Month: January 2022

“I think part of it is how long it took brands to be comfortable moving from television to digital; moving from digital to mobile was also a journey,” said Nada Stirratt, the vp in charge of Meta’s global business group in the Americas. “And so I think brands and marketers now sit and go, ‘wow, it took us so long to jump into something that we should have jumped into early.’ There’s a little bit of that going on right now.”

Though Stirratt stressed that the metaverse is still in its early days — ”there’s no metaverse to invest in right now” — it’s true that many of today’s virtual brand activations are intended more to demonstrate brands’ willingness to experiment with new technologies than to generate high ROI or create direct e-commerce opportunities. NASCAR’s metaverse push, for example, is intended to give the brand an opportunity to incrementally improve its knowledge of virtual technologies, not to bring in new fans or sell tickets and merchandise.

At the moment, nothing in the metaverse is certain; it’s unclear which metaverse platforms will still be around in a decade, and information about metaversal demographics and user behavior can be difficult to track down. “The metaverse will be a huge experience for brands,” said Matt Greener, vp of marketing at TINT. “Those who have the R&D budget and resources to start strategizing need to be OK with the possibility of failing. Those who can’t invest right away may want to watch and learn first to see what works.”

The same factor that drives brands’ enthusiasm toward the metaverse could also be a reason why some consumers are skeptical of the concept.

“The consumer view of a lot of these things is driven by, I would think, Facebook rebranding to Meta,” said Rosh Singh, the managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Unit9, a digital production studio that started a Metaverse Advisory Department earlier this month. “And if there was ever going to be a flag-waver for a new, virtual kind of existence, Facebook’s probably not the best advocate for driving us into this new future. They’ll probably do pretty well — they’ve got a lot of money, a lot of resources, a lot of brains — but I think, from a perception perspective, that instantly makes people think twice or have a little bit of skepticism.”

Instead of risking consumer burnout by leading with the metaverse concept, other metaverse builders have started by giving their users clear reasons to spend time in virtual spaces — without stressing the metaversal connections in an overtly front-facing way. Though Epic Games has long been open about its goal to build the metaverse, it has largely focused on making its core game/platform, Fortnite, an enticing playground for its teenaged user base. When millions of users logged in to experience Travis Scott’s live Fortnite concert in April 2020, most of them thought of it as simply an extension of the video game — not a window into Epic’s virtual world to come.

Another issue is that netizens have been inundated with products and services marketing themselves as “part of the metaverse,” whether they fit into the true conception of the metaverse drawn from Neal Stephenson’s science-fiction novel “Snow Crash.” For example, while NFT drops such as Bored Ape Yacht Club purport to be metaversal, they have little to do with users’ experiences in proto-metaverse platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite.

“It’s not just the metaverse — we just had all these conversations about NFTs, and then we want to talk about Web 3.0. And then we need to talk about gaming,” said Matt Maher, founder of the technology consultancy M7 Innovations. “With clients, for the last three years, I try to explain to them that when 12.3 million people come together to watch a shared experience of a Travis Scott concert in Fortnite, what more of a metaverse do you need?”

As both brands and consumers become more familiar with the metaverse concept — and more comfortable traversing virtual spaces — the competing FOMO and burnout surrounding the concept will likely reach some sort of equilibrium. Through the current frenzy of brand activity, marketers are learning how best to track the returns of virtual activations; as the teenagers who populate platforms like Roblox age, they will form a cohort of consumers that is inherently less skeptical about the metaverse. Hype cycles notwithstanding, the metaverse is here to stay. 

“I think this is a classic example of Amara’s Law, where we tend to overestimate the effect, in the short run,” Maher said. “And we’re going to underestimate the effect of the technology, in the long run.”

“Working from home, it’s still difficult to feel connected to the team,” said Feldman. “If you have joint experiences it’s advantageous to feeling like a team and feeling closer to each other. It’s a nice ice breaker beyond ‘How’s the weather’ or ‘What are your weekend plans?’”

