Episode 2
Unlocking the Metaverse: Marketing Strategies for the Future
Join host Brett Deister and guest Eric McHugh as they delve into the transformative potential of the metaverse and NFTs in marketing. They discuss how these technologies can enhance consumer experiences and provide innovative opportunities for marketers to forge deeper connections with their audiences. Eric shares his insights on the benefits of NFTs for building vibrant brand communities, showcasing successful implementations that have redefined customer engagement. The conversation also addresses the intersection of gaming and NFTs, highlighting the hesitance among gamers to embrace this technology and exploring pathways for future integration. Eric’s extensive background in web 3 is complemented by a discussion on the evolution of the internet from web 1 to web 3, emphasizing the new possibilities that await PR agencies and creators in this digital landscape.
Takeaways:
- Web3 represents a shift towards an internet where users can read, write, and own their content, enhancing individual ownership and control.
- NFTs offer brands a new way to foster community by creating unique digital assets that can unlock exclusive experiences for consumers.
- Marketers can leverage the metaverse to create immersive experiences that connect consumers with brands on a deeper level.
- As brands transition to Web3, they can create loyalty programs using NFTs to reward consumers and enhance customer retention strategies.
- Gamers have been hesitant to adopt NFTs due to perceived exploitation and lack of value proposition in their integration.
- The evolution from Web 1 to Web 3 introduces new opportunities for PR agencies to engage audiences more effectively.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Snapchat
- ShopX
- Nike
- Reebok
- Lululemon
- Starbucks
- Gas Station
- Keurig
- Gucci
- NBA
- Fox
- Coachella
- Activision
- Fortnite
- Elden Ring
- Breath of the Wild
Transcript
That's good.
Host:And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee Marketing Brew.
Host:This is a monthly podcast that we're talking about everything about PR and marketing.
Host:And this week I have Eric with me, and he is a.
Host:Let's say he is an expert on Web3 and everything that you need to know about Web3.
Host:I mean, Web3 is the big talk of a town between social media marketing world and everything else.
Host:Everybody's talking about it, and it's something that we should discuss because it is Web3 and it's eventually coming our direction, sooner rather than later.
Host:But welcome to the show, Eric.
Eric:Thank you.
Eric:Thank you for having me.
Eric:I'm really looking forward to this.
Host:And the first question is all my guest is, are you a coffee or tea drinker?
Eric:Coffee.
Eric:Coffee.
Eric:Black.
Host:Like, do you like, like the medium roast, dark roast, light roasts?
Host:Like what?
Host:What do you prefer?
Eric:I go with strength.
Eric:So bang for my buck.
Host:So, like Keurig type of a thing or like Starbucks or like something like that?
Eric:Like Starbucks, gas station, Keurig, whatever gets me up in the morning.
Host:That's fair.
Host:That's fair.
Eric:Yeah.
Host:And I gave a little bit of brief introduction to you, but you, can you summarize your expertise to our audience?
Eric:Sure.
Eric:Nice to meet everyone.
Eric:My name is Eric, 29 years old, blessed to be living in beautiful Southern California.
Eric:Right up.
Eric:I went to school at the University of California, Irvine, where I interned in government consulting as well as a project manager in Barcelona.
Eric:My first job out of college was at Snapchat.
Eric:So that was done intentionally, right before their ipo, right after their IPO to see what that was like.
Eric:I was on a small, like tiger team where our goal was to figure out how to make their ads stickier.
Eric:So that's a cool thing from a marketing perspective.
Eric:From there, I got a job as a restructuring consultant.
Eric:Essentially, a Fortune 500 company goes bankrupt.
Eric:We move around the debt.
Eric:That really didn't align my ethos and values.
Eric:And that was right when I was getting into cryptocurrency, going hard on the bitcoin stuff.
Eric:So I quit my job after the Bonus, found the ShopX or Start, met the ShopX team.
Eric:And then we also started a side company.
Eric:It was called Palm Leer Cart Rev.
Eric:It had a couple names.
Eric:What that was was a social commerce platform.
Eric:So as a brand, you're on Shopify, you could upload your products with a discounted commission, and then any one of your customers, anyone else's customers, could come and sell your product for you.
Eric:So I could go on the Website be like, oh, I like this Nike shoe, this Reebok hat, this Lululemon shirt.
Eric:I could sell all three.
Eric:I get paid, customer gets a discount, brands get a sale.
