12/06/2022

Molecule Newsletter: digital wallets will be our new profiles, who’s buying virtual land and why, and 3 Twitter trends marketers can’t miss in 2022

Rise of digital wallets

The technology community has already embraced the genial in its simplicity rebranding of Crypto to Web 3. We have moved seamlessly from a financial instrument for nerds to the foundation of the future of the internet. Now looking from a business perspective, the most attention in the whole Web 3 ecosystem should be given to wallets. Because blockchain wallets are already today much more than a tool for financial transactions.

And did you hear that Apple’s iOS 16 and macOS Ventura will introduce passwordless login for apps and websites. The wallets of the future will allow us to store money, cryptocurrencies, NFT, login details to our social profiles, digital land ownership acts. And much more. Their content will be public or private. They will express our status, our belonging to certain groups. They will be our profiles in the new digital world of Web 3. And in Web 4 probably too. We will be shopping with wallets but also voting in local, national and EU level elections.

Brands and organisations looking to the future should already be thinking about analysing what impact this trend will have on their ability to reach consumers, clients and constituents. What monitoring and data collection opportunities it will bring.

Is everyone moving to the metaverse?

Increasingly, we hear about brands that decide to populate the metaverse. Brands buy virtual land. Brands organise fashion shows and concerts. Banks open their virtual offices in the Metaverse. Why is this happening? How do you become a virtual landowner? And does it make any sense? What exactly is driving value of virtual land sales currently. To begin let’s look at this Alpaca VC summary of the 3 most important trends that drive virtual land sale: 

Popularity of virtual world gaming. The global gaming market is expected to generate $175B in revenue in 2021. Among these, virtual world platforms driven by user-generated content are especially popular, such as Minecraft or Roblox. ​​However, in the current game market, centralized ownership and control over the trading of virtual goods restricts the value of in-game activity; at any time, users may have their assets frozen or accounts deleted.

Increasing virtualization of the physical world. AR/VR and digital twin technologies are slowly increasing in adoption, with AR/VR now the fastest growing media market. In the real estate industry, current applications include virtual tours, construction staging, commerce, and advertising. However, physical property rights are not yet tied to digital property rights, leaving owners unable to adequately track, control, or monetize digital activity.

Meteoric rise of NFTs and emerging use cases. While most people think of NFTs as synonymous with JPEGs or memes, NFT technology promises something radical: a framework for the ownership of digital assets. Already, NFT popularity has surged exponentially, with $2.5B spent in the first half of 2021 alone — a 131x YoY increase. However, NFT adoption is still low, leading to unproven usability. So far, the trendiest NFT types such as collectibles, art, and avatars have exhibited extreme volatility.

There are many possible ways to populate the Metaverse. Before attempting it, it is worth considering what business and branding goals our brand will achieve in this way. It’s also worth considering what value our services and products can have in the digital world. Should we buy property for long term presence or rather choose campaign based pop up store type of presence.

Importantly, populating the metaverse is not a question of the future and unavailable technologies. We are ready and the gates to the virtual world are wide open. As the Alpaca VC field study points out a full technology stack has already been developed for the creation of such virtual properties:

Source: https://medium.com/alpaca-vc

The number of campaigns of well-known brands that were based on entering the metaverse can be counted in hundreds if not more. New case studies are generated practically every day.

How powerful is color in the Metaverse?

The color company Pantone recently published a case study that explores the relationship of color between virtual and reality. We find it a very interesting read. Key takeaways:

Color will be used similarly to the way it is used in the physical world, with one caveat: In the physical world, color has limitations. 

There are some colors in the digital spectrum that are not reproducible in the physical world.

Objects can have multiple colors depending on parameters such as time, place and mood.

3 Twitter trends you can’t miss in 2022

It is worth following the latest marketing insights from Twitter. Who else has better tools and resources to analyse billions of tweets and reveal big trends and movements of the future. The latest Twitter trends report published by the platform reveals 3 trends:

Trend 1 - The Great Restoration. Mass burnout has driven people to reprioritise wellness over corporate serfdom. Next up, sustainability. After decades of big business inaction, consumers are tired of carrying the load.

Trend 2 - Fan-Built Worlds. The tables have turned. Fans no longer just follow, they’re calling the shots, while making the rules, and creating worlds they want to be part of.

Trend 3 - Finance Goes Social. Communities of experts and everyday people are joining forces, freely sharing knowledge about money matters for all to see. With Tweets about finance among non-pro/non-enthusiasts up 78% YoY.

Did you know that TikTok allows you to browse live trends that perform best in the now using this live updated database.

Sounds bizarre, but Russian McDonald’s successor picked their new logo and for us it looks like a petrol station logo.