Feldman’s experience with the float tank offering isn’t a total anomaly. Others say their employers have also offered various unique ways to destress amid the on-going pandemic. One agency exec who asked for anonymity said that she was offered a gift card to a “rage room,” where people are able to get out their pent up aggression by breaking things, from her employer. 

Over the last nearly two years of an on-going pandemic, working from home, being disconnected from other people and the lack of a true work/life balance has some people more stressed out than ever. It’s no surprise then that people are seeking out unique ways — on their own or offered by their employer — to destress like rage rooms or even cow hugging therapy. 

“After being so disconnected, so lonely, so scared, people need that connection,” said Ellie Laks, founder of The Gentle Barn, a non-profit animal sanctuary that offers cow hugging therapy where people spend an hour with a cow and connect with nature. People who work from home, who have been dealing with the added stress of the last two years have reached out to the organization and cow hugging therapy sessions are booked out months in advance at the barn’s three locations in California, Tennessee and Missouri. 

When asked why people might seek out cow hugging, Laks explained that “it washes away all of the stress, washes away the burnout, it’s like a restart and you can face what we’re dealing with better.” 

Employers looking for ways to help out their teams by offering an alternative way to destress shouldn’t simply rely on doing so to help employees with their workload, explained the agency exec, adding that with the Great Resignation employers need to listen to their employees’ needs for work/life balance. 

Per the agency exec, rather than gifts for unique ways to destress or seeking out those ways on her own it’s more important to work for a company culture where answering “emails past 6 p.m. or emails on the weekend” isn’t the norm. 

“What is exhausting talent is the demand for constant Zoom meetings — trust is what talent wants in employers,” rather than uncommon perks said Christie Cordes, a recruiter for talent in advertising. “People want to be trusted to handle their work. It’s the unease of knowing that back-to-back Zooming “proves” their working … that is so draining.” 

Mack McKelvey, founder and CEO of marketing firm SalientMG, echoed that sentiment. “Instead of gimmicky tokens that don’t truly acknowledge or address the extensive burn-out; tools and investment are far more impactful,” he said. “Address pay gaps. Level up strong, diverse talent. Be real. To figure out what’s best for your company? Start by asking your employees and really listening to what they want.”

It might not include bovine-based burnout cures.

It’s yet another example of a marketer or brand using the cultural and social heat around the Super Bowl without spending the $6.5 million per 30-second spot to advertise in the Big Game on NBC. 

Here’s the gist of the organic part of the effort: People have to figure out some secret code embedded in the Gronk TikTok video to unlock the second video and so on, with the subsequent videos involving well known TikTok personalities (Digiday won’t identify them so as not to spoil the contest). Those that reach the end are entered in a sweepstakes to win Super Bowl tickets. 

“Challenges are inherent to the TikTok platform, but no one’s pulled off a scavenger hunt on it before — I confirmed that with TikTok,” said Alexandria Lo Grasso, Blue Hour’s creative director. “We intentionally leaned into a diverse lineup of personalities, all with different background, points of view, and styles.” 

Though it’s too soon to know if the organic kickoff achieved the virality that the “WingIt2WinIt” contest hoped for, it’s just the appetizer of a broader paid social and search-driven campaign for the plant-based meatless brand that will run through 2022 on such platforms as Instagram, Pinterest, Instacart and Google. The brand also will do shopper-marketing promotions at Sam’s Club, Walmart and Target stores.

“Even after the sweepstakes is over, these videos will live on as a way of driving awareness and consideration among non-vegans as well as vegans,” said Taylor Michelle Gerard, Blue Hour’s vp of content and creative.

Emily Klooster, head of marketing for LikeMeat’s parent company LiveKindly Collective, explained that the mass consumption of wings around the Super Bowl, as well as in the lead-up to March Madness — the second scariest time of year for chickens — is the perfect time to launch. To her thinking, TikTok made sense for two main reasons. “For one, it’s where more Americans get their recipe ideas these days,” she said. “Secondly, the unique behavior on TikTok — discovering challenges and figuring out something new — made it the perfect environment for people to find out about us.” 

