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Webinar Q&As

Type answered by Journee

What would you identify as the key best practices for brands aiming to integrate web 3.0 technologies like blockchain and the metaverse into their loyalty programs to maximize user engagement and loyalty?

Think about what underlying mechanics work in real and existing loyalty programs and experiment with tools from Web3 that tie into the same benefits and goals. For instance, use tokenized rewards, like with NFTs or other digital tokens rewarding an achievement, an action or level gained in the gamified immersive experience loyalty program

Connect it with real-world benefits. From easiest giving vouchers to redeem in the brick-and-mortar shop to upgrades. Gamify it. Personalise it. Foster a community around the loyalty program.

What shifts in mindset or strategy do brands need to adopt when transitioning from centralized loyalty models to decentralized ones in the Web 3.0 era?

First, embrace Community. Your brand won’t be any longer the one and only orchestrator of your loyalty program. Instead, brands need to facilitate, build, strengthen the community around it.

Second, be transparent. Building and earning trust is important in decentralised systems.

Third, rewards from “digitalized loyalty” programs must hold a real, genuine value or a utility to be perceived as real benefit and no gimmick. Like giving access to exclusive content, collections, rights to contribute, assets or gadgets to trade and more

It would be interesting to understand the source of the statistics mentioned, (where it came from) so we have more context. The US is big, so understanding the sampling source is important

Might be this one: https://consensys.io/insight-report/web3-and-crypto-global-survey-2023#05-crypto-awareness

Are these kind of immersive environments with loyalty programs only used on commercial cases or can it be used as an internal tool, too? Are there any case studies?

yes, definitely. Immersive experiences are becoming more and more popular for internal use cases to drive engagement, connection of employees and partners (B2B alike). A successful example that Journee has built together with Chab agency and Shiseido is this onboarding and training for Beauty Consultants: https://journee.live/en/use-cases/shiseido-skytopia/

Is Journee enabling mechanisms and features to drive loyalty and engagement with customers?

Yes, the quality of the immersive experiences from Journee serve perfectly in that sense. By making use of proven mechanics of gamification, loyalty and engagement in virtual, interactive, spatial environments, the brands have yield a much higher engagement that outperformed the standard KPIs on that in current Web2.0

Many big players argue that they don’t need to open up for other (loyalty) systems. Their own is big enough and they fully control it. What kind of benefits can a spatial experience (or web3 stack) offer such players

Integrating Web3 tech or immersive experiences into loyalty programs offers a number of key benefits to these big players–even ones that have existing, established and controlled systems. We like to think of Starbucks, who had an existing loyalty program (Starbucks Rewards), but also introduced an NFT ‘stamp’ program called Starbucks Odyssey.

• 1. Enhanced user engagement: The immersive nature of spatial experiences can increase user engagement and customer loyalty, because these spatial experiences often bring to the table a more ‘personal’ approach that you can’t quite foster through a phone.
• 2. More unique rewards: Blockchain integrations allow for more unique, personalized rewards that can be more appealing to users, perhaps through NFTs. Similar to Starbucks’ example, these NFTs might later represent anything from access to exclusive content, special merchandise, or real-life events. This can create a more compelling narrative, and the mysterious ‘speculative’ nature makes for a different kind of experience than “If I buy 6 coffees, I’ll get a 7th free”.
• 3. Portability: Users can see the potential of blockchain and web3 tech as offering additional utility. The portability and interoperability of these technologies means users will be more inclined to interact with, and return to rewards platforms, because they can “do more” with the rewards they’ll get out of it.
• 4. New revenue streams: Maybe an obvious one, but diversifying into more revenue streams such as immersive commerce platforms (a store in the spatial web) or offering a web3-backed loyalty program represents new revenue streams, even for big players, that can accompany their existing business models.

