10.20.22 |
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Web3 has taken not one, but two hits this week, with the news of Decentraland and The Sandbox’s dwindling popularity and Kanye’s acquisition of free-speech platform Parler both making headlines. Yet — despite bumps in the road — spirits remain high, with many appearing unphased and continuing their metaversal endeavors. As NYC’s hottest eatery, Carbone, gears up to release its first NFT, does this mean token-gated reservations will be the next big thing to take over the food and drink industry? Meanwhile, Jing Meta chats to next-gen label Skinvaders’ Alexis Arragon on the future of gaming and luxury, and Farfetch releases the winners of its Dream Assembly Base Camp accelerator program, which aims to help and leverage Web3 fashion start-ups across the globe.
China’s Tmall is also venturing into the world of tech-forward fragrances, as it teams up with Swiss perfumier Givaudan to explore the world of AI scent creation services. Digital collectibles have, until now, dominated the mainland’s online market. But advances and out-of-the-box ideas like these might kick off new trends and consumer interests across the digital landscape, welcoming a new era of exciting, virtual experiences to the Chinaverse.
As always, please keep sending your launches, projects, and exciting new developments to NFT@jingdaily.com.
Thanks for reading!
- Bethanie Ryder, Metaverse Editor
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THE BIG STORY
Decentraland and The Sandbox have become the go-to channels for luxury brands looking to build out their presence in Web3. But a viral report, published by decentralized finance (DeFi) analytic firm DappRadar, suggests that the online giants are apparently not as popular as once thought
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An Empty Metaverse? The Truth Behind DappRadar’s Report Of 30 Active Daily Users In Decentraland
Finance firm DappRadar revealed that major metaverse platforms aren’t performing as well as once thought. Will the news dampen luxury's Web3 ambitions?
Read the full story on Jing Daily here.
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OUT THIS WEEK
Jing Meta's top Web3 digital fashion drops to add to your calendar.
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META BITES
The brands making their name known in the Web3 space this week.
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FARFETCH
- The luxury fashion retailer has announced the eight companies that will participate in its first 12-week Dream Assembly Base Camp accelerator program, which aims to offer a curated strategy of mentorship, networking, and support in order to help drive the future of Web3 luxury commerce. In partnership with Outlier Ventures, the start-ups that were selected include Altr, Curie, Iindyverse, Metav.rs, Mintouge, Reblium, Sknups, and WearNFT. Each company will be offered a personalized program that focuses on digital fashion, tokenized loyalty, immersive experiences, and the creator economy — in order to shape the future of luxury Web3 commerce.
AZUKI
- Web3 native skate outfit Azuki has announced that it will be releasing the “Holy Grail of skateboards.” Dropping on October 21, the limited-edition series of boards, which are each custom-designed, precision-milled, and fully plated in 24K gold, will be auctioned off via the brand’s website. Each skateboard weighs 45lbs, is fully functional, and depicts a detailed golden dragon, as well as being embedded with a BEAN Chip — a cryptographic chip tying a physical item to a digital token (PBT) to verify authenticity and prove ownership. Azuki’s global community will no doubt be waiting with bated breath for this latest release, with some describing the label as Web3’s answer to Supreme.
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KANYE IS BUYING 'FREE-SPEECH' WEB3 PLATFORM PARLER. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF WEB3?
Ye is back in the news following a Twitter suspension and controversial PFW showcase. Now he’s set to acquire right-wing Web3 platform Parler
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Read the full story on Jing Daily here.
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INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT
This week, Jing Meta speaks to Alexis Arragon, Founder and CEO of in-game branded skins and digital clothing pioneer Skinvaders, about the company’s latest phygital partnership with Gen.G and sportswear staple Puma, luxury’s newfound affinity with gaming, and why brands should be looking to crack Asia’s virtual market.
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We've seen a lot of luxury brands enter the gaming space, like Roblox and Burberry, and yourself with Marine Serre. Why do you think that luxury has moved toward this industry?
There's around three billion people playing games on the planet and the younger generation is spending a lot of time on these channels, not just to play but to socialize, experience new things, and purchase digital content.
There was a realization that actual money can be made and it becomes a sales channel. For luxury, it makes sense to reach out to this huge audience that might be too young right now to invest, but if those players enjoy an experience made by Gucci now, in five years when they can purchase something from a luxury brand, they might choose them over a competitor, because they remember that they had fun playing the Gucci experience in Roblox.
What is Skinvaders’ USP and why should big brands partner with you rather than anyone else?
We’re a B2B company and our clients are fashion brands. Whether they have a more game-oriented focus or a more webflow-oriented focus, it doesn't matter. We want to specifically cater to the need of producing 3D content for individual brands in the industry. That's already quite a feat as fashion in 3D is much more difficult because of the draping, animation, and textiles that are used.
We also understand that every platform has its own set of requirements and we’re able to produce specific content for that platform. The fact that we're capable of producing content at scale, I think, is the biggest differentiator with other agencies or the other platforms that exist on the market.
What are Skinvader’s ambitions when it comes to cracking Asia and the Chinaverse? Your latest project with Puma and Zepeto demonstrates an interest there, is that an area that you're planning to focus on more in the future?
We don't work specifically with a geographic zone or a certain type of brand, but the behavior of the consumers in the Asian market is very different from the behavior of US-based consumers or Europe-based consumers. Digital is much more advanced, and we’ve had a lot of interest from our clients and brands about positioning themselves over there.
With our latest project, it’s not the first drop that we've done in Zepeto, but it's the first phygital collaboration. More than that, the retail part of the activation also happens in Korea. It’s not always easy to actually work on an activation for the Asian market when working from outside of that zone, but the fact that Puma is a global brand surely helps in that matter.
What do you see for the future of Web3 and this intersection of gaming, Esports and luxury?
I think there's a realization that for brands this is going to be the future for many of their consumers. They're really also taking the time to educate themselves and understand how to work within this new environment. I was really surprised to hear brands outline their strategies for the next six months, such as NFTs, governance tokens, and DAO.
I think we're only scratching the surface of what brands can do in that space and what they will do. It’s very exciting to imagine what the future is going to be.
Finally, do you have any exciting projects you can tell us about?
I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but we do have something exciting that’s going to be out very, very soon.
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CHINA'S METAVERSE MOVES
The latest virtual developments taking the Chinaverse by storm.
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Are AI Digital Scents The Next Big Thing For The Fragrance Industry? Tmall Seems To Think So.
Swiss fragrance and beauty line Givaudan is collaborating with Tmall to offer the first-ever AI-powered fragrance co-creation service to Chinese customers. In partnership with the Tmall Innovation Centre (TMIC), “Creatogether” will allow consumers to “realize their olfactory vision with unsurpassed sampling speed in China’s unique e-commerce market.” The program works by selecting data from TMIC’s olfactive culture map and Givaudan’s AI-powered scent assistant to blend fragrance solutions.
The mainland’s fragrance sector is expected to see sales increase at an annual growth rate of 17 percent over the next five years, with market sales reaching 2.13 billion USD (15.44 billion RMB) by 2025. Givaudan has voiced its ambition to delve deeper into the Chinese market, and tapping the Chinaverse might be the key to doing so. A number of ventures have already begun to recognize the power of using advanced digital technology to leverage consumer experience, such as Byredo and Nars. This suggests that we will most likely start to see more beauty and fragrance groups follow their competitors into virtual space, with hopes to elevate their own brand offerings and image.
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