But it is undeniable that Jay Chou's move has indeed attracted a lot of attention for this cooperation. As of January 11, 2022, the series is at the top of OpenSea's trading volumes in the last 7 days.

Author | Zijing

Edit | Bingqing

40 minutes 62 million yuan. This is the feedback given by the market after the speculation " Jay Chou entered NFT".

On January 1, 2022, Jay Chou's clothing brand "PHANTACi" cooperated with the trend art platform Ezek to launch the Phanta Bear Phanta Bear series NFT, with a total of 10,000, with a single starting price of 0.26 Ether (approximately RMB 6,200).

000 posted by Jay Chou, the number 18 printed on its jersey is Jay Chou's birthday. Jay Chou's hobby (Instagram@jaychou)

even afterwards, Jay Chou's company Jie Weir Music clarified, saying that Jay Chou has no interest connection with the project, and his wife Kunling posted the NFT he received, which was also out of friendly support. But it is undeniable that Jay Chou's move has indeed attracted a lot of attention for this cooperation. As of January 11, 2022, the series is at the top of OpenSea's trading volumes in the last 7 days.

In the summer of 2021, Zuckerberg announced that he would rename "Facebook" to "Meta", popularizing the concept of " Metauniverse " to the public. Subsequently, NFT, Roblox and other related concepts became popular in various industries, including brand marketing.

Since 2020, a "meta-universe" marketing trend has been set off at home and abroad, which has not only attracted luxury brands such as LV, Gucci, Balmain, etc., but also launched their own NFT collections.

However, behind the brand's influx of the concept of "metauniverse", many chaos have also arisen. Even Musk (Elon Musk), who is keen on discussing avant-garde topics such as virtual currency and Mars immigration, and whose speaking style is fantastic, believes that the current concepts of meta-universe and Web3 are now closer to "marketing gimmicks", and have not made much substantial progress in itself.

The true direction and ending of the meta-universe are indefinitely determined. But in the overall environment where flowers are gradually fascinating and everyone wants to get a share of the pie, how can the brand party hit the possible direction of the metaverse without departing from marketing logic? When the metaverse develops to the next stage, how should related marketing evolve?

Knife Method Research Institute summarizes three common directions of meta-universe marketing at home and abroad, and combines the development history behind it to interpret and prospect some marketing cases. I would like to use this to inspire jade.

01

Gamified Marketing:

Wherever the meta-universe evolves, marketing will do wherever

Games are an important area of ​​implementation of the meta-universe at this stage —this is the general understanding of industry insiders including Ma Jie, vice president of Baidu and general manager of security.

From a technical perspective, games are a "way to build another world in a virtual environment" and are one of the important tools to build the basic elements of the meta-universe - virtual scenes. From an audience perspective, the game is most in line with the public's current understanding of the metaverse: the "oasis" that we use in the movie " No. 3 Player " is essentially a game: a more real-time, more interactive and present-day "advanced" game.

The first to successfully combine the "metauniverse" characteristics of the game to successfully combine marketing activities was actually the music industry. As early as 2018, electronic musician Marshmello held a real-time online concert in the game " Fortnite " owned by Epic Games. Players gathered in the same venue in the game at the same time, and while listening to music, they could also freely go up and down the stage and dance together. It is the earliest in-game disco scene.

2020 The epidemic broke out overseas in early 2020. Social isolation and travel restrictions caused severe blows to offline and real economy. Musicians appeared as soon as possible and regarded games as an important window for their interactions with fans. In April 2020 and August 2021, singers Travis Scottt and Ariana Grande held concerts on Fortnite.With the developments in the gaming field in recent years, Fortnite has tailored various experiences for singers and fans of the two concerts. Take Ariana Grande's concert as an example, players can surf on pink waterfalls with music, jump among flowers, and dance in close proximity with Ariana's virtual image. The concert started with the player and Ariana one-on-one space, like magic, letting you "fly" to watch her sing, full of interaction, Image source: YouTube@Faiz

The success of the online concert also made the word Metaverse popular and won the recognition of many people. With the help of Epic Games' technology, online concerts not only solve the problem of distance, but also achieve things that singers and fans cannot do in real life through special effects, such as Travis Scott's teleportation during the singing process, such as the interaction between fans and singers without boundaries and distances, such as the singer is no longer the only person with special effects, fans can also lie in pink bubbles with Ariana... A person's concert has become a carnival for a group of people.