Eric:So it was a, it was helping turn their customers into a referral based marketing system for them.
Eric:And that was highly effective because rather than Google paid ads where honestly those aren't as effective because they changed their algorithms whatnot, honestly.
Eric:And if you have like, if you're a small business, if you're a small like sports store, it's hard to compete with Nike.
Eric:Let's just call it how it is.
Eric:So that's where the word of mouth customers really came in.
Eric:Like are you more likely to listen to me recommending something or some 30 second ad on Instagram?
Eric:So that company did its thing.
Eric:We full circled back to ShopX, which is the Google, Apple, Web3.
Eric:We're a suite of products.
Eric:Brands can use this to interact with Web3 revenue.
Eric:One of our products is ReserveX and that's a pre purchase loyalty or NFT based loyalty program which marketers can use to create lifelong customers with no risk and enter the world of Web3.
Host:All right, and so my first question is going to be is what is Web3?
Host:Because I'm pretty sure a lot of people have heard it but I don't think they really understand because we have, we're in like, I call it web 2.5 because it is firmly in 2, but we're kind of transitioning slowly into web 3.
Host:But what can you, how can you define web 3?
Eric:No one really knows.
Eric:But it's provocative and it gets the people going.
Eric:I'm just kidding.
Eric:Will Ferrell's a funny movie.
Eric:That was a funny movie.
Eric:So I had to put the joke in.
Eric:I describe, I just, yeah, you get, I describe Web3 as a crypto based Internet with private property.
Eric:So I would say Web one is you could read content.
Eric:So for example, in Web one we just read stuff on the Internet.
Eric:Web two is you could read content and you could write content, but you can't own that.
Eric:So I want you to think of Instagram or any social media platform for that matter.
Eric:We can all create content and people can see that content, but we don't own the content.
Eric:For example Instagram and Twitter, which it has unknowingly the past, like I don't like this guy, he's gone.
Eric:And they get canceled because it's their content.
Eric:So what they're effectively doing is monetizing our content and data for enormous amounts of profit.
Eric:And Web3 I would say is where you can read, write and you can own the content.
Eric:So for example, me as a content creator, I can create an nft.
Eric:People can see that nft.
Eric:But more importantly, I own the nft.
Eric:If someone chooses to purchase that NFT from me, like you, I create a creator pass, you purchase for me.
Eric:It's a link between me and you with no third party.
Eric:So if I want to add benefits to that pass, you get that.
Eric:If you want to send me money, I get that.
Eric:No one gets in the way.
Eric:So we own that content.
Host:And this is like considering part of the blockchain.
Host:Right?
Host:Because the blockchain kind of like decentralizes a lot of things, which I would say a lot of the social media companies don't like the whole decentralizing because they had, they've centralized a lot of their power into Facebook, Google and whatnot.
Eric:Exactly, yes.
Eric:I would say it's a, I would just describe Web3 as a blockchain based Internet.
Eric:So it's built around the blockchain.
Host:Got you.
Host:And then for a lot of PR marketers, they're wanting to know how to utilize Web3.
Host:So how can they start to do it?
Host:Because I mean we're still not there yet.
Host:People are still apprehensive about cryptos and NFTs since given the market has been like up, down, up down, up down all the time.
Host:And plus with the banking system making it go up back again, how can they start to do this?
Eric:Yeah, so the cool thing about a Web three is it's a new avenue of revenue for it depends what kind of pr, whether you're working with brands, creators, musicians, artists, you can do the same thing.
Eric:So we've had PR agencies in the past, like e commerce agencies, they do all the things, like all things marketing for the brand and they're baking in web three solutions into their prepaid packages.
Eric:And with ShopX specifically, it's a NFT based loyalty program.
Eric:So they're offering that with their brands.
Eric:So as a marketing agency, you're working with the brand, you deal with creating the pass for the brand and when you create the pass, you can program in where the money goes.
Eric:So the brand could get 80%, you get your cut as an agency automatic and then you can handle the marketing from there.
Eric:And we've, we're seeing eight creators do that as well.
Eric:Because imagine you're like up and coming rapper.
Eric:This is my first show.
Eric:You and 10 other friends support me by going to my show.
Eric:I say thank you for coming.
Eric:My show, I Launch a NFT as collaboration, you pay 50 bucks.
Eric:It's really just like a donation or here you go kind of guy kind of thing.
