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How can the Metaverse invent the future of marketing?

The example of Kinahan’s, a whisky pioneer who is launching into this new virtual universe

Blockchain, NFT, Metaverse, these three words probably sound familiar to you given the news of the last few weeks from the tech giants but also from famous brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton or even well-known artists. The Metaverse, this new world made of 3D, virtual or augmented reality, but also of blockchain and NFT, has become the new fad of the tech giants and the promise of a new business model for many traditional brands. Beyond the hype, what is the Metaverse made of and why could it supplant the internet as we understand it today and reinvent brand marketing? Zoom on the launch of Kinahan’s Whisky, a pioneer whisky house that is also launching the Metaverse and reinventing the consumer experience.

The advent of the Metaverse, this new world between real and virtual

It will have escaped no one’s notice that the Metaverse, like NFTs, has been making the headlines in the media and in the announcements of the Web giants lately. And if the phenomenon is not new, it is nevertheless undergoing a great acceleration, notably driven by the blockchain and NFT ecosystem.

The term Metaverse first appeared in 1992 in Neil Stephenson’s dystopian novel, “Snow Crash”. But the concepts of virtual reality and augmented reality came a little later, even if our parents were already familiar with them through Science Fiction books that widely communicated on the phenomenon.

And if for a long time people have imagined the Metaverse as the impenetrable, the year 2021 will mark a turning point.

As giants like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Microsoft and even major luxury brands launch, the term is no longer a mystery to anyone and people are starting to see the benefits of going into the Metaverse. More and more brands see in this universe the way to gather their community, to make it more powerful and to build loyalty.

Source : The seven sectors of the metaverse. Image Credit: Matthew Ball

The recent promise is that of a global Metaverse, which would include linked and shared virtual worlds. We could inhabit these virtual worlds with our friends for our personal pleasure or with our associates for our work and thus evolve in another dimension in our consumption habits but also in our work habits.

Source : World Bank, Crypto.com

The metaverse is made possible by blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality and, of course, 3D. This new phenomenon is considered by some as the future of the Internet.

Today, more and more brands are getting involved. From the very famous Gucci and Louis Vuitton fashion shows to the concert organized on Fortnite, it is a whole new part of the world economy that is trying to seize this technological revolution, just like the Internet did 30 years ago.

Blockchain technology (and crypto-currencies) allows the metaverse to ensure interoperability, digital proof of ownership, digital collection of assets (such as NFTs), crypto value transfer, governance, etc. and the whole issue lies in avoiding recentralizing a decentralized phenomenon thanks to the underlying technology.

To give you a tangible example of the phenomenon, the game Roblox, very well known in the metaverse, already manages to gather more than 42 million users every day.

Source : The metaverse market map. Image Credit: Jon Radoff

As we can see from the visual above, already many players are making their mark in the Metaverse universe and “big ones” are starting to break through such as Decentraland, Sandbox, Roblox, Fortnite… This week, Metaverse tokens such as Mana (Decentraland), recorded triple-digit gains over 7 days, while the capitalization of the crypto-currency market has reached $3 trillion.

Recently, visionaries launched the Metaverse ETF, which is an exchange-traded fund. This particular ETF allows people to invest in a set of companies that are already making the metaverse a reality or are positioned to do so in the future. Bloomberg recently estimated the size of the metaverse market at $800 billion.

NFTs and the Metaverse are reinventing brand marketing.

Kinahan’s Irish Whiskey.

The advent of the NFT and Metaverse may still seem unclear or even scary to you, yet they are a very good signal of the effort of innovation and a new way of promoting one’s brand. For example, allowing consumers to buy bags in a virtual universe can contribute to its rarity. But the example of gaming is probably the most striking, as it is now able to generate revenue and build loyalty among gamers.

It is to surf on this wave but also to take full advantage of technologies while preserving a DNA of heritage, authenticity and quality, that Kinahan’s Whisky, a famous Whisky house pioneer in its kind, launches itself in the third dimension.

Founded in 1792, the Whisky house is not new to original collaborations. This summer, Kinahan’s has launched, in collaboration with Morysetta, a well-known artist in the NFT universe, a Formula 1 in NFT and 3D/AR form. Containing an exclusive Rarible.com property title during Lewis Hamilton’s thrilling victory at the British Grand Prix, these NFTs are the house’s first achievement in the crypto universe.

In the continuity, Kinahan’s announces the exclusive launch of its metaverse in order to have, tomorrow, digital ambassadors to promote the brand: a feat that still puts them at the head of the pioneers. This new generation of digital ambassadors for the brand aims to improve the consumer experience through advanced technologies.

To work on this new shift, the whisky brand has relied on Generation7Group (G7G) which accompanies them on the business model and the evolution of NFT.

Kinahan’s Metaverse projects will include 3D and augmented reality objects, ranging from digital whiskey barrels, to other brand items created in collaboration with artists.

Virtual ambassadors will be able to move into other worlds. The first ambassadors will appear as early as November 15, 2021, across multiple media platforms. They will be part of Kinahan’s marketing campaigns for existing and upcoming Whiskey lines, as well as for other digital products including NFTs.

This is a strategic shift that Kinahan is undertaking, and the ambitions do not stop there as one can imagine the unlimited possibilities allowed in the Metaverse.

This new example shows us the extent of the phenomenon, and also demonstrates the interest of coupling authentic and old brands with new advanced technologies to continue to reinvent themselves and to provide an always more exclusive service to the consumers.

Source : Building the Metaverse, Jon Radoff

Brands are at a turning point in their history and must review their communication strategy. In the metaverse, the consumer is no longer a physical person but becomes an avatar and Cathy Hackl, an expert in the field, suggests developing a new communication model: D2A (Direct to Avatar). The interest also lies in the fact of coupling the virtual and real worlds by proposing, for example, accessories or clothes worn by the avatars that can be ordered in physical form, as was the case in the collaboration between Roblox and Gucci.

From product placement during an event, to the creation of virtual shopping malls, or the possibility of using virtual reality to try on clothes directly at home, promoting your brand becomes child’s play with infinite possibilities in the metaverse.

An important criterion to take into account in the virtual universe is the presence of avatars. The consumer takes on the appearance of an avatar, an invented and imagined character to whom he will give a certain personality and appearance.

For a brand, it is therefore important to understand the stakes and the behavior of these virtual characters in order to direct its discourse and propose its products and services to the right people.

Like Kinahan’s whisky, the future of marketing in the metaverse is full of promises, and even if questions are raised, everything remains to be invented.