12/06/2022

Molecule Newsletter: digital wallets will be our new profiles, who’s buying virtual land and why, and 3 Twitter trends marketers can’t miss in 2022

Rise of digital wallets

The technology community has already embraced the genial in its simplicity rebranding of Crypto to Web 3. We have moved seamlessly from a financial instrument for nerds to the foundation of the future of the internet. Now looking from a business perspective, the most attention in the whole Web 3 ecosystem should be given to wallets. Because blockchain wallets are already today much more than a tool for financial transactions.

And did you hear that Apple’s iOS 16 and macOS Ventura will introduce passwordless login for apps and websites. The wallets of the future will allow us to store money, cryptocurrencies, NFT, login details to our social profiles, digital land ownership acts. And much more. Their content will be public or private. They will express our status, our belonging to certain groups. They will be our profiles in the new digital world of Web 3. And in Web 4 probably too. We will be shopping with wallets but also voting in local, national and EU level elections.

Brands and organisations looking to the future should already be thinking about analysing what impact this trend will have on their ability to reach consumers, clients and constituents. What monitoring and data collection opportunities it will bring.

Is everyone moving to the metaverse?

Increasingly, we hear about brands that decide to populate the metaverse. Brands buy virtual land. Brands organise fashion shows and concerts. Banks open their virtual offices in the Metaverse. Why is this happening? How do you become a virtual landowner? And does it make any sense? What exactly is driving value of virtual land sales currently. To begin let’s look at this Alpaca VC summary of the 3 most important trends that drive virtual land sale: 

Popularity of virtual world gaming. The global gaming market is expected to generate $175B in revenue in 2021. Among these, virtual world platforms driven by user-generated content are especially popular, such as Minecraft or Roblox. ​​However, in the current game market, centralized ownership and control over the trading of virtual goods restricts the value of in-game activity; at any time, users may have their assets frozen or accounts deleted.

Increasing virtualization of the physical world. AR/VR and digital twin technologies are slowly increasing in adoption, with AR/VR now the fastest growing media market. In the real estate industry, current applications include virtual tours, construction staging, commerce, and advertising. However, physical property rights are not yet tied to digital property rights, leaving owners unable to adequately track, control, or monetize digital activity.

Meteoric rise of NFTs and emerging use cases. While most people think of NFTs as synonymous with JPEGs or memes, NFT technology promises something radical: a framework for the ownership of digital assets. Already, NFT popularity has surged exponentially, with $2.5B spent in the first half of 2021 alone — a 131x YoY increase. However, NFT adoption is still low, leading to unproven usability. So far, the trendiest NFT types such as collectibles, art, and avatars have exhibited extreme volatility.

There are many possible ways to populate the Metaverse. Before attempting it, it is worth considering what business and branding goals our brand will achieve in this way. It’s also worth considering what value our services and products can have in the digital world. Should we buy property for long term presence or rather choose campaign based pop up store type of presence.

Importantly, populating the metaverse is not a question of the future and unavailable technologies. We are ready and the gates to the virtual world are wide open. As the Alpaca VC field study points out a full technology stack has already been developed for the creation of such virtual properties:

Source: https://medium.com/alpaca-vc

The number of campaigns of well-known brands that were based on entering the metaverse can be counted in hundreds if not more. New case studies are generated practically every day.

How powerful is color in the Metaverse?

The color company Pantone recently published a case study that explores the relationship of color between virtual and reality. We find it a very interesting read. Key takeaways:

Color will be used similarly to the way it is used in the physical world, with one caveat: In the physical world, color has limitations. 

There are some colors in the digital spectrum that are not reproducible in the physical world.

Objects can have multiple colors depending on parameters such as time, place and mood.

3 Twitter trends you can’t miss in 2022

It is worth following the latest marketing insights from Twitter. Who else has better tools and resources to analyse billions of tweets and reveal big trends and movements of the future. The latest Twitter trends report published by the platform reveals 3 trends:

Trend 1 - The Great Restoration. Mass burnout has driven people to reprioritise wellness over corporate serfdom. Next up, sustainability. After decades of big business inaction, consumers are tired of carrying the load.

Trend 2 - Fan-Built Worlds. The tables have turned. Fans no longer just follow, they’re calling the shots, while making the rules, and creating worlds they want to be part of.

Trend 3 - Finance Goes Social. Communities of experts and everyday people are joining forces, freely sharing knowledge about money matters for all to see. With Tweets about finance among non-pro/non-enthusiasts up 78% YoY.

Did you know that TikTok allows you to browse live trends that perform best in the now using this live updated database.

Sounds bizarre, but Russian McDonald’s successor picked their new logo and for us it looks like a petrol station logo.