Metaverse 2023: Three trends, three perspectives

NFTs, VR vs. AR, or even communities: our MMetaverse experts Yves Bollinger, Nina Matztat, Christian Waitzinger and Alex Turtschan show us what to expect from Web3 in 2023. 

NFTs are business models, not jpgs

Web3 transforms the relationship between brands and people, offering enormous potential for creative solutions and new business models.

In various ways, NFTs can create value for companies – for instance, by means of revenue models that are tied to the trade in NFTs. This can take place through a link with other products, innovation in digital products, data capitalisation, or partnerships and collaboration. In addition, NFTs are the ticket to a new kind of community, which enables the community to actively participate in the company and its products, giving rise to identification. In terms of quality, it is a new and recoverable kind of CRM. Through improved technical solutions, such as simply purchasing NFTs with a credit card or creating a wallet based solely on an e-mail address, more and more people will come to discover the benefits of NFTs. A good way to unlock this potential and learn would be to develop long-term strategies as of now, and take small but rapid steps from there. Often, it also means adjusting internal processes and dismantling silos.

Yves Bollinger and Nina Matztat are General Managers at Serviceplan DCNTRL, the Serviceplan Group's Web3 studio. They support companies in discovering the potential of Web3 and the Metaverse, and in carrying this knowledge over into practice.

The Metaverse is more than Virtual Reality

The idea that the Metaverse can only exist in an absolute virtual environment, as is currently assumed by many, is not true. It can indeed exist in the real world with some form of augmentation, most likely a kind of wearable device.

While the Metaverse and Virtual Reality (VR) are currently the subjects of hot debate, Augmented Reality (AR) is much more plausible in the near future in terms of experience.

The difference lies in the fact that VR creates a completely new and detached virtual experience, whereas AR adds a virtual layer to the physical world and allows access to digital information, data, and services. The further development of both technologies will be rapid, but in terms of market share, it is more probable that AR will overtake VR.

For brands seeking to optimise their brand and customer experience, the use cases are more diverse, the operation is easier, and the accessible target groups are larger.

Christian Waitzinger is Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at the Plan.Net Group. As an experience and design expert he is responsible for defining a services and product portfolio in the conceptual design and implementation of data-driven customer experiences.

Community is everything in the Metaverse

Communities currently represent a major marketing trend. If the first brand projects in the Metaverse are to be really successful, the factors of common interests, shared passions, and a person's culture must play a much greater role than the technical dimension. If NFTs are branded as a vehicle for an exclusive club, and AR applications are branded as a vehicle for creative and entertaining experiences, while 3D/VR platforms are branded as social spaces, so that they then become part of the real life of a suitable community, you will have made major strides towards finding the appropriate Metaverse strategy.

Alex Turtschan is Director Innovation at Mediaplus Germany, helping customers and colleagues to translate the latest marketing trends into successful brand communication.