What the f*ck is the Metaverse?
The Metaverse is an amplified version of our existing functional digital realities. Put simply, it’s the web but more immersive and sat on a blockchain, which means it pivots the ownership hierarchy too. There is not one, but many metaverses: Think of each metaverse as cities and villages. At IoDF we use the term web3 as this is actually a more accurate term that reflects ‘the transition’ (web2-web3) to the decentralized internet where users have more control. For us, the importance is what we do with this tech, not the 0 and chains that make it up; that’s just the tools. We believe in a space where community, transparency and ownership are divorced from the hierarchical structures we see today, and for us that’s the beauty and power of the metaverse/web3.
Beyond NFTs, AR and AI, which are practices that have become increasingly commonplace in the luxury and emerging market sectors, how do you feel that brands have adapted to the metaverse and the realm of digitalisation?
Brands are becoming more innovative in their strategies, partnering with web3 experts and companies like IoDF and even investing, Epic Games partnering with LVMH and famously the Nike and rtfct acquisition. Since December 2021, Nike has earned $185M dollars in digital assets sales revenue and generated $1.3B in sales volume. They made 8x more in revenue. Seeing Nike’s output with RTFKT has been a real show that working IRL and URL should be in unison, a mission statement of ours since inception. The real successful adaptation is when you see the values of web3, community, authenticity, loyalty and democratization be woven into the brand's offerings. To be clear, there are two very different markets, the web3 collectors and enthusiasts, then the fashion audiences. Part of our mission is to bring the physical fashion industry to recognise the infrastructure shifts that web3 can enable: to build in more profit, re-structure IP, explore wider creative freedoms, reward community and avoid the current leading conversation that is ‘tech, nft, crypto and metaverse.’ A brief list of brands that have delivered Web3 initiatives, which shows the traction, are Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry to name a few. We have been working with consultancy to assist in this pivot on how luxury and emerging brands can be a part of this shift with authenticity. It means listening to the audiences first, so we deep dive into insights, and real-time analytics and build focus groups to understand what the semantics shift means to those audiences. Famously, we produced and strategized the H&M metaverse design story, a 360 production now sits as the pinnacle of digital fashion fidelity. A CGI motion-captured campaign that introduced for the first time digital fashion alongside physical, yet the physical was not center stage. Our work pushed to change the narrative, adoption will not occur if digital fashion is stuck in smart contracts and digital wallets or on Instagram as a filter; we need to showcase to the world the radical beauty of digital fashion and push the desire.