Eric:But then 20 years later I'm on main stage.
Eric:The main stage is Coachella.
Eric:We have a connection via nft.
Eric:I can always program benefits to that NFT because it proved that you were there and then you can get like backstage passes, really whatever I decide.
Host:So it's like creating the intimacy within digital assets because NFT is non fungible tokens which if you don't know what that is, that's what it is now it's non fungible tokens.
Host:So that's kind of like the thing being more intimate within the digital space.
Host:Because I mean for now we're trying to be intimate.
Host:I mean a lot about PR marketing is about the community.
Host:But it's hard to do that when you're just throwing out pictures, you're just throwing out videos, you're not really being that intimate.
Host:So is it bringing more of that intimacy within the digital realm?
Eric:Exactly.
Eric:So what NFTs do really well is they bind the community together.
Eric:Like if you look at the main projects like in the NFT space, board apes, whatever though, that's a strong community.
Eric:So we believe brands can do that with nft.
Eric:So for example in our, with our flagship launch was a cool store in la, they sell hats and, and whatnot.
Eric:Their community, they purchased, they did a gold, silver, bronze pass and their issue was like bots would init.
Eric:Bots would sell out their inventory within seconds.
Eric:Celebrities would come by their hats before like the 16 year old kid is waiting outside for the limit time drop.
Eric:So now with his launch, his core community has a pink mocha pass and they get early dibs on all the benefits.
Eric:So it's like, oh you're, you're my OGs, I appreciate you.
Eric:You get a first access to this hat drop.
Eric:And the cool thing about that is as his brand goes up, the community owns nft.
Eric:Then theoretically the NFT should go up.
Eric:And if they want to sell it, like let's say I turn 50, I don't really need hats anymore, I sell for a profit.
Eric:Everyone wins.
Eric:So it's a way to create instead of like right now with like over the brand, like I purchased from Nike, I'm pretty much just sending value to Nike now they can give back.
Eric:So it creates a bilateral stream of value.
Eric:A way I like to describe it is think of a timeshare, like if I have a timeshare in Florida, every time you go to that timeshare.
Eric:I own that timeshare.
Eric:I'm gonna recommend the timeshare.
Eric:Whereas if I'm staying in a hotel, it's like, I don't really care.
Eric:So with NFTs, you feel like you have ownership in the brand.
Eric:So it's like, of course I'm gonna rep my brand.
Eric:I have the pink Mocha Pass or I have the Nike Gold Pass and the.
Eric:So that's the theory behind that.
Eric:We'll see how it goes.
Host:Yeah.
Host:And then given to just generationally, it has been reported that Gen Z has been going back to the dumb phones.
Host:They don't like their smartphones anymore.
Host:They want to go back to the old flip feature phones that have terrible cameras and you can really only text and call people.
Host:You can't really do much beyond that.
Host:You may be able to surf the web, but I mean, we all remember, if you're millennials, all the flip phones and all the craze on that.
Host: e, like way back in the early: Host: was a big thing in the early: Host:So is that a little wrinkle for the new, for the new people?
Host:It's like, well, I'm.
Host:The Gen Z seems to be like, I don't like technology too much anymore.
Host:I'm trying to go back to more analog in some way.
Eric:I mean, honestly, I hope they go that route just because I think social media may not be the best for a young person's mind to be bombarded with dopamine from five years.
Eric:But based on how TikTok is going, I can see it going the other way.
Eric:But regardless, if I have a flip phone, there will be ways for the NFT to interact with that as well.
Eric:Because for the nft, you don't need like massive amounts of Internet.
Eric:So if you look.
Eric:Do you know what a hardware crypto wallet is?
Host:Yeah.
Eric:Think of House.
Host:But can you explain it to the audience just so they may not know?
Eric:Correct.
Eric:So a hardware wallet, I want you to think of like a USB disk where you can store your crypto securely in terms of simplicity, that's designed to be as simple as possible to make it as safe as possible.
Eric:So it's literally just a flash drive that's secure.
Eric:So in terms of the flip phone, since simplicity works with safety and crypto, that can easily be adapted for NFTs.
Host:Gotcha.
Host:And I mean, moving on from that, I mean, like I said before, crypto has kind of.
Host: would say in the early in the: Host:It started oddly enough, during when the pandemic was trying to end.
Host:It kind of crashed a little bit.