Interestingly, Klooster said the food brand won’t be using TV advertising — usually a staple of any consumer packaged goods launch — anytime soon, for both cost reasons as well as changed consumer behaviors around meal planning. “So much of that conversion happens online these days,” she noted. But she stressed the timing of the campaign had to begin a few weeks before kickoff, “since people start to plan their meals for that night well in advance.”

Over the past six months, fans have engaged with G FUEL-branded content over 12 million times, according to the esports and gaming consultancy and data platform GEEIQ. (Tidwell credits a team effort for the brand’s success.) Digiday reached out to Tidwell to learn how he plans to leverage his skills and experience to help shine a spotlight on the Enthusiast Gaming brand.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

What were your responsibilities as G FUEL’s Chief Community Officer?

My focus was all the amazing content creators that we were working with at G FUEL — how to build a stronger, more connected community, and not just have things be transactional. A lot of times, when you work with product brands, or influencer marketing programs and community building programs, they can seem very transactional, and my main focus was to make that not be a thing. I wanted a deep connection — even me personally, on my personal socials — with the creators that we work with, and not just going, ‘dear content creator, will you help me promote this thing?’

It was seriously investing and taking time to really understand the creator and how I can be of assistance to them. Obviously, we want to do a brand deal. But how do we take that beyond just a transaction and make it so that they can see me as their advocate? This is something I’ve been trying to do for well over 10 years in this space, with all the different influencer programs or community programs that I’ve helped build or scale. [Before G FUEL, Tidwell worked as director of global esports and social media for the controller manufacturer Scuf Gaming.]

How was G FUEL able to generate engagement among its partners and their communities?

The program that G FUEL has is probably one of the largest influencer programs in the entire gaming space — probably hands down, when you’re looking at the staggering number of partners. Sometimes you have creators that would post about G FUEL products every day, and then you’ll see people that might not post a ton about it, but integrate it into their daily life or activity. G FUEL is a consumable brand, so that’s a lifestyle,. When you wake up every day, some people choose coffee to drink, some people grab an energy drink or G FUEL. I think finding the people that are a good fit is, first and foremost, the most important thing. I never want to work with a creator that doesn’t truly like or enjoy a product or service.

I used to tell the creators, ‘Hey, G FUEL has 50 flavors, it’s okay to say you think 10 or more are terrible.’ You know, people ask me all the time what my favorite flavor is, and my answer is always anything with lemonade. If you ask me what I think about this pineapple drink, I’m telling you I hate it. That’s my approach to working with creators: let’s understand the things they like and don’t like.

Enthusiast Gaming does a lot of things, but it’s not a lifestyle brand like G FUEL. How do you plan to help Enthusiast influencers organically integrate the brand into their identity?

I will tell you that one of the things that excites me about Enthusiast Gaming is that most people in the gaming space really don’t understand just how big it is, and all the things that we’re involved in. G FUEL has one of the largest creator programs in the space — but when you look at Enthusiast, nobody really has more touch points for creators. You have Luminosity Gaming, and all the great things they’re doing, and then you have content creators, the different esports franchises. On top of that, you throw in the multi-channel network that Enthusiast owns. 

I feel like I have a lot of things at my disposal right now; a lot of opportunities for different creators. One thing that excites me the most was the recent acquisition of Addicting Games. Look at all the creators that were recently streaming Little Big Snake on Twitch — that’s another title on Addicting Games. When 100 Thieves acquired the peripheral company Higround, one of the things they did was use one of our games called TypeRacer — they were all racing on the keyboards with Addicting Games. Things like that excite me, because it’s not just an opportunity for Luminosity talent or Enthusiast talent, it’s an opportunity for me to work with all sorts of talents across all types of organizations, because there’s so much to Enthusiast. 

Will you be working with Upcomer or The Escapist on the more journalistic sides of Enthusiast?

I will tell you that I would probably be a terrible journalist, so I doubt that I’ll be personally doing anything with those brands. But if there’s any sort of content they want to write about, or interviews, or anything like that, I might be able to assist them to get access to different talent, or helping talent with any kind of publication in general. If a request comes in, I might facilitate that.