I see the NFTs like the football cards I used to collect when I was a kid. I could go to the street and exchange those cards for other cards. Now, my son buys skins in Fornite and for him buying that skin is enough. He doesn't need to know what technology is below that skin. Probably he is not aware of web3 but I’m sure we would like to have the chance to exchange that skin for another or maybe convert it again in money for buying other things. Do you think web3’s mission is to solve this problem? Maybe we should have to see it as simple as this?

Absolutely. We should think of Web3 as a bundle of technologies that make certain transactions easier (like peer-to-peer transfers), make some experiences possible, and also enable true digital ownership. For example, many of these features are lacking with in-game skins like in Fortnite. You can’t trade your skins, and you can’t sell them for other goods or currencies. Moreover, if Fortnite ever shuts down their service, that skin is gone forever. But you’re right, nobody needs to know what goes into making or ‘owning’ a Fortnite skin.

And web3, NFTs are the same, these things don’t need to be understood by everyone to work. Think about it like a mobile phone–almost everyone owns one, yet almost nobody knows the engineering that goes into the device. They can offer some incredible uses, and the mission of web3 should be to make it so this functionality exists without users needing to know complex information. Great tech brings together great uses with great user experiences.

How do you think web3 could benefit digital community programs, or monetize programs to create a web3 community with people to enjoy, ie, tourists/hospitality, etc.?

Web3 tech can have a significant impact on digital community programs, especially in tourism/hospitality, in a number of ways.

Loyalty programs especially can be tokenized, using blockchain tokens. Business in tourism/hospitality can then offer unique tokenized rewards that could be traded, sold, or might have further utility that could grant community-members access to events, discounts and more–all recorded securely on a transparent blockchain for easy verifiability.

When it comes to the spatial aspect, tourism is set to be changed pretty radically. Virtual tours and experiences will definitely bring a more community-focused aspect, and these might even be introduced as a kind of ‘virtual tourism’, enabling users to explore the world from the comfort of their own home with their friends, family, or even meeting like minded people in the metaverse.

Outside of spatial experiences, we’re also seeing blockchain and web3 technology create tight-knit communities. NFT-gated spaces create a sense of exclusivity. One hospitality company experimenting with NFTs is Marriott International, who created the Marriott Bonvoy program, allowing members to earn and redeem points, which can be exchanged for hotel stays, events, referrals, and more.

Do you think big brands are ready to allow consumers to hedge their purchase or reward points in whatever asset they value. In other words, transact in McD coins and immediately in the same wallet transfer to Gold coins or Bitcoins, or Real Estate coins, or even Nike coins? I ask because I believe this is something that consumers value, seamless transaction of currency, coins, reward points.

It seems like some big brands are ready, but many industries as a whole are still nascent in exploring these uses, so it varies. Starbucks and Nike have introduced NFTs that can be exchanged for cryptocurrency. JP Morgan Chase introduced JPM Coin for instant payment transfers, and even Walmart was exploring patenting a Walmart Coin for customer loyalty.

Quite right, many users would like to be able to transact in this way, exchanging loyalty points for Gold or Bitcoin, or maybe even later purchasing real estate by becoming a McMillionaire. But the technology is sophisticated, with major regulatory hurdles and consumer trust concerns that would need to be addressed first.

So the answer is–some brands are ready, others aren’t, but there are other hurdles to jump over in order to offer something new to users, from regulatory and legal concerns to the complex technology required to implement.

Answered live by the speakers: Diego Borgo and Stefan Colins

The webinar raised a question about a U.S. survey showing that 90% of people don't understand Web3, and even among the 10% who claim to, their understanding is questionable.

The speakers, acknowledging the survey, conveyed their interest in examining the details of the report. They observed that Web3's public perception is still niche and somewhat cryptic, primarily due to its development by technologists for a similar audience. However, they also noted efforts to make Web3 more accessible and user-friendly.

