privacy concerns and the firm is now seen as re-engineering its products to mimic TikTok.

But this success has raised a shrill alarm. There is continued scrutiny and concerns regarding the rise and rise of TikTok. What is the reason for such alarm?

The risk is privacy at minimum and national security at the other end of the danger spectrum. Simply put, China’s regime reserves the right to appropriate data from its companies. No one is exempt. Some have questioned these data concerns arguing that the average social user is unconcerned by privacy and most advertising models are based on companies reading data and usage. By this logic, the advantage of inside access is not new. Data is being analysed by all. How would it matter if it is one company or another?

They see TikTok as a publisher of harmless, even frivolous memes. Can world power be impacted by quirky dance moves?

But TikTok is not slapstick comedy and bad dancing alone. The bigger, material concern emerges with TikTok as an entertainment and news platform. TikTok is a news source for a quarter of all Americans and perhaps most of its youth. This deepens this sense of anxiety. The Chinese government actively meddles in domestic media; TikTok’s content creators are outside China, but the app’s algorithm is within Beijing’s sight. Given an adaptive, personalised feed, manipulation cannot be easily detected.



China knows that social platforms have clout particularly in electoral systems. It recently classified content-recommendation algorithms as a key technology. The commercial implications for TikTok’s competitors are dire. Facebook's entire business is based on tracking users to feed its advertising machine and it is rolling in cash. Last year alone, the company made $40 billion in profit. But the key issue is a growth slowdown. Meta’s market cap dropped $230 billion in one day-the most ever for a publicly traded company- on account of privacy-linked constraints to its model. Apple took a lead in this matter and raised the privacy bar. So, the western tech bloc is hardly an indivisible monolith advancing its interests.

TikTok’s success is not a fluke. The social media app cuts through with relevant trends, unique algorithms and a diverse set of communities for every niche subject matter. Recent updates include interactive add-ons for in-feed ads and its own AR development platform-Effect House. This has made Meta and smaller other players doubt their technical skills as pertinent to where consumers see value.

Despite being banned in India, which has one of the largest markets for app installs in the world, TikTok was ranked third overall in Asia. It was number one on the App Store. Looking at US overall downloads, TikTok has been the top app each quarter since Q1 2021. The last app to beat TikTok was Zoom in Q4 2020. Also, since Q1 2021, TikTok and YouTube have been the top two apps on the US App Store each quarter. TikTok was also the number one app on Google Play for the third quarter in a row, with installs up 19 percent year-over-year.

Starting with the Trump Administration, the United States is keen to box Chinese tech expansion. Be it TikTok or Huawei, they have moved proactively. Brendan Carr, one of the FCC's commissioners, shared - via Twitter - a formal letter written to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in late June. The letter pointed to reports and other developments that made TikTok non-compliant with the two companies' app store policies.

"TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface. It is not just an app for sharing funny videos or meme. That's the sheep's clothing," he said in the letter. "At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data."

Carr's letter, written on FCC letterhead, said if the Apple and Alphabet do not remove TikTok from their app stores, they should provide statements to explain "the basis for your company's conclusion that the surreptitious access of private and sensitive U.S. user data by persons located in Beijing, coupled with TikTok's pattern of misleading representations and conduct, does not run afoul of any of your app store policies."

On July 16, it was announced that TikTok’s global chief security officer Roland Cloutier, who oversees cyber security, is stepping down from his role. TikTok has been reshuffling its global security team and moving China-specific security issues, including ring fencing it from ByteDance, to more localised teams. It recently announced a dedicated US data security team known as "USDS" as a gatekeeper for US user information, minimising China’s access to data. The company is discussing a structure under which the team would operate autonomously and not be under TikTok’s control or supervision. TikTok, whose leadership is based in the United States and Singapore, is considering rolling out similar data security teams in other regions.

It is estimated that 44 percent of TikTok’s American users are under 25 (compared with 16 percent of Facebook’s). That makes the video app a hugely desirable and influential platform. It is moving beyond User Generated Entertainment Content to shopping and news.

Still, TikTok is but one small corner of a large Chinese strategic canvas. The Chinese are building their own internet, in a potential fragmentation that has been called the “splinternet”, an alternative cyberspace. The Chinese version of cyberspace would be a completely different digital architecture, complete with its own ideological governance and values incompatible with our own. It would herald the beginning of a new cold war-style split, between an ‘open and free’ and ‘controlled and compromised’ internet.

