Jenny Stanley, MD at Appetite Creative, summarises the key takeaways from a recent webinar the company hosted looking at the potantial of the metaverse and NFTs for brands.

The opportunities presented by the metaverse, Web3, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are infinite. It’s an entirely new digital arena, which offers brands brand new ways to interact and engage with consumers.

To explore the raft of new possibilities, we recently hosted a roundtable session with leading experts to discuss customer engagement campaigns, sustainability, privacy and security concerns, how different industries are progressing with Web 3.0 innovations, and more.

What brands need to know before entering the metaverse
Creating a marketing plan for the metaverse is not just about sales, but making sure your products and services fit authentically into this virtual world. Brands should scope out a Web3 presence with brand protection top of mind. “If you hesitate, someone else will take your place. Back [in the early 90s] it was optional to have a website, but today it would be ridiculous not to have a web presence, in Web3 it will be very similar very soon. If you do not have Web3, users will not take you seriously,” said Daniel Vaczi, a marketing expert in the metaverse webinar.

The metaverse and new business models
These opportunities are helping brands create a new marketing funnel by using NFTs in marketing campaigns. Alongside increasing brand value, NFT drops such as launching NFTs as rewards or coupons, allow a brand to communicate with loyal customers and transfer the value of the brand to the token, benefiting customers. It is essential to build a community in the metaverse to encourage engagement and ultimately increase brand value.

Xavier Garcia, Metaverse and Web 3.0 consultant said, “There will be a new economy [in the metaverse] which will be based on NFTs, tokens, rewards and other currency found through play-to-earn games.”

NFTs and marketing campaigns
NFTs allow marketers to create tokens tailored to specific audiences with specific messages. The strategy of NFT marketing to increase brand loyalty, which empowers followers to own unique branded digital items, is a sure way to cement a place in their hearts. A particular NFT can become even more valuable by strengthening the supportive community in the metaverse.

It’s also important to consider how best to engage with customers. Richard Harless, the founder of Digitalstage.io, said, “Customer engagement is what you need to think about, not necessarily just technology for technologys sake.”

Summary
The new Web3 is evolving, and the pace of change is fast. This new arena has brought more opportunities for brands to connect, interact with, and reward consumers. It gives brands a variety of new ways to monetise products, services, and additional extras while increasing the value and advocacy of the brand.

Soon a presence in the metaverse will be as necessary as having a website. This is the beginning of a new era for which every company should have a plan, and initially it’s important to understand key requirements.

It’s useful to track target audiences in the metaverse to find out where they spend their time. This helps to inform planning and transfer brand value into this new virtual world by using NFTs as a brands digital asset/product.

As a creative tech studio which prides itself on bringing new technologies to brands, we have recently launched the appetite.link project to support clients across a wide range of services, including P2E game development and the launch of NFT collections which all  accept crypto payments.

Only a few brands have entered the metaverse so far, but the ones that have are already influential, and making a difference in their industry. NFTs and metaverse opportunities offer effective ways to interact with and target customers with bespoke messages and loyalty rewards. Still, we will have to wait and see what the future of Web 3.0 brings.

 Watch the full discussion on Discovering the potential of NFTs and Metaverse for marketing campaigns on Appetites YouTube channel.

Speakers included:

Norts | CoFo, NFTPeeps
Norts is an award-winning copywriter who over time has evolved into a creative technologist. In the last two years, he has worked with an array of crypto startups and big-name brands helping them navigate the tantalising yet turbulent waters that are Web 3, blockchain and NFTs.

Xavier Garcia
Xavier Garcia is an accomplished international marketer with an incredible interest in the Metaverse, Crypto, Blockchain and NFTs since the rise of these technologies. He is currently functioning as a Defi/Web3.0 advisor.

Daniel Vaczi
Daniel Vaczi is a marketing professional and specialist in branding, performance marketing, data, and technology solutions. He has over 15 years of experience in all aspects of online marketing driving success and solid outcomes. Dan currently works with NFT artists, providing them with marketing support.

Richard Harless
Richard is the former Managing Director of Shazam in the DACH region and the founder of Digitalstage.io, a web3 connected retail platform that allows music fans to attach NFTs to physical collectibles from the artists they love. The winner of Celo’s Tenet Award, Digitalstage.io launched their first digital products last year and have already worked with global artists such as Kings of Leon, Martin Garrix and Måneskin.