Across the Metaverse: The trends that could shape the future of sports marketing

The hype around blockchain-based activations may have calmed, but technological changes are already unlocking new touch points for fan engagement...

There was a time, somewhere between 12-18 months ago, where the noise around web3 in sport was deafening.

From athletes peddling NFTs, to clubs launching fan tokens, to rights holders dabbling in Metaverse-ish environments, it was an intense period where it seemed everyone needed to get aboard this bandwagon or lose ground to their rivals.

Unsurprisingly then, much of the media coverage centred around the least effective executions, leading much of the sports industry to shelve ideas amidst comms concerns.

Take, for example, the Premier League which halted plans to launch native NFTs with ConSensys for a less lucrative - and less risky - licensing deal with blockchain-powered fantasy sports platform Sorare.

At MKTG Sports + Entertainment, the agency where I work, we surveyed the sports industry and found a sector frantically playing catch up and struggling to get to grips with new technology.

That noise died down partly due to an extended crypto winter, other emerging trends grabbing our attention (hello, generative AI), and a desire to sweep some pretty poor cash-grabs activations under the carpet.

But web3 is here to stay and while media attention may have wandered, there has been a whole load of testing and learning going on.

Which leads me to SEG3 - a web3 summit from sports business network ISportConnect.

It brings together organisations and experts at the vanguard of this movement, with thought leaders and industry professionals keen to learn more about future trends.

I attended the conference, at the Emirates on Wednesday June 28, had some great conversations and listened to some very interesting speakers.

Pet Berisha, who writes the excellent Sporting Crypto newsletter reflects on the change in temperature around the space over the last year.

“The difference between then and now, is that some of the hype has died down, but from what I can see, the appetite and interest from brands remains just as high.”

Here’s some of my key takeaways and the trends I think that should remain top of mind when it comes to future-proofing your sports marketing strategy.

What is web3?

First of all: Here’s how we see web3 and its various elements with the blockchain - a digital ledger which facilitates and tracks transactions within a network, which is difficult to hack of alter - as the underlying technology.

VR: Using immersion to accelerate the impact of storytelling and drive purpose. 

Storytelling has always been a powerful tool for eliciting empathy and highlighting causes. In an age when 86 per cent of fans say they are interested in cause-related marketing, VR, AR and MR experiences can help drive purpose and educate.

Putt Like A Lady, a VR activation from the LPGA in partnership with Accenture, sounds like a condescending training game. But it’s actually a dark, surreal and deeply immersive VR experience which casts a light on the pressure female athletes face. 

The installation, which debuted at The Chevron Championship  -  the first women’s golf major this season, invited spectators to don VR goggles and learn to putt.

However, they were soon exploring the minds of over 60 pro female golfers who helped create the experience through interviews, sharing some of the challenges they have faced. A great example of a VR powered activation that had a tangible impact.

Another fantastic and thought-provoking use of VR has been developed by Rematch, a Secret Cinema style immersive sports experience which opens in London in September. 

The VR experience, LockerRoom, sees you don the gloves of Muhammad Ali and places you within the heart of Kinshasa’s Stade Tata Raphaël, before the iconic Rumble in the Jungle bout in 1974.

A ten minute interactive episode I experienced, uses Ali’s moment of pre-fight introspection to explore his story leading up the fight in Zaire against George Foreman before educating you on his wider legacy.

As an education tool and one that enlightens the user on one of the most important cultural figures and sporting events of the 21st century (a notable example of sports-washing at the behest of Zaire’s dictator President Mobutu Sese Seko) it works on several levels.

The purpose element comes into to play via a partnership with StoryFutures helping to democratise the accessibility of VR experiences in addition to an important lesson in black history. You can see why this could appeal to brands.

LockerRoom is set to be experienced by hundreds of people across the country in libraries and BFI film hubs.

VR headsets are yet to reach their tipping point, but the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro means we are closer than ever to mass adoption.

David Treat, Global Metaverse Lead at Accenture likened the technology to being in its ‘brick phone phase’.

