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Back in September, we released the first episode of our brand new podcast series, Metaverse Marketing.
Part audio documentary, part interview podcast, Metaverse Marketing explores the role of marketing in Web 3.0 and helps listeners make sense of the metaverse beyond the hype. The podcast is hosted by Cathy Hackl, leading metaverse strategist and CEO of Futures Intelligence Group, and now you can listen to all eight episodes of the first season on your preferred podcast platform of choice.
Join us as we explore how the metaverse will impact fashion, sports, entertainment, gaming, culture and even identity. Listeners will hear from the minds shaping the metaverse and the brands already staking their flags in it, and will find out how digital culture is shaping our physical reality.
Episode 1: Defining a New Reality
“Metaverse” is a word that’s hard to define, meaning different things to different people. The term was coined by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash to describe a world similar to that which was later popularized in Ernest Cline’s 2011 book, Ready Player One, which was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg.
In these stories, the metaverse is a persistent virtual world—accessible through VR goggles—where users can fully live out their lives digitally. But is that the future metaverse we can actually expect? In Episode 1, Hackl and her guests try to define the word “metaverse.”
Episode 2: Collaboration and Co-Creation Are Kings
The moment you take your first (virtual) step into the metaverse, you’ll immediately notice the passionate community of builders who are architecting the future of the internet right before your eyes. And they’re not doing it alone—they’re leveraging the power of collaboration (most often with people who they’ve never met IRL) to move at a speed that would be impossible for any single creator.
In Episode 2, you’ll hear all about the strategic shifts that leading projects, creators and brands are making to harness the collective power of groups to thrive in the metaverse.
Episode 3: What’s Gaming Got to Do With It?
Gaming—and particularly multiplayer games—have paved the way for the metaverse, especially when it comes to infrastructure. So much of internet culture is driven by fun and games, so it makes sense that the next evolution of our digital lives will continue to be shaped by gaming culture. However, gaming as we know it is just the beginning.
While early experiments are linking the blockchain to gaming, there’s still no universal standard for an economic system in the metaverse, which makes it messy and hard to pin down. As you’ll hear in Episode 3, once we agree on such a system for transferring money and ownership, a whole new world of opportunity is likely to be unlocked.
Episode 4: Who Am I in the Metaverse?
In the metaverse, everyone can create a unique persona, no matter how similar or different to your physical appearance and IRL identity. Identity is oftentimes heavily influenced by culture, and for the past 30 years the greatest cultural force has been the internet.
Online life and the rise of social media have made way for all types of conversations about identity, self-determination and even gender. So how will the next evolution of the internet—the metaverse—inform our identity in the future? That’s the question we explore on Episode 4.
Episode 5: Entertainment at the Core
What if it was possible to walk the halls of Hogwarts, explore the deserts of Tatooine or be immersed in Middle-Earth? Would you want to explore one of these imaginary worlds? The metaverse presents itself as a realm of infinite possibilities and opportunities to make those dreams a reality, but how we get there is still being established.
In Episode 4, we discussed how gaming is building the metaverse’s rules and infrastructure. In Episode 5, we’re looking at gaming’s close cousin, entertainment, and how it’s the glue holding everything together.
Episode 6: NFTs
American digital artist Beeple sold the most expensive NFT ever at action for over $60 million at Christie’s. It was a metaverse moment that crystallized the hype surrounding this new form of digital media. But what exactly is an NFT, and why are they so important?
In Episode 6, we explore the rise of non-fungible tokens, how they have impacted the worlds of art, fashion, collectibles and real estate, their place in the metaverse, and how they can unlock new opportunities to engage with audiences as well as create new revenue streams.
Episode 7: Fashion’s Future Moment
It was May 2019 when Dutch startup The Fabricant made a splash with its Iridescence dress: a luminous cape-like gown that glowed with purple highlights.
But this was no ordinary dress. The Iridescence dress is a digital asset that was auctioned on the blockchain for $9,500 and delivered by digitally tailoring the dress onto photos of the buyer. For those paying attention to what is happening in the fashion industry, it was this sale that made many rethink what is valuable in fashion.
In Episode 7, we discuss what fashion could be when divorced from physics and explored only as a creative expression, how direct-to-avatar might just be the next direct-to-consumer and—perhaps the most important question of all—what will you wear in the metaverse?
Episode 8: Metaverse 2030
We started the Metaverse Marketing podcast in an effort to better understand where the future of the internet is heading, as well as to help you explore the metaverse. And just as we were doing that, something quite interesting happened. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, announced that it will become a metaverse company and marked the shift with a name change to Meta. If ever there was a timestamp in history, this would be it.
In the season finale, we explore what the next decade of the metaverse will look like, how it will enable new kinds of ontological exploration, how brands can future-proof their businesses and enter the metaverse, and the implications of the metaverse on future generations.