In comparison, the brand’s cooperation with the game does not seem to be so “cool” and grand, but it also has a similar effect. The first brand of

is the luxury goods industry. In December 2020, the French brand Balenciaga released the early series of summer 21 in the form of VR. Customers who received the equipment put on their helmets, and the new season of ready-to-wear show appeared in front of them. The release of the 21 Fall Series was completed in a gaming environment called Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow. Players can unlock the new season of ready-to-wear through game tasks, and each set of styles can be changed by dragging and dropping the mouse. In the era of epidemic situation where offline activities are getting fewer, this multi-dimensional clothing display combining technological means has become another interaction between brands and consumers after live videos.

Balencijia 21 Autumn series, users can see the details of ready-to-wear and upper body effects from all angles more comprehensively and three-dimensionally. Source: Balencijia official website

If the above marketing actions are not "metauniverse", then the games created by Gucci and Nike on the game platform Roblox have brought this marketing method to a higher level: incorporates real-time interactive elements on the basis of simply simulating reality.

In May 2021, luxury brand Gucci collaborated with Roblox to develop the experience game Gucci Garden Archetype, which will be open from the 17th to the 31st of that month. The real Gucci Garden is located in Florence, Italy, , and is an experiential scene integrating exhibitions, catering, retail, etc. This game also replicates the experience that consumers get offline to a greater extent: different scenes are designed in the game to intersperse Gucci's products, some are only for exhibitions, and some can be purchased, so as to encourage players to explore within the scene as much as possible and enhance their interaction with the brand.

Walk into the game's garden scene, players will be randomly assigned to patterns

However, this game initially received only a 15% positive review rate (Roblox Wiki). Compared with the traditional Roblox game, many people complain that there are too few free items in this game, too expensive items, etc. Later, the cooperation parties made adjustments and the positive review rate rose to 33%.

Despite this, Gucci Garden was regarded as one of the pioneering actions of meta-universe marketing because it was launched on the node of "metauniverse" popularity. In addition, a bee logo Baccarat bag appeared in the game is more expensive than the same physical bag. This also makes the public feel that "consumers are very interested in the metaverse".

Half a year later, Nike established NIKELAND on Roblox. Players can try on a variety of classic products from the brand in the game's digital exhibition hall , explore in the scene and receive corresponding rewards. In addition, the game enhances the connection between offline activities and NIKELAND: players can move their bodies and phones by moving their bodies and phones.The scene in

NIKELAND

NIKELAND is more like the "Oasis" among the number one player, because it mobilizes more body parts of the player and activates a new human-computer interactive experience. For most people who try this interactive mode for the first time, this exciting "first time" has the shadow of Nike.

Of course, there are more than three brands that combine games and marketing. According to reports from the Institute of Swordsmanship, brands such as Ruff Lauren, Forever 21 have built related games on Roblox.

At present, most of the brands that carry out such marketing activities are in the clothing industry, and most of them are related to concepts such as trends and fashion. The limitations of gamified marketing to the industry can be called "a game of success and failure". Unlike the world background of "Player No. 1", people are currently entering the virtual world just for games and entertainment. Therefore, has an imaginative and surreal color that enters the virtual world to advertise, which will be effective. , such as the fashion industry and the fashion industry.

In addition, with the continuous actions of major brands such as Nike, the meta-universe gamification marketing activities have gradually lost their early dividends. If a brand does not have enough technology to support it and cannot find too many audiences in the game world, its marketing effect will only be worse than before.