Host:So marketers and PR people are kind of apprehensive about this because they're like, well this is so just like unpredictable.
Host:I don't know where this is going.
Host:I'm going to pull back.
Host:So I mean, what would you say with that?
Host:Because I mean people are a little, a little apprehensive about Web3 just because of all the controversies going on behind and it's not everywhere, I know that, but still a lot of the controversies behind some coins just going completely bankrupt because of whatever happens FTX and that debacle.
Host:I mean what do you say about that?
Eric:Honestly, I agree with everything they're saying.
Eric:It's been an area, it's been a challenge for us as a Web2 company or Web3.
Eric:Like a bridge for Web2 to Web3 brands.
Eric:Like imagine me, I'm talking to brand, the guy's like 50, he's a C suite executive.
Eric:He's like, Aren't like NFTs like $500,000 monkeys?
Eric:I'm like, well yeah they are.
Eric:Well aren't like 95% of them just scams.
Eric:They're just like right again, sir, so what we've done as a company is we've separated NFT and ENFT.
Eric:So a ShopX ENFT the customers itself.
Eric:They won't, I mean some will buy it for the hypnos, I don't really know but they'll buy it for the E commerce value attached to the nft.
Eric:So the value is linked to real E commerce value in the form of token gated exclusive products, exclusive experiences, soon to be price gating.
Eric:So when someone says oh yeah, yeah like it takes away the hype of it, if that answers your question.
Host:I mean moving, moving on from that is how can they start implementing in this, in their marketing thing?
Host:Because it's about community and I know creator coins are out there but for like B2B businesses and B2C businesses it's a little bit different, especially B2B because they're the slowest to implement any of this stuff out of any type of industry.
Host:So how could they like find little ways of going into this type of web3 or maybe web 2.5 if they're kind of like half in, half out type of a thing?
Eric:Yeah, so I always recommend the crawl, walk, run approach and I'm working with a like a Major wrestling brand.
Eric:I'm not going to say the name but what we're doing with their pass system is the passes are going to be there.
Eric:Like the first pass is going to be somewhat of a test pass where it's a teaser, where there's going to be a small amount, small cost, like a, like the prize for that is like an autograph poster, nothing big.
Eric:So we're going to see how that goes and they're going to use that as a learning experience to create the appropriate health documents and all that good stuff like on how to mint the nft, what to do with it, if you have any frequently asked questions, all that good stuff.
Eric:And then from there that'll tease the community, that'll get excited.
Eric:They're going to be aware that okay, they're entering the space.
Eric:And then from there we're going to launch some bigger passes where it's some wrestler based passes where, oh, you get to, you're on the pass, you get to meet the wrestler.
Eric:So we recommend starting slow.
Eric:There's no, there's.
Eric:I mean some brands just jump in it, but whatever pace you want to go long term we feel like a lot of big brands are in like Nike, Gucci, NBA, they're all doing it.
Eric:So eventually if like Nike does something, Adidas Canada has to do something, then all the smaller brands have to do something.
Eric:So our goal is just to make that process as simple as possible.
Eric:And we've done it.
Eric:So within the Shopify or WooCommerce app, you can download the app, you can launch a NFT collection within three minutes.
Eric:All you need is a picture, a description, a price and then so we take care of all the technical side for you.
Eric:You click deploy, you get a link, then customers can then purchase your NFT with either like Ethereum, whether via Metamask, Coinbase Wallet or Trust Wallet.
Eric:But we've also integrated with Cross Mint so customers can purchase the NFT credit card as well.
Host:Gotcha.
Host:And then I mean moving on to gaming because gaming has a lot of publishers have tried to do it but gamers are like, no, no, no, I don't, I don't like this very much.
Host:Like stop.
Host:Because gamers a lot of times feel like that the publishers are just asking to.
Host:We're just cash cows to them in a lot of way, like battle passes and everything else.
Host:So how can they learn from those mistakes?
Host:Because it seems like a lot of the mistakes came from the gaming side of the industry.
Host:When Ubisoft tried to do something, failed miserably and they kind of retracted back and be like, we're not going to do it.
Host:Square Enix basically said that they're focusing in on NFT games, which scratched a lot of gamers head.
Host:Like what does that mean?
Host:So how do you like learn from their mistakes when they've tried it?
Eric:So let me preface this by saying I'm not a gamer and from the outside looking in, it looks like gaming and NFTs should be the perfect fifth.
