With more than 50% of the world’s population currently being digital natives, we have seen the metaverse moves to overlap with the real world more and more clearly. In addition, the development of Web 3.0 has opened the door for internet users to earn from doing activities on the platform while blockchain has brought about the platform of decentralized social network that will increase security and transparency in data verification and give true ownership of digital assets and data to users. The result is that metaverse has expanded with many digital natives engaging in various activities. New business models have emerged, and many brands have set up their business and occupied marketing space in order stay connected and create engagement with their target customers in the metaverse.
The Global Tech Talk @SCBX NEXT TECH at Siam Paragon created a phenomenon by inviting world-class figures in the digital industry from many countries around the world to share their knowledge as speakers in the event. The opening of SIAM PARAGON NEXT TECH x SCBX, a tech community for learning in the future world, aims to inspire people to be smarter, better, and richer. The event which took place on the 4th floor of Siam Paragon was a milestone for those interested in technology to gain knowledge and develop themselves in various fields including Web 3.0.
Unlocking brand value in the metaverse
Sebastien Borget, Co-Founder and COO of The Sandbox, a blockchain-based metaverse platform where participants are able to create and own digital assets, including NFTs, and monetize digital assets in The Sandbox Metaverse said that: “According to a United Nations report titled “World Population Prospects 2021”, digital natives currently account for more than 50% of the of the world’s population, and these digital natives consume digital content for an average of over 12 hours per week – more than watching TV or reading the newspaper.”
At the same time, a survey found that more than 75% of Gen Z people no longer want to be just content consumers. However, they also want to be creators of digital content themselves, such as designing their own characters in games that will be their own identity in the long run in the online world. Moreover, this group of population spends more money on digital content and digital assets than purchasing assets in the real world. In 2022, the value of transactions through NFT (Non-fungible token) reached 40 million USD, while the number of users of Web 3.0 platforms has exceeded 100 million.
He emphasized that metaverse is a new opportunity for brands to reach out and build engagement by creating a 24-hour open space that is a gathering place for brands and creativity. It is also a way to meet with target groups or brand fans to do activities together, play games, and connect with brands in Thailand as well as content created by users in The Sandbox Metaverse, which has prepared an ecosystem from a network of various partners around the world. In addition, it will continue to expand to support the goal of empowering creators to create a new type of experience through social immersive platform based on true ownership of digital assets/content.
The Sandbox Metaverse platform currently has more than 5 million user accounts spanning 150 countries around the world. It also has an ecosystem of more than 700 global partners from various industries, featuring content and global brands including more than 400 Thai brands in various industries such as fashion, sports, games, music, entertainment, finance-banking, education, shopping, etc., as well as 200 agencies, 100 game studios, various educational institutions, and technology partners.
“Just like Lego, The Sandbox allows you to create your own identity. No matter where or who you are, you can create content without having to spend a lot of time,” said Sebastien.
Thailand is among the top 5 in Asia in the Metaverse
Sebastien said that 99% of the metaverse is created by users and content from brands, which will bring their brand culture into the metaverse and allow users to mix and create new content for new experiences to “own”, “build”, “play”, “meet” and “earn” together on Blockchain technology. The platform provides transparent and reliable verification of ownership by designing avatars to be a convenient way to socialize and connect with others. These are the preparations necessary to build the foundation of the digital economy that can create new job opportunities for millions of people.
Today, The Sandbox has approximately 40% of its user base, creators, and partner brands from Asia, with Thailand being one of the top 10 key markets in the world and one of the top 5 in Asia. Therefore, the company saw a huge opportunity and opened an office in Thailand. In addition, the company has helped brands in Thailand create experiences through activities on The Sandbox, including working with the team of SCB 10X, a leading financial company in Thailand, that purchased land to set up their headquarters in The Sandbox Metaverse, and collaborating with game studio partners in Thailand to design a virtual Songkran game with participants from both the real world and the metaverse, totaling more than 22,300 people, with an average playing time per person of 23 minutes, etc.
“What we found in The Sandbox is that there are a lot of different professions in the metaverse, including architects, designers, event companies, content managers, and more. Meanwhile, many people have started building new businesses on land and NFT in the metaverse. I believe that Thailand is in prime position to seize opportunities. We have, therefore, launched The Sandbox Partner Program to leverage the strengths of our global ecosystem to enhance the skills of interested Thai agencies through workshops, training, tools, and case studies to bring customer brands to The Sandbox,” said Sebastien.
Raising the media level to Tokenized Media
Alejandro Navia, Co-Founder and President of NFT Now, a leading platform powered by Web 3.0 technology, spoke about the future of media in an era where artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the mainstream technologies. An important driver is Tokenized Media in ensuring the reliability and transparency of the media to prevent misinformation from online news sent out from various media agencies without knowing that it is fake information created by AI. This can result in enormous losses to the business.
In an era where society “trusts” the media and its influence, NFT Now is looking at developing tools to help “verify” the facts by Sovereignty Tokenized Media Product-Suit to help digital publishers unlock the constraints of transitioning to a platform that supports Web 3.0 with flexibility. This can help users to transparently verify information and increase their brand credibility.
Today, NFT Now has more than 1 million unique users in 196 countries and has reached 3 million users. It has over 30 global brand partners, including Christie’s, the long-established auction house, world-class sports and fashion brands such as Nike, Lacoste, as well as SK Telecom and LG from Korea. These partners believe that the NFT Now platform will answer the needs in delivering information with “fact” and “accountability”. Additionally, it can convert digital assets into ownership rights while adding value to creating new sources of income in the form of NFT.
AI – one of the must-have features in business app
Brendon Matheson, Solution Area Specialist, App Innovation, Microsoft Corporation, said that AI is a tool to unlock business opportunities. Currently, Generative AI that has the ability to create new content from the original data has come to play a role as one of the most widely used business applications and has supported the transformation of business into a digital format.
Microsoft has always been focused on this trend and has worked with Open AI to bring ChatGPT, a program that simulates human conversations, to be installed in every Microsoft product. Currently, it is available in more than 100 languages. Microsoft views that its outstanding ability to interact with conversations and remember information will be beneficial to Microsoft business and customers. In addition to providing information and answering questions about products, it can also help write emails, draft documents, make slides, and summarize meetings. Additionally, the new version, ChatGPT0-4, has recently been developed to increase business application capabilities.
In addition, he gave an example from Thailand where a large business group like Siam Piwat has applied Generative AI to increase the capabilities of ‘ONE SIAM’ Super App to support access to transactions from Siam Piwat’s customers and partners on one platform.
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