Edition 1 kicked off better than expected. Thanks for the support 👏👏.

Let’s roll with a metaverse focus for Edition 2. This week we’ve got Nasdaq metaverse bells, Lowes helps you build in the metaverse, Time makes a big announcement at NFT.NYC, the Notorious B.I.G. is bringing the streets of Brooklyn to the metaverse, I have a few tips for you and some research I’m following. That’s it.

The Nasdaq Bell rings in the metaverse

Nasdaq said “The future has arrived at the Nasdaq Exchange” as the bell rang both in-person and virtually at the same time on June 17. To celebrate the launch of its Metaverse Studio, Journey, (Cathy Hackl’s design consultancy) partnered with virtual gaming platform Manticore Games to coordinate the dual bell-ringing ceremony.

https://twitter.com/NasdaqExchange/status/1537501318381719552?s=20&t=q8mh-NK8QmxuoE7J4QCO9A

MY TAKE: This was only a matter of time. This level of metaverse exposure to investors and the ongoing efforts of brands stepping in to attract customers and engage employees will further increase adoption.

Who’s driving rules & standards for the metaverse?

There are several standards groups, but the Metaverse Standards Forum pulls them all together and then includes players such as Adobe, Epic Games, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Sony, and Unity. Their goal is to foster the development of interoperability standards for an open and inclusive metaverse, and accelerate their development and deployment through pragmatic, action-based projects.

MY TAKE: There is only one metaverse. No single entity owns it. Yet there are many virtual spaces that collectively make up the metaverse. So, I’m all in on a mission for an open and inclusive metaverse that connects them and makes it safe and welcoming for all.

Be a handyman in the metaverse with Lowes

From Lowes Innovation Labs, the Lowes Open Builder project offers customers 500 3D product renders for free download to help them visualize building projects in the metaverse. Instead of selling virtual goods, they looked to empower the builder side in their customers by gifting these core assets. Here’s a patio dining chair in 3D, here’s a Mid-Century Chandelier. Check out how these highly interoperable assets (called .glb files) were brought into virtual platform Spatial to create a backyard watch party (desktop or via mobile app). See video below. Lowe’s sees both virtual and augmented worlds playing a role in its customers’ everyday lives.

https://twitter.com/itsmetamike/status/1541591896245796866?s=20&t=oog-dIxcFpb4atAoxLYRfg

MY TAKE: Every brand should be creating 3D renders of their assets and products to be metaverse-ready. Lowes leaned in to the builder side in their customer, other brands can find the customer characteristic or brand aspect that ties nicely into the exploratory aspects of the metaverse — and go build!. Just make sure to support early creations and share their results to fuel possibilities for others.

Time (magazine) is building TIME Square in the metaverse.

Partnering with Sandbox, Time is looking to build a Time Square virtual environment that will become the “heart of the metaverse”. Announced at last week’s NFT.NYC event, Time Square (without the ‘s’) will serve as an inclusive platform for their NFT collection TIMEPieces, where holders can enjoy exclusive meetings and events hosted by TIME Studios. Led by their President, Keith A. Grossman, Time has been bullish on web3 from a technology adoption and community aspect. Below is an insightful interview with Coindesk is worth a listen where Keith outlines their journey into web3.

https://twitter.com/KeithGrossman/status/1540045668701593601?s=20&t=LhCzWcY4gF0j_Yh0g37x2Q

MY TAKE: I love how this storied brand is making aggressive but calculated steps into new technology. I joined many Clubhouse live audio rooms during lockdown where Keith was actively listening and engaging in conversation with web3 pioneers and is clearly thoughtfully driving his organization into emerging spaces.

Biggie is coming back to life in the metaverse.