Eric:Like for example, imagine you're buying a skin in Fortnite or whatever, a weapon in any game.
Eric:You get the NFT version of that.
Eric:So you actually own it and then you can sell it.
Eric:But for whatever reason there hasn't been a mix at all.
Eric:And I, I think it.
Eric:And again, not a gaming expert, but I think it's just because A, it seems like you're just trying to get more money from me and B, there hasn't been like a good game to actually integrate it.
Eric:So once the gamers actually have a reason to use it, I think they will.
Eric:And I could see cool and purse.
Eric:My personal opinion is once the gamers start creating their own NFT collections, I think that could help.
Eric:I think that could be cool for everyone.
Eric:Like imagine I'm gonna use wow as a reference just because Ethereum was created because the, the creator's wow.
Eric:Character got nerfed.
Eric:So he didn't like that.
Eric:That's why create Ethereum.
Eric:It's cool story.
Eric:So yeah, imagine you're a guild.
Eric:You create your guild pass, your guild members have the pass and then you get it created.
Eric:It's a fun experience for you and then that's kind of like in house.
Eric:Activision will probably get like a small portion of that, but it's still your, it's still your thing.
Host:Yeah, I mean the problem is, is like I said before, we're a lot of times they think of us as a cash cow.
Host:So the battle passes already, which basically is a pass to buy skins and everything.
Host:And then they're like NFTs and it's like, wait, you just asked me for money for this, now you want this?
Host:And so I think they're mixing two things up and not really figuring it out.
Host:Plus with the invention of the new Fortnite update where you can create your own maps, I think that is a better implementation of maybe NFTs to maybe a token to get into those types of maps instead.
Host:So allowing the creator to create the maps, but also maybe an incentivized or maybe something exclusive which will help Epic in A way.
Host:So do you think that will actually help implement it in a way?
Host:Because Epic decided to allow gamers or creators to create their own stuff within Fortnite?
Eric:Yeah, actually now that you mentioned, I think that's a great use case because we've seen brands and creators so think of an entity as like an access pass to whatever the creator decides.
Eric:So we've seen people token get specific accesses to like a website or access exclusive.
Eric:Like for example when we're working with Fox's new show Kapopolis, part of the perks of owning the nft, the crab chicken is you get access to specific sections of the website which has content.
Eric:So I could see that transferring over in the gaming world.
Eric:But again like it's, it's something we'll have to see.
Host:Is there, is there a way for businesses to actually create their own types of coins?
Host:I know coins is a little dicey, but it seems like that could actually help with maybe a commodity type thing or maybe a shoe brand or something like that.
Host:Because I know creator coins are starting to be bigger and bigger with that, with artists, with content creators.
Host:Is there a way or is there going to be a future where coins for businesses will start to become more relevant to them?
Host:Because I know we're still in the infancy.
Host:Well, my opinion is we're still in the infancy of Web3.
Eric:Yeah, no, we are.
Eric:I'm sure there's a way and I'm sure someone will build that.
Eric:And if it is meant to be the future, then that'll take off.
Eric:If it's not, I think it won't.
Host:And with with the federal government saying that they're going to implement their own NF or crypto currency, will that change the whole crypto environment?
Host:And how will and how can businesses adapt to that?
Host:Because some aren't really in favor of the federal government controlling too much of it and they're kind of like aren't doing well in the fiat system.
Host:I don't think I want you in the crypto system.
Host:But regardless of that, will that change and will that catapult us more into web3 with the government looking for their own type of coins?
Eric:Again, we'll see and I'm sure they'll try.
Eric:My non biased opinion is I don't think the government has a very good track record of implementing anything tech related.
Eric:I also don't like the idea that someone in the government just could just cancel all my money with no real reason based on something I've done 10 minutes ago on my Facebook.
Eric:But Yeah, I think it could act like as a Trojan horse, for example.
Eric:My mother will probably go for that, whereas I won't.
Eric:Or she'll tell us, hey, I got this new Fed coin or whatever CBDC they want to try, then everyone then will sort of be like, mom, mom, you don't want that.
Host:Fair enough.
Host:And I'm a little puzzled because there already is like similar types of coins, like the us, the OSD coins, which is basically tied to the dollar.
Host:And it's kind of like scratching my head.
Host:I'm like, why don't you just use what's already there?
Host:Why stop trying to, I guess, reinvent the wheel all the time?