Digital China, like all the country’s national-level strategies in general, is built on Communist Party decisions, objectives, missions, projects, and priority areas of action. ‘New Type Infrastructure’ is one of Digital China’s major missions, one of three focused specifically on developing core technologies. The New Type Infrastructure has three main directions — information infrastructure, integration infrastructure and innovation infrastructure. This is a major mission designed to support national informatization. It overlaps with two key focus areas, mastering core technologies and collecting cyber talent, from one of Digital China’s cornerstone strategies: To be a ‘Cyber Great Power’.

While the technical missions of Digital China are grand, the socioeconomic and geopolitical ambitions of Digital China are imperial in scope. This digital transformation encompasses digital economy, e-government, digital culture, smart society, and digital ecology.

The governance and control of data is a key focal point of Digital China. A new age Marxist economic system that had elevated data as the key factor of production joining labour, land, capital, and technology.

TikTok delights consumers and advertisers worldwide, but China’s regime cannot let surveillance and propaganda be beyond its limits of authority. How this will play out is a big deal for everyone.

In effect, TikTok is a test case for global business, global internet and global capitalism.

Shubhranshu Singh is vice president, marketing - domestic & IB, CVBU, Tata Motors. He writes Simply Speaking, a weekly column on Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Note to readers: I'm intrigued by information such as that eight percent of the population is left-handed, that giraffes only sleep five minutes every twenty-four hours and so on which is useless but important! In the eighteenth century, German aristocrats kept glass-fronted cabinets which displayed curios. They called it Wunderkammern. This column is some such thing. In an unmarked field it is easy to wander… I want to open windows to glimpse views rather than a whodunnit or a how-to-do-it. I have a licence to be long or short. To be structured or abrupt. This column has no beginning, middle or end. It's a journey without a destination. Simply speaking...

Simply Speaking: TikTok is surging. For Meta or Verse

If empirical evidence is anything to go by, once initial trepidation is erased, mankind does tend to embrace new developments and integrate them into their lifestyle. Every Indian household watches content, but content consumption habits have transcended from cinema to television to now handheld devices leading up to 89 percent of our country streaming their content on their mobile phones.

The Invisible Nudge

What got people to integrate this habit into their daily routine? The OTT and short format content platforms themselves. With the OTT Industry projected to grow to $13.34 billion in 2023. That’s just over a 49 percent jump from its $8.95 billion industry growth numbers in 2020. The impact of a successful ‘behaviourial nudge’ via platforms is all around us, with Instagram becoming the go-to for businesses and individuals alike. It’s the ‘platforms’ that compete with each other, to draw people in and scale the community, to make it an attractive playground for brands.

It’s not about When but How we’re going to get on to the Metaverse ?

Rise of Web 3.0 Platform Experiences

The competition amongst Web3.0 platforms over the past four months has been exciting to watch. With each platform upping the ante to attract community and brands into the metaverse. Sandbox did this successfully with the launch of rapper Snoop Dog’s metaverse ‘Snoopverse’. Fans get to explore a custom virtual world featuring all things Snoop Dogg including ‘Doggies’, an NFT collection of 10,000 Snoop Dogg avatars. He also released an album on the blockchain through a partnership with Gala Games, a blockchain gaming platform, which sold over $44 million worth of ‘Stash Box’ NFTs in just five days.

Back home in cricket-crazy India, the Gujarat Titans became the first Indian sports team to land on the XP&amp;Dland metaverse, which saw over 1 lakh visits from fans in their virtual fan dugout within just 24 hours, back in early March.

Statistics also indicate that platforms like Decentraland have seen their user base rise by 3,300 percent, achieving a peak market cap of $12 billion. Others like Somnium Space and The Sandbox have seen similar figures in terms of early growth, proving that the universe is expanding not just cosmically, but digitally too.

Community

The current generation of Millennials and Gen-Z has graduated from Web 2.0 to 3.0. The next generation, Gen-Alpha, will be native to the Web 3.0 universe and will have a very unique set of considerations. A pivotal point that will steer Gen-Alpha and Gen-Z towards the metaverse, is it being a community based platform, just like Facebook was two decades ago.

