Digital ownership on the Metaverse will change ad success metrics for good

Authored by Siddharth Bhansali Co-Founder, XP&DLand & CTO, Zoo Media.

A success rate of 2% on any campaign is deplorable in every other industry except that of the advertising industry. The answer to why this is the case lies in the quagmire of second-hand data that marketers rely on to build our multi-million dollar campaigns.

The Blind Spot in Current Data Metrics

Take for example our current understanding of the Millennial/ GenZ audience, which is based on their digital lives. We track them on Social Media and map their digital demographic and behaviour to gauge their preferences, likes, and even purchasing ability. However, the big blindspot is the details of the final purchase made. We are dependent on data aggregators including Google and Meta to provide us with audience data, that we have no control over. This format of centralized understanding of audiences eventually impacts the results, thus keeping marketers’ content with a success rate of just 2% and still dependent on shopfloor observations and conversations as the mainstay for data collection for most brands, irrespective of the audience they cater to. The signs of a serious customer are visible if one only has to look in the right places.

GenZ & GenAlpha: Pride Digital Ownership

And that right place is the Metaverse. The future is not far out, it is now. The key to accurate data-driven insights would lie in owning the process of data collection. And that’s where Web 3.0 is key to decentralising the data. The emergence of NFTs has set in motion the process of revolutionising the way digital ownership is perceived amongst GenZ and GenAlpha. They see the metaverse as an opportunity to extend their personalities.

The buyer patterns that rode the industrial revolution and the liberalisation era ushered in a populace that believed in prideful ownership of physical goods such as cars, homes, luxury goods, second cars, second homes, and so on. About a decade ago, this philosophy gave way to re-discovering communities and selves through the emergence of the shared economy model. And, today, we are witnessing this evolution in the pride in owning digital assets.

“You are what you Buy”: Revolutionising Data Collection

Digital collectibles will be centralised in one virtual wallet; this treasure trove of data offers marketers, a direct peek into their shelf space, so to speak. It tells us not only about a desire to buy, but the actual ability to buy. GenAlpha will define itself by their ownership of the latest NFT assets like Nike’s or even the latest Lamborghini. They will see the metaverse as an opportunity to extend their personalities. Given that they will be introduced to it, via educational experiences and community experiences.

The biggest opportunity this allows the marketers is access to their digital wallet. Cryptocurrency wallets, that reside on the blockchain and are as a result open for all to see, contain a treasure trove of data for marketers. The access will throw open multiple individual data points, thus making the findings of any such study smarter and more empathetic. It will give marketers a clear view of what brands should manufacture, create and even invest in. This micro-targeting of the accurate audience is bound to result in campaigns that can boast of a far better success rate, vis-à-vis the current 2%.

Gearing up for Alpha Generation

These are still very early days for brands. This is virgin territory for tech itself. So, while the fan fare around the metaverse is a positive sign, with brands across industries conservatively trying to plant their flag to get first movers advantage, the time has come for us to ‘Fan’dom towards a more serious turn, that is, ‘Brand’dom.

The current generation of Millennials and GenZ are one that has graduated from Web 2.0 to 3.0. The next generation GenAlpha, will be Web 3.0 natives, with a very unique set of considerations, as seen above. Crypto-currency wallets and digital wearables will be the smartphones of the next generation with each individual owning one. It may not even be far-fetched to expect that GenAlpha, someday won’t even be present on any of the social media platforms, thus giving us nothing about their real personalities. And while mining their digital presence will be a laborious time-consuming task, the incisive information and razor-sharp insights emanating from them will make all the effort worth it.