Eric:They want to control the wheel.
Host:They want to control the wheel that's already been built.
Eric:They want to, they want to know.
Host:How can like Digital Marketing use Web3 in their ads?
Host:Because, I mean, I feel like ads and Web three can actually, especially with blockchain, will that change, like how ads are implemented?
Host:Will that change, will that make it more useful for digital marketing or is that going to make it more difficult to actually try to target those through web3, through blockchain and all that stuff whenever it decides to be part of digital marketing?
Eric:So eventually I could see Web3 kind of like the early stages of Web2 before the Google, where there's no real effective way to search between addresses, to search like a specific person.
Eric:Of course there are ways to correlate like an address with the group they're associated with.
Eric:In terms of digital advertisements already seen cool things where it's like, oh, you don't want to see your ads on YouTube anymore by this pass, skip it.
Eric:So I think it'll be a supplemental version of it can be a supplement to their ad revenue.
Eric:And of course, if you're a brand or digital marketing agency trying to get a reoccurring customer, the ownership aspect of NFT works with that perfectly.
Eric:And then if you own it again, that creates word of mouth.
Eric:It helps turn customers into community which can market for you if you have good.
Eric:But of course it all depends on the brand.
Eric:Like if you have a good brand, it'll work.
Eric:Whereas if you have a bad brand like NFT is not going to be like the fix all solution to everything.
Host:That's true.
Host:Will it make it actually better for privacy as well, for getting the most information about your customer, but also privatizing or making sure that their data is private?
Host:Because I mean that's, that's always the thing with marketing is that we want as much data, but should we have all the data, especially a lot of it could be irrelevant to us marketing our products.
Host:So could that actually help like figure out your customer but also protect your customers data at the same time?
Eric:Yes, I think it could.
Eric:So for example, a lot of hacks like when for example Google, Google or Facebook, they just store all their data on a database, I'm sure that's getting hacked every day 247 from some kid in Russia.
Eric:Whereas with a blockchain it's, it's hard to hack where it's, it's pseudo anonymous.
Eric:Meaning you can't just like mass get everyone's info.
Eric:But if you really wanted to find a specific person, like for example you could probably find my address and see what NFTs I own.
Eric:But you can't just like mass scrape everything.
Host:Are we, are we eventually going to see that where it's going to be?
Host:Because I mean that's the talk of the town for regular people.
Host:It's like I want my data private.
Host:And then the marketers are like well we want to know how to market you.
Host:So is that going to be the future and are we eventually going to start seeing that with Google Ads and Facebook and all that stuff?
Host:Or is Facebook and all them still going to just dump the data on their servers and then hope to God that they don't get hacked massively?
Eric:I think they'll, I think right now they're dumping it on their servers, but I could see them switching to a more secure blockchain based system which I'm sure that.
Eric:Actually I'm not sure because I'm not there in their data rooms.
Eric:But I'd imagine a behemoth like Google or Facebook already in process of doing, finding a way to implement that.
Host:Gotcha.
Host:And then fun question for you.
Host:I know we talked about web3 but if you could make web4, what would you think could be like web4 real.
Eric:Answer, I'd reduce their net to zero.
Eric:Everyone go back outside.
Eric:But I guess I would say the metaverse where it's like an immersive experience which ties it and I'm going to keep popping back on NFTs because that's kind of my thing.
Eric:But it ties well with that.
Eric:So for example, if like a, if I purchase a product from Nike NFTs attached to that, my avatar can get that NFT in the metaverse and then that NFT could access act as like a, like let's say it's a Snoop Dogg Nike collaboration because I bought that product, I have nft, I could get access to the Metaverse version of Snoop Dogg concert.
Eric:And it works vice versa.
Eric:So let's say I purchased something in the Metaverse, My wallet automatically gets the product nft, and then I can go to the company website or in store or whatever, and then that could unlock the token gated aspect of the product.
Eric:So it's a nice way to blend the two together.
Eric:Personally, I could, I mean, again, not sure if I want to see everyone just in a digital world, but if it happens, it happens.
Eric:And if that happens, Web3 and NFTs are going to be useful for that.
Eric:And then I could see marketers going ham on that.
Eric:They have to figure out new ways to market in the Metaverse.
Host:Right now.
Host:No, a lot of gamers are rejecting the Metaverse.
Host:We're like, yeah, this doesn't look very good.