Its not all a dream. It is real. Enter The Brook Metaverse. Launching late this year with an NFT drop for early access, The Brook will include a hyper-realistic 3D avatar of Biggie and let fans explore this immersive world taking them back to the 90s Brooklyn streets and into the world of icon ‘The Notorious B.I.G’. Built by web-based virtual event platform Surreal fans can buy virtual real estate inside The Brook, attend concerts and sell NFTs. More here from The Hollywood Reporter.

https://twitter.com/NFTGlobalNews1/status/1528398498185592833?s=20&t=HARVgR6JwpAH4Nhf1z7M0g

MY TAKE: The preview looks super slick, I’m keen to see how vast the spaces are to explore. Fans will flock here for the music and graphics and will stay to own a piece of Biggie’s story via NFTs. Social media will likely explode around this.

3 benefits of the metaverse — Virtual relationships, remote collaboration & education

Check out my guest post on Mark Pollard’s Sweathead Strategy Accelerator to unpack some use cases and examples the metaverse offers.

How to think of the metaverse

My teams often ask how they should think of the metaverse. “Is it just another channel?” Great question. There’s so much to unpack. Below is what I say to kickstart these discussions.

https://twitter.com/johnjduffield/status/1524754024905510914?s=20&t=Nt7vJXYJOKHGr1K4-P1f1A

Accenture’s ‘Meet Me in the Metaverse’** — tech & experience reshaping business.**

A chunky 100 page report detailing how “Businesses are a racing towards a very different future than the one they were designed to operate in”. This is packed with images, quotes, trends, scenarios, research and examples. A single page, infographic summary here includes some hot statistics including “71% of global executives state that the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organizations, with 42% believing it % will be breakthrough or transformational”.

McKinsey’s Value Creation in the metaverse — navigating a virtual world still taking shape.

Another significant report diving into everything from metaverse definition, what’s driving investment, behavioral patterns, the potential of the metaverse and how to capture value now and in the future.

MY TAKE: Accenture & McKinsey do a good job on covering tech trends and research from tapping the most progressive global executives — then wrapping it up nicely for curious brands to follow. These are awesome go-to resource for narratives, quick snippets and content for innovation presentations.

That’s it. Thanks for the support. Please share with those who dig this space. And those who don’t, yet!

Edition 1 kicked off better than expected. Thanks for the support 👏👏.

Let’s roll with a metaverse focus for Edition 2. This week we’ve got Nasdaq metaverse bells, Lowes helps you build in the metaverse, Time makes a big announcement at NFT.NYC, the Notorious B.I.G. is bringing the streets of Brooklyn to the metaverse, I have a few tips for you and some research I’m following. That’s it.

The Nasdaq Bell rings in the metaverse

Nasdaq said “The future has arrived at the Nasdaq Exchange” as the bell rang both in-person and virtually at the same time on June 17. To celebrate the launch of its Metaverse Studio, Journey, (Cathy Hackl’s design consultancy) partnered with virtual gaming platform Manticore Games to coordinate the dual bell-ringing ceremony.

https://twitter.com/NasdaqExchange/status/1537501318381719552?s=20&t=q8mh-NK8QmxuoE7J4QCO9A

MY TAKE: This was only a matter of time. This level of metaverse exposure to investors and the ongoing efforts of brands stepping in to attract customers and engage employees will further increase adoption.

Who’s driving rules & standards for the metaverse?

There are several standards groups, but the Metaverse Standards Forum pulls them all together and then includes players such as Adobe, Epic Games, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Sony, and Unity. Their goal is to foster the development of interoperability standards for an open and inclusive metaverse, and accelerate their development and deployment through pragmatic, action-based projects.

MY TAKE: There is only one metaverse. No single entity owns it. Yet there are many virtual spaces that collectively make up the metaverse. So, I’m all in on a mission for an open and inclusive metaverse that connects them and makes it safe and welcoming for all.