‘Digital Ownership’ are the new ‘Followers and Likes’

After the liberalization, privatization, and globalization of India, the big dream was to purchase a car, own a home and collect tangible assets. The core ideology of premium and private exclusivity extends to the metaverse as well. Except it’s the allure of ‘digital ownership’ where every individual takes pride in owning a virtual commodity that is exclusive to them, much akin to a cherished home, car or motorbike in the physical world.

"Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse," this quote by the great English philosopher Francis Bacon perfectly describes our relationship with fashion. The future of fashion will no longer just be about real life trends but virtual ones too. With the introduction of RWA NFTs, owning “haute couture” on the Metaverse need not be limited to the digital realm; one can flaunt a physical memento of their exquisite virtual acquisition.

Fashion and the Metaverse are a match made in couture heaven! Take Gucci’s collaboration with Roblox for example. An expansive online platform where one can access a plethora of games, Roblox saw Gucci enter its dominion as users could purchase digital Gucci memorabilia and dress their game avatars. The campaign was an instant success as gamers queued up to ‘Gucci-fy’ their online presence. Inside Roblox‘s virtual world, a digital-only Gucci bag sold for more money than the bag’s value in the real world. One user paid roughly $4,115, or INR 350,000, for a Gucci Roblox-only purse, almost $800 more than its price in physical stores.

Apart from these, many luxury fashion brands have independently launched their own NFTs which are finding a lot of fandom in the digital space. RTKFT, a virtual sneaker brand, had auctioned their limited edition virtual shoes which clocked in $3.1 million in revenue. Fabricant is the first Metaverse-only fashion company to create fashion for avatars created by avatar leader Ready Player Me.

Basics like Education and Healthcare on the Metaverse

From fashion to lifestyle to medicine, no space has gone untouched by the Metaverse mania. An institutionalized field like education too is finding new and advanced resources with Metaverse, with ed-tech companies like UnfoldU launching a blockchain powered platform that is expected to become a mega education metaversity.

Healthcare will see a radical change ushered by the Metaverse and more specifically, Blockchain. Just from a mental health perspective, approaching a therapist would be a much less intrusive and much more accessible task in the Metaverse.

Not just on the execution side, administrative and logistics can also benefit from the seamless operability. Efficient data management of patients, end to end process transparency, drug traceability and so much more can be achieved with the help of Blockchain. A life changing aspect of integrating this technology into medical services is the long term preservation of data and the unparalleled ability to identify small or significant errors in said data. It is this belief in the potential of virtual healthcare that saw the Yashoda Group of Hospitals, Hyderabad, acquire meta-space in Decentraland.

Interoperability

The metaverse is nothing but an extension to express our personality. It gives us freedom from the real world restrictions. This is where the brand’s like the ‘Petaverse’, the world's first metaverse for pets, will thrive (think of Tamagotchi’s of the early 2000s.) The Petaverse is a concept where one can create interoperable virtual pet companions that can accompany us across the metaverse landscape.

Pet parents may very well want to have a four legged buddy in their online residence too, and the few who can’t actually bring a pet home can witness the joys of having one in the Petaverse. ‘Interoperability’ is what will be the standout factor here, since this digital pet of ours can come along with us on any virtual adventure right from online shopping or attending a concert or any other place in the Metaverse.

A Whole New World Is Right Here

The Metaverse offers us an existence with far fewer restrictions and more opportunities, than what we could experience in the real world. That day isn’t too far off in the distant future, it’s happening right now.

Note to readers: Storyboard18’s new Month In Focus initiative spotlights themes and topics that are pushing marketers to reshape and rethink how brands interact with today’s customers. Our theme for this month is Stacks &amp; Strategies, a martech and adtech spotlight on how decision makers and marketers are advancing the adoption of new technologies and tech-driven strategies in the brand marketing ecosystem. From the defining trends and preparing for a cookiepocalypse to how progressive martech strategies help fast track business and brand growth. Catch this special on Storyboard18.

Stacks & Strategies | Metaverse - The Inevitable Reality

Note to readers: Storyboard18’s new Month In Focus initiative spotlights themes and topics that are pushing marketers to reshape and rethink how brands interact with today’s customers. Our theme for this month is Stacks &amp; Strategies, a martech and adtech spotlight on how decision makers and marketers are advancing the adoption of new technologies and tech-driven strategies in the brand marketing ecosystem. From the defining trends and preparing for a cookiepocalypse to how progressive martech strategies help fast track business and brand growth. Catch this special on Storyboard18.