Eric:Well, that's because it looks like it looks terrible.
Eric:Have you seen any?
Eric:I'm just like, no, thank you.
Eric:But if it gets good, I think people will come.
Eric:And keep in mind, it is like very new technology.
Eric:Like, if it gets fun, if it gets realistic, more people join, then I could see more people joining.
Eric:Or if the technology doesn't evolve, looks like it'll die.
Host:Well, I mean, just from like a gaming perspective, VR is old.
Host:It's actually old tech.
Host:I remember playing a VR game in the 90s, and that was pretty awful too.
Host:That was actually like, you know, the polygon, like faces, where it's like all these sharp angles on everything.
Host:So I did play VR in the 90s.
Host:So VR isn't really new.
Host:It's just the technology is better, but still, even VR is not really impressing gamers.
Host:So they need to find a better way of implementing VR.
Host:And I think that's the problem with Metaverse and VR at the same time, because that's the only way.
Host:It's the only transfer point into the Metaverse right now is through a VR headset.
Host:And they're expensive.
Host:I know Facebook's trying to bring down their quest line to a more affordable price, but they're still expensive and they're still, in a way, gimmicky.
Eric:Yeah, I mean, I would.
Eric:I would imagine.
Eric:And again, I'm just guessing it would start off with ar, like augmented reality, then move to VR.
Eric:And I would say I would see the way that.
Eric:Because we both know Facebook and Google love to make money.
Eric:It'll be a thing where, like, you have, like, glasses, probably start off with your phone, where you pick up your phone, something comes up, and now you can buy something.
Eric:So I could See that being their incentive to try to make the products better.
Eric:But in terms of gaming, like, like some of the games I play, like, for example, I played Breath of the Wild, like Elden Ring, whatever.
Eric:Like, it's gonna be hard to bring those graphics over to the Metaverse just because.
Eric:No, not even just like graphics, because some pixelated games are fun too, but like, because those games are fun, I enjoy playing those.
Eric:Whereas it's going in the Metaverse, it's like, yeah, no, thank you.
Eric:I'm just gonna go over here.
Host:Yeah, I mean, we'll see.
Host:It's still the future and they're still trying to figure out VR in gaming, in the gaming space.
Host:And I think that's where they need to start off first.
Host:And I think that's where they need to market, like, let's market a really good product for gaming and then eventually if the gamers get on, the Metaverse will take off, because the gamers are usually the test product anyways.
Host:And we're used to being the test product through game betas, game alphas and everything else.
Host:We're used to testing things out.
Host:So I think they're trying to.
Host:I think their marketing plan is awful and they're trying to market to everybody and they should market to the gamers only and then take off from there.
Host:But they.
Eric:Yeah, like, go ahead.
Eric:I was, I was just agreeing to saying, like, find a product that you guys actually want.
Eric:And in terms of technology implementation, the gaming community is obviously very good with tech, so it's a lot easier to bring like a gamer to the Metaverses than like a six year old, like, lady.
Host:All right, and where can people find you online if they want to learn more about the web?
Host:3.
Eric:The best place would be our website, ShopX co.
Eric:Our Twitter is ShopX Labs, Instagram is ShopX Labs as well.
Host:Any final thoughts for the listeners?
Eric:No, I'm just really excited to see what the future holds.
Eric:We need to fix.
Eric:We need to make user experience better because in terms of crypto, the user experience has always been awful.
Eric:If we don't have user experience, then it's kind of dead in the water.
Eric:But I think that will get figured out.
Host:I agree.
Host:I mean, figuring out all the crypto coins and how to transfer them and even NFTs and how to like transfer that, and you have to have a different coin for that one.
Host:And it's like, I'm really confused on what to do.
Host:So I agree with you that we need to figure out an easier way of doing things.
Host:All right.
Host:Well, thank you Eric for joining Digital Coffee Marketing Brew and sharing your knowledge on Web three.
Eric:Yeah, you're welcome.
Eric:It was a pleasure being here and.
Host:Thank you for joining us on this podcast.
Host:And as always, please subscribe to it on all your favorite podcasting apps.
Host:We have a five star review.
Host:It really does help with the risk rankings.
Host:And join me next month as I talk to another great thought leader in the PR and marketing industry.
Host:All right guys, stay safe, get to understanding how Web3 can help your business or your content creation and see you next week.
Eric:Later.