However, Zuckerberg and Meta (formerly Facebook) may be able to pull more tracks into this "meta-universe marketing" game.

After Zuckerberg announced his vision of building the meta-universe, he launched the VR office program Horizon Worlds, hoping to provide people who work remotely, with a third space, so that they can get a more realistic and in-person work and communication experience here.

If Horizon Worlds becomes popular, we can not only play in the virtual world, but also work in the virtual world. This means that more diverse and larger crowds will enter the "metauniverse" and spend more time in it. The brand also has more scenarios, opportunities and tricks to launch marketing activities here.

Why can’t the TV and whiteboard in the virtual office have a brand? Source: Meta official website

02

NFT/Digital collection is on sale:

Enhance user stickiness in the real world

NFT is a non-fungible token, which is a type of token in the blockchain. According to Wall Street News , NFT has inseparable and irreplaceable characteristics. Based on these two characteristics, NFT can become the carrier of digital products, protect the copyright of creators, or be used to bind products in the real world to play the role of vouchers, similar to the invoices we obtain after purchasing products.

The earliest NFT project "Crypunk" was born in 2017, with thousands of different avatars. People with Ethereum money can receive their avatars and trade them in the secondary market.

One of the first people to enter the NFT world is the artist. Some artists' works have no physical form, but are electronic paintings, audio, etc., so they are often troubled by copyright issues. Presenting and selling works in the form of NFT can solve this problem well. In addition, creators can set commissions for each NFT transaction to guarantee returns.

Murakami Takashi collaborated with virtual creation studio RTFK (now acquired by Nike), the series, the overall revenue of the first auction was approximately US$160 million

artists happily embraced the virtual market, greatly promoting the determination of fashion, trendy and luxury brands to conduct NFT marketing. This is because artists, as opinion leaders in the fashion and trend culture field, will bring the eyes and curiosity of a large number of consumers into the virtual world and bring the new concept of NFT. For luxury brands, NFT needs to be purchased with Ether and can also be resold in the secondary market. It has the characteristics of high price, rareness, and investment attributes, which coincides with the characteristics of luxury goods. Therefore, people who are interested in NFT are likely to be interested in luxury goods as well.

But unlike artists, many brands will choose to combine NFT with real/real sense and introduce NFT. In the end, is designed to enhance the interaction between consumers and brands in the real world. takes French brand Balmain as an example. In December last year, Balmain and the high-end American gym Dogpound released their joint sports shoes and simultaneously released their NFT version, bidding on OpenSea, with a starting price of 2.5 Ether. The brand has set different ladders for auction prices: consumers who offer 6 Ether coins or above can receive an additional private tutoring class from the founder of Dogpound; if you bid 10 Ether coins or above, you will also receive two tickets for Balmain fashion show; if you bid 14 Ether coins or above, you will receive two qualifications for backstage access to the show.

Virtual Secret Angels, actors, athletes and other public figures are all frequent visitors of Dogpound Photo source: Instagram@dogpound

Balmain's chief marketing officer Txampi Diz believes that 's integration of NFT, a virtual product with the real world, is the key to the project: "This is a major future trend of NFT in luxury digital marketing that I have seen."

In the view of the Knife Method Research Institute, this is also one of the ideas of NFT marketing and even meta-universe marketing that consumer brands can learn from. The domestic market does not encourage hype of NFT or digital collections, and consumer goods are difficult to match luxury goods in terms of rarity, investment value, etc. Therefore, linking NFT marketing with real-world reward mechanisms can shift consumers' attention from the "metauniverse" to a unique experience provided by the brand, thereby enhancing their awareness and intimacy of the brand.

However, it should be noted that this reward mechanism needs to be experienced enough and rare enough, otherwise there will be inconsistent tone and the NFT concept and the prize will be inconsistent, which will greatly reduce the brand's image in terms of professionalism, responsibility, etc.

In addition to establishing a reward mechanism, there is also a marketing idea that is worth learning from: regards NFT as the "ID card" of brand members.