The speakers discussed three main points:

• Web3's Niche Nature and Complexity: They noted the exclusivity and complexity of Web3, with one speaker stating, "The whole web 3 things still feels like a code, right?... it's very niche, it's very on the corner, it's very like it's own thing." This highlights the ongoing efforts to demystify Web3 and improve its UX.

• Evolution of Web3 and Its Practical Applications: Comparing the evolution of Web3 to other technologies, they mentioned that some Web3 applications have found success, while many have not. "We've done a couple of use cases, we've shown a couple of things worked, many of the others didn't, as any other technology has ever done before."

• Public Perception, Media, and Cryptocurrency: Discussing how media and cryptocurrency influence public perception, they stated, "The mainstream media...makes money by creating, you know, headlines... majority of them within our industry has been negative." They emphasized that Web3 is broader than just cryptocurrency and aims to enhance digital interactions and customer experiences.

In their conclusion, the speakers highlighted the importance of focusing on the usability and benefits of Web3 to the public, rather than the technical details. As one of them put it, "It's about what can I do with it, right? Like people don't understand how AI works, but now they can go to the and generate image of cats and share with their family and they find it fascinating." They suggested that demonstrating practical uses and benefits of Web3 is key to increasing its understanding and acceptance.

The question asked whether metaverse, blockchain, and crypto-enabled immersive digital engagement and loyalty programs are relevant only for big brands or also for mid-sized businesses, considering the high cost of cloud streaming technology.

The speakers agreed that this was a significant question. They acknowledged that cloud streaming technology is expensive, leading to concerns about whether only large corporations with substantial financial resources can leverage these technologies, or if smaller businesses can also participate.

One speaker shared their perspective on working with big brands, stating, "I feel that the only way we're gonna get enough scalability to make products better, more accessible, and cheaper is by building towards those big tankers, those big organizations." They believe that if a use case works for a company generating billions in revenue, it will undoubtedly work for mid-sized and smaller companies. As the industry matures, it will become easier, cheaper, and more practical for smaller businesses to take advantage of these technologies.

The speaker highlighted that the industry has evolved significantly, especially in the last two years, and this evolution will make technologies more accessible to mid-sized and smaller businesses at lower costs. They drew a parallel with the development of web technologies, stating, "We haven't had the WordPress moment... building a website was crazy expensive, right? And right now it costs you what 5 bucks a month to host... so we are getting towards that direction."

The other speaker added, "You're not a big corporate, you want to test that already out and you want to start. Do we get mince and all the stuff? That's also possible with these kinds of applications." They emphasized the importance of simplifying the complexity of blockchain for wider adoption and mentioned working on Shopify apps to enable smaller businesses to launch their own tokens and loyalty programs.

Furthermore, they discussed the potential for brands to have tokenized items that connect the physical and digital worlds, enhancing the immersive experience. However, they noted, "we are still not there yet but we are on a mission." They advised smaller brands to think strategically about what they want to achieve in the long term, rather than viewing it as just a small test, to truly understand the potential of these platforms.

In summary, the speakers conveyed that while currently, big brands are leading the way in using these technologies, there is a clear path towards making them accessible and affordable for mid-sized and smaller businesses. They emphasized the need for a strategic approach and patience as the industry continues to evolve.

What do you think about feature film distribution - direct from Production company to Cinemas and from Cinemas to viewers via NFT tickets in IRL Cinemas» so no more old school distributors that cut a huge piece of a pie and Cinemas don't like it?

The question addressed the potential of distributing feature films directly from production companies to cinemas and then to viewers via NFT tickets, bypassing traditional distributors who take a significant portion of revenue.

The speakers expressed enthusiasm for exploring innovative ideas in film distribution, likening these discussions to "rabbit holes" of possibilities. They reflected on the potential of decentralizing the media industry and gaining more control over creative and distribution processes through blockchain and NFTs.

One speaker mentioned supporting projects that aim to decentralize the media industry, enabling creators to take power away from traditional labels and entertainment industries. They are intrigued by the idea of co-creating with the community and gaining more autonomy in the creative process.