Be a handyman in the metaverse with Lowes

From Lowes Innovation Labs, the Lowes Open Builder project offers customers 500 3D product renders for free download to help them visualize building projects in the metaverse. Instead of selling virtual goods, they looked to empower the builder side in their customers by gifting these core assets. Here’s a patio dining chair in 3D, here’s a Mid-Century Chandelier. Check out how these highly interoperable assets (called .glb files) were brought into virtual platform Spatial to create a backyard watch party (desktop or via mobile app). See video below. Lowe’s sees both virtual and augmented worlds playing a role in its customers’ everyday lives.

https://twitter.com/itsmetamike/status/1541591896245796866?s=20&t=oog-dIxcFpb4atAoxLYRfg

MY TAKE: Every brand should be creating 3D renders of their assets and products to be metaverse-ready. Lowes leaned in to the builder side in their customer, other brands can find the customer characteristic or brand aspect that ties nicely into the exploratory aspects of the metaverse — and go build!. Just make sure to support early creations and share their results to fuel possibilities for others.

Time (magazine) is building TIME Square in the metaverse.

Partnering with Sandbox, Time is looking to build a Time Square virtual environment that will become the “heart of the metaverse”. Announced at last week’s NFT.NYC event, Time Square (without the ‘s’) will serve as an inclusive platform for their NFT collection TIMEPieces, where holders can enjoy exclusive meetings and events hosted by TIME Studios. Led by their President, Keith A. Grossman, Time has been bullish on web3 from a technology adoption and community aspect. Below is an insightful interview with Coindesk is worth a listen where Keith outlines their journey into web3.

https://twitter.com/KeithGrossman/status/1540045668701593601?s=20&t=LhCzWcY4gF0j_Yh0g37x2Q

MY TAKE: I love how this storied brand is making aggressive but calculated steps into new technology. I joined many Clubhouse live audio rooms during lockdown where Keith was actively listening and engaging in conversation with web3 pioneers and is clearly thoughtfully driving his organization into emerging spaces.

Biggie is coming back to life in the metaverse.

Its not all a dream. It is real. Enter The Brook Metaverse. Launching late this year with an NFT drop for early access, The Brook will include a hyper-realistic 3D avatar of Biggie and let fans explore this immersive world taking them back to the 90s Brooklyn streets and into the world of icon ‘The Notorious B.I.G’. Built by web-based virtual event platform Surreal fans can buy virtual real estate inside The Brook, attend concerts and sell NFTs. More here from The Hollywood Reporter.

https://twitter.com/NFTGlobalNews1/status/1528398498185592833?s=20&t=HARVgR6JwpAH4Nhf1z7M0g

MY TAKE: The preview looks super slick, I’m keen to see how vast the spaces are to explore. Fans will flock here for the music and graphics and will stay to own a piece of Biggie’s story via NFTs. Social media will likely explode around this.

3 benefits of the metaverse — Virtual relationships, remote collaboration & education

Check out my guest post on Mark Pollard’s Sweathead Strategy Accelerator to unpack some use cases and examples the metaverse offers.

How to think of the metaverse

My teams often ask how they should think of the metaverse. “Is it just another channel?” Great question. There’s so much to unpack. Below is what I say to kickstart these discussions.

https://twitter.com/johnjduffield/status/1524754024905510914?s=20&t=Nt7vJXYJOKHGr1K4-P1f1A

Accenture’s ‘Meet Me in the Metaverse’** — tech & experience reshaping business.**

A chunky 100 page report detailing how “Businesses are a racing towards a very different future than the one they were designed to operate in”. This is packed with images, quotes, trends, scenarios, research and examples. A single page, infographic summary here includes some hot statistics including “71% of global executives state that the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organizations, with 42% believing it % will be breakthrough or transformational”.

McKinsey’s Value Creation in the metaverse — navigating a virtual world still taking shape.

Another significant report diving into everything from metaverse definition, what’s driving investment, behavioral patterns, the potential of the metaverse and how to capture value now and in the future.

MY TAKE: Accenture & McKinsey do a good job on covering tech trends and research from tapping the most progressive global executives — then wrapping it up nicely for curious brands to follow. These are awesome go-to resource for narratives, quick snippets and content for innovation presentations.

That’s it. Thanks for the support. Please share with those who dig this space. And those who don’t, yet!