Last December, beer brand Budweiser released nearly 2,000 bottles of NFT. According to foreign media AdAge, Budweiser wants to add other benefits to the owners of the series of NFTs and use it to build a loyal consumer community, similar to the traditional member community.

In addition to Budweiser, Ezek mentioned at the beginning of the article, and The Heart Project, the NFT project jointly developed by Edison Chen and , are all preparing to give more functions to the NFT they publish, such as membership certificates, concert tickets, etc. This idea borrows the characteristics of NFT's "right to access" and extends it from the blockchain field to real life.

In today's society, everyone wants to talk about NFT, largely because of its "noble origin" - NFT is supported by advanced technologies such as blockchain and Bitcoin. Being able to have an NFT seems to prove that you are at the forefront of the times. Vogue Business has also stated that NFT products are almost regarded as access tokens for high-end communities or groups. has NFT, and has the key to the noble door.

In addition, NFTs in the true sense are based on Ethereum and often require a lot of money or effort to obtain them, which has become one of the ways for brands to identify consumer loyalty. Injecting member rights into NFTs can not only highlight the value and rarity of NFTs, but also amplify consumers' satisfaction.

companies that cleverly utilize NFT access and member attributes are also available in China. On November 11 last year, " Tencent " Tencent distributed a 23rd anniversary edition of NFT to its employees, which Tencent called "digital collection". This series has evolved differently based on its QQ penguin image, including some special images, such as the "Girl Goose with Pearl Earrings". All collections are distributed to employees for free, and they provide on-chain evidence on Tencent's alliance chain "Zhixin Chain" and are only open to internal information.

Some penguin images in Tencent’s Anniversary Digital Collection Series Pictures are from the launch of the online

event, employees posted their gifts on platforms such as Moments, and triggered internal communication and discussion among employees: some people posted posts on the company platform for exchange, and employees who received the Easter eggs sold their digital collections.

Although this is not a brand marketing activity, the logic behind it is the same: will build limited, difficult-to-get, and brand/company-related NFTs into social currency, providing people in "inside the circle" with satisfaction and social conversation, releasing a sense of yearning for people in "outside the circle", creating topics for the public, and completing the establishment of brand cognition in "watching the fun".

03

Hyperrealistic digital man:

Connect the meta universe and the messenger of reality

The concept of virtual man has long existed.

was born in Hatsune Miku in 2007 and appeared on the stage of the online Spring Festival Gala in 2019. The talent show " Tomorrow's Son " also introduced the virtual idol "Herz". It is precisely because the public is familiar with virtual people that after the concept of meta-universe became popular, virtual people have also been upgraded and become messengers connecting virtual and reality. They broke through the two dimensions, became more human-like, and integrated into the real world more. They are called Metahuman, hyperrealistic digital people.

The most popular hyperrealistic digital person in China is AYAYI. In May 2021, a photo of AYAYI was posted on Xiaohongshu, which caused discussions because of its appearance being too real and perfect. A group of bloggers also conducted AYAYI imitation makeup.

debuted at its peak. After AYAYI made her debut, she checked in to major art exhibitions and took photos with William Chan . She then cooperated with brands such as Guerlain and Porsche. She joined Alibaba as a digital employee. AYAYI's business is so numerous and fast that most real-life bloggers are beyond the reach.

Image source: Xiaohongshu@AYAYI

Abroad, the first digital person to enter the public's vision is Lil Miquela. Born in 2016, she has a skin color close to wheat and has freckles on her face. She is a model and musician with Spanish, Brazilian and American descent. She first appeared on her Instagram account. Since 2018, Lil Miquela has begun to be favored by the fashion circle. She has the latest series of ready-to-wear clothes of Burberry, CHANEL, and COACH. She has the best clothes and is in the same frame as the real person Bella Hadid, and even uses her income to do charity.