The role of marketing has always been to form a connect between a brand and its consumers. Over the years data and technology have played a pivotal role in bridging this gap. Many would argue that technology has evolved to become the backbone for driving effective and efficient marketing solutions so much so that digital is set to overtake a more established media like television.

As per an estimate put out by GroupM in February, the total ad spend across media in India is estimated to cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in 2022, even as digital is set to overtake TV as the largest advertising medium in 2022, accounting for 45% share of the total ad pie.

Storyboard18 spoke to digital experts to understand and identify key adtech trends that will define the India market in 2022 and beyond.

Preparing for Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the next stage of the web evolution that would make the internet more intelligent or process information with near-human-like intelligence. In Web 3.0, users won’t distinguish between physical and digital experiences. They will expect work, friends, goods, and experiences to be connected virtually.

“This interconnected, live, persistent virtual world with the physical world or reality is also popularly known as the Metaverse. Brands would start leveraging this virtual world as well as components powering the virtual worlds to build Brand experience &amp; assets, drive consumer connect, Associate with the cause, build loyalty, own a moment, or drive real or virtual sales,” says Vishal Jacob, chief digital officer, Wavemaker India.

However, some experts also believe that Metaverse led marketing is still at a nascent stage in India.

“The role of Metaverse in a brand’s larger digital/marketing strategy still needs to be thought through and charted out well before making that big leap. Meta is one of the pillars of the brand experience - when consumers need to experience a brand in the virtual world, not the entirety of the consumer experience,” says Monaz Todywalla, CEO, PHD India.

Return of impersonalisation

One of the trends that agencies have begun to see is the return of impersonalisation – which is a direct result of the personalisation approach not being able to achieve the desired results, says PHD India’s Todywalla.

“By targeting groups or cohorts of consumers with customer segmentation rather than individuals, the advertising tech industry is now finding a mid-way of impersonalising content by taking a step back from hyper-personalisation – turning to strategies and creatives that speak to the common category of potential consumer pools. This largely eliminates the risk of not being able to connect with audiences on the desired level and creates a safe but sustainable model,” she explains.

Identity resolution of consumers

Third-party cookie deprecation is an industry-wide alarm to regain trust and imbibe transparency with the audience. The following are the areas of impact – targeting audiences based on behavioural data, frequency, verification, custom audience, measurement and lastly return on investment (RoI).

“Focus will shift towards identity resolution by leveraging various data sources like panel, contextual, social listening and logged in environmental data. Solutions like unique ID, contextual targeting, hashed email, 1P data, Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) &amp; Artificial Intelligence (AI) are proposed around these areas. The need is not just Customer Data Platforms (CDP) or Data Management Platforms (DMP) but a complete data platform tool that provides effective yet meaningful data,” notes Rohan Chincholi, head - digital services, Havas Media Group India.

“Marketers will have to do a series of test and learn to identify the right solution depending on the use-case as party cookies have e ramifications across targeting, optimisation and measurement,” says Wavemaker’s Jacob.

Data Enrichment

Using first-party data combined with data collected from third-party external sources (like socio-demographic and geographic details) can help boost the visibility of consumer needs, helping brands cater to them effectively across channels.

“Furthermore, it also helps segregate target audiences into specific categories which can then be used for creating more accurate, macro-level strategies. Consumers are more likely to respond well to advertising when it’s done right and data enrichment undoubtedly plays a huge role in augmenting these experiences, adding to the brand’s loyalty value in the long run,” notes Toadywalla.

According to her, the most vital aspect of it all is the ability to foresee the consumer’s purchase intent and more actively identify markers of customer buying behaviour.

“Smart segmentation based on available data sets can make it doubly easier for businesses to reach out to different demographics but with focused precision, thanks to the high-value data obtained from the process,” she adds.

Single marketing lens

Today, data and insights are stored in different dashboards, consumer data is stored in multiple locations. This data is not available across all systems &amp; lacks a central location for critical consumer information.

“There is a pressing need to have a single lens view of brand data that encapsulates all sources to give a holistic picture on cross functional insights (For instance, increase in organic traffic due to branding, impact of branding on branded query searches). That is when connection, context and content parameters seamlessly integrate to deliver meaningful media experiences,” concludes Chincholi.

METAVERSE