However, they also noted that the industry is still in its early stages regarding such a drastic shift. The major challenge identified was the strong association of cryptocurrency with making money. The speaker emphasized that as long as the focus remains primarily on financial gain, it will be challenging to attract the right people with the appropriate mindset to build meaningful and sustainable projects in this space.

The speaker also touched upon the issue of third-party cookies in marketing, noting that in Web3, people will identify and connect to platforms via their wallets. This raises concerns about marketers' ability to track and segment users in the absence of traditional methods like third-party cookies.

In summary, while the speakers see great potential in using blockchain and NFTs for film distribution, they believe the industry is still too nascent for such a transition. They highlight the need for a shift in mindset from a focus on financial gain to building sustainable and meaningful applications in the film industry using these technologies.

In the absence of traditional metrics, how can brands measure and quantify loyalty in a decentralized environment, and what indicators might be more relevant in this scenario?

The speakers discussed the challenges marketers face in a decentralized environment where personal data like name, location, and age are not available, and individuals are identified by their wallets and assets.

One speaker expressed strong belief in the value of on-chain behavioral data over personal identifiable information (PII). They mentioned, "I am a strong believer that on-chain data, right, behavioral data, is much more important and much more valuable than personal information, PII."

They elaborated on new metrics emerging in marketing, such as the number of wallets connected, transactions made, and quests achieved. These metrics are not drastically different from existing KPIs in the current web but are expected to evolve with added elements related to on-chain activities.

The discussion then shifted to immersive experiences and their impact on engagement. One example given was the significantly higher time spent by users in immersive experiences compared to traditional e-commerce, illustrating a shift in engagement metrics. The speaker stated, "People were coming to that space... spending 15 min there instead of going to a POP, maybe looking at that... So the metric that we are talking about here... is engagement and time spent."

They emphasized the potential of these immersive experiences to drive engagement, product love, brand loyalty, and ultimately sales. Additionally, they touched upon the ability to measure and understand behaviors within these experiences, which can be used for retargeting and creating future gated experiences.

In conclusion, the speakers highlighted that in decentralized environments, the focus of measurement shifts from personal details to actions and behaviors. Immersive experiences, they argue, not only impact sales but also significantly enhance brand impact by creating memorable interactions, thus playing a vital role in building brand loyalty in the Web3 era.

What is your take on the role of creative agencies adapting to web3 and contributing to the concepting, design, and execution of web3 immersive experiences to present these to the audience in an easy and intuitive way?

The speakers emphasized the crucial role of creative agencies in the transition to Web3. They pointed out the need for creative agencies to bring good ideas, execution, and meaningful use cases to the technical aspects of Web3. One speaker noted, "You can have a lot of technical stuff... but as long as there are no good ideas, there's no good execution, there's no meaningful use cases, we are far away from home."

Discussing the adaptability of agencies, one speaker reflected on their personal experience, saying, "I've been in agencies and client-side my whole life... Agencies are the cornerstone of creativity." They stressed the importance of transforming complex e-commerce concepts into engaging narratives that connect consumers more closely to brands or products.

Regarding the transition to Web3, they compared it to the shift from print to digital media, stating, "The difference here is that the gap is not that big... You're going from... an evolution." This perspective challenges the idea of Web3 as a disruptive force, suggesting it's more of an evolutionary step in technology.

One speaker emphasized the importance of hands-on experience in understanding Web3, saying, "You don't learn how to drive a car by reading a book on how to drive a car, you go and drive the car... If you as an agency that is supporting brands... more than chase the hype... you need to fully understand how you can help your customer transform their digital experience."

In summary, the speakers highlighted the need for creative agencies to embrace Web3 not as a disruptive technology but as an evolutionary step that enhances existing digital strategies. They encouraged agencies to experiment with and immerse themselves in Web3 technologies to understand their potential and application better, ensuring a smooth transition and effective integration into their creative processes.

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