For brands, digital marketing follows the way of celebrity marketing and celebrity endorsement, but it is more "reliable" than the latter two. After all, digital people will not be unable to appear on time because the plane is delayed. The epidemic and social isolation cannot prevent digital people from visiting exhibitions, going out, checking in, and watching shows.

In addition, digital human marketing seems to save money more. Net A Porter's Italian luxury discount store YOOX has created its own virtual image Daisy, currently only appears on Instagram, and has cooperated with brands such as Ruff Lauren and New Balance. Although YOOX's brand director has not disclosed the specific expenses for R&D Daisy, she said she is cheaper than real-life internet celebrities.

Knife Method Research Institute believes that the "cheap" referred to here is roughly two reasons: First of all, YOOX's brand director once said that Daisy was created based on user data and consumer preferences on its platform, so it can capture the audience more accurately and obtain a higher ROI, while saving the time and energy of identifying and selecting cooperative bloggers. Secondly, Vogue Business has reported that many brands have begun to use digital people to test the upper body effect of new products and avoid producing too many ready-to-wear. Daisy may also do the same, saving YOOX further.

Daisy's display image

Some foreign media have reported that the popularity of digital people has allowed us to see the scene of celebrity marketing in the metaverse in advance.However, it seems that digital people cannot completely replace the role of real people in brand marketing, mainly because they lack a sense of reality. Even when facing such fake AYAYI, many netizens still think that her movements are too fake and her expressions are not rich enough. YOOX also said that the team’s next phase of the task is to inject more realism into Daisy, including defining her preferences, her perspective on things, etc.

In fact, the problems faced by digital people such as AYAYI are the same as the troubles of many real stars, that is, how to balance "personality" and "reality". Generation Z's pursuit of self, liberation of consciousness and tolerance of diversity have created the freckled Lil Miquela and the Chinese virtual idol Ah Xi who was criticized by netizens for "too dry skin". These digital people with "flaws" are popular, and they also reflect the young people's pursuit and attention to truth and human nature. This is also what brands need to consider when doing related marketing.

04

Conclusion

Musk's suspicion of the metaverse is mostly based on our way of entering - he does not think that "putting a TV (VR device) on your nose" can make people enter the virtual world naturally and comfortably.

As for whether the metaverse can be finally implemented and how it is implemented, there is no clear direction. Large companies that are unwilling to miss the "hot spot" have set up relevant departments to carry out long-term research and strive to respond as soon as possible when progress is made in the "metauniverse". A person who works in luxury goods information in Shanghai told the Knife Art Institute that his current department is called "Web3 Business Development". He is now getting to know Roblox and learning the Internet process from scratch.

However, for most companies, the focus of current meta-universe marketing is not on the "metauniverse", but on "marketing", that is, how to reasonably use these emerging concepts and interaction methods to enhance the stickiness between the public and the brand, and play a role in adding icing on the cake. The actions mentioned above are all good examples.

As for how to integrate it, it requires the brand to have an objective and logical understanding of the concept of the metaverse, and at the same time be clear about its brand positioning, the purpose of marketing actions, targeting the people, etc. . Is a marketing action just to ride on hot topics and gain traffic? Consumers may not be able to tell, but they can feel it. "metauniverse" without thinking will bring consumers a disagreement and will not help the brand's long-term development.

Reference:

Fall 21 Collection, Balenciaga Press

McDonald's McRib NFT troll: Metaverse risks for marketers, Ad Age, 2021-12-15

Nike Creates NIKELAND on Roblox, Nike News, 2021-11-18

What influencer marketing looks like in the metaverse, Vogue Business, 2021-12-07

"NFT helps artists solve the "embarrassment" in economics and status, such as Takashi Murakami" Tencent News, 2021-12-07

"Sprinting the metaverse, game companies grab the beach" 21st Century Business Herald , 2021-11-29

"How did French fashion brand Balmain become a pioneer in digital marketing of NFTs? 》Vogue Business, 2021-12-07

"What is the metaverse? Which companies do the metaverse? 》Yan Finance, 2021-11-05