“In the 1980s nobody felt that cellphones would take off because they were big, ugly and clunky. Apple launching the first beautiful looking VR goggles is a significant step.”

The Vision Pro is expected to retail at more than £3500 when its available to buy in 2024 -more than three times the cost of Meta’s pro VR set, so don’t expect to see them fly off the shelves right away.

The Augmented Reality opportunity

While we await mass adoption of VR headsets, one thing that everyone has is a smartphone, meaning AR-enabled activations are an opportunity for the here and now.

Telstra’s AR-powered wayfinding activation at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium is one such example, of how AR can improve fan experience opportunities and potentially unlock new revenue opportunities.

Why gaming is one step ahead…

Web3 concepts such as trading digital assets with digital currency and immersing yourself in virtual worlds, are well established modes of behaviour for gamers, who gather and engage in their millions in the post popular online games.

A 15 year-old who has spent Fifa points in order to pack a player for their Ultimate Team is inherently ready to accept the concept of buying and trading digital tokens which unlock some form of utility or expression in an online space.

The traditional challenge around Metaverse-related activations is that brands and rights holders want to go where the people are, and finding significant numbers of their target audience on Metaverse platforms (such as Sandbox and Decentraland) is not always possible.

Consequently, future thinking  brands and rights holders have been testing and learning in Metaverse-like gaming platforms such as Roblox. 

Traditionally viewed as a kids’ platform, Roblox is seeking to alter this by going after the 17+ market and scaling its advertising business by signing a partnership with Dentsu.

This will open up a host of opportunities for brands in or outside of sport in an ecosystem holding more than 66m daily active users.

As Wimbledon approaches, the All-England Club have this week announced a host of experiences within games including Roblox, while sporting bodies such as FIFA, the NFL and the NHL have well established activations on the platform.

Roblox is an attractive platform for brands as it offers four key entry points:

1.Virtual Items​: Collaborate with creators and designers in the Roblox community to produce digital virtual merchandise.

2.Experience Integration​: Partner with Roblox developers to integrate your IP and identity into an established experience and take advantage of a built-in audience.

3.Limited Time Events​: Create urgency with access to a limited time event that drives awareness and utility for the community.​

4.Persistent Experience​: Build an always-on, programmed community space where fans can interact with each other and deeper dimensions of your brand​

How Generative AI will accelerate web3 adoption

If last year’s buzzword was NFTs, this year, everybody is fixated on the impact of AI, thanks largely to OpenAI creating the first AI use case at scale in ChatGPT.

Consequently, people have become willing guinea pigs for OpenAIs ‘experiment’ by inputting queries, feeding the knowledge of the tool as they look to speed up their day-to-day working processes.

But what does the emergence of Generative AI mean for web3?

According to Marie Gerard, Head of Business Development & Growth for Generative AI gaming start-up Scenario, Generative AI is the accelerator for creating a host of web3 elements, from in game assets that conform to a consistency of style, to NFT creation, to populating your Metaverse, with characters created by AI and whose behaviour is governed by predictive AI.

We’ve come a long way from the movements of Pac-Man’s ghosts - the first example of scripted AI.

Gerard warns, however. “You can use Generative AI for creation of NFTs but in the sports world for example, it’s incredibly important that there is an artistic process behind the initial concept.”

She points to US Copyright legislation around AI created materials which cites that “you cannot copyright generative AI imagery which is not connected to a unique artistic expression.”

To conclude..

The world of web3 goes way beyond the few examples I have identified here, and while the crypto winter rolls on, amid regulatory uncertainty and volatility, the movement around decentralisation and blockchain-based tech developments continues apace.

Running the content and comms division for a sports-marketing agency and working with a host of global brands in activating their sports partnerships, means staying on top of the latest opportunities around how to reach and engage with fans.

Ultimately, brands will need to go where the fans are, and I believe we are on the precipice of some significant behavioural shifts around how we experience the internet and build community.

You might not be there yet but your kids are well on the way.

It might take a few years, for the ‘brick phone’ phase to move into the ‘iPhone phase’ for web3… but the process has already begun.

And finally…

Thanks to all of you who have shared and recommended this newsletter.

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