Baidu unveils China’s first metaverse platform ‘Xi Rang’
Users can create avatars, connect with other players, and explore the virtual world of XiRang using Baidu’s new metaverse platform.
It is available in China and lets you create avatars, chat with other users, and even build your own place on the platform. Players can explore Creator City, XiRang’s first city, as well as the surrounding virtual natural landscapes and other traditional Chinese settings.
Unlike Meta’s ‘Horizon Worlds,’ which is only available to Oculus Quest 2 headset owners, XiRang may be accessed via a smartphone, a computer, or a virtual reality headset. Baidu hopes to encourage creators to develop new activities on its platform in a variety of areas, including gaming, entertainment, education, advertising, and events, by making it easily accessible.
Link: https://www.scmp.com/video/technology/3160931/baidu-unveils-chinas-first-metaverse-platform-xi-rang
What Will Travel Retail Look Like in 2022?
The Chinese Duty-Free Group’s priority in 2022 and beyond will be on finding new ways to deliver more commodities choices to travel retail shoppers.
The travel retail industry should focus on rising market prospects in newly opened duty-free zones including Qianhai Pilot Area, Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone, and Pudong New Area in 2022. To further its retail growth beyond the pandemic, China wants Hainan to become a key holiday destination for both Chinese and overseas visitors.
Link: https://jingdaily.com/china-travel-retail-trends-hainan-shanghai/
What is exactly a metaverse and why does it matter? Report
By the end of 2021, the term “metaverse” had become a buzzword that was all over the news. However, the concept might be perplexing, and different stakeholders will understand it differently.
Mark Zuckerberg, for example, refers to it as the “embodied internet.”
Although the metaverse is still in its infancy, some existing technologies and platforms already provide many chances for businesses to exhibit themselves there, demonstrating their digital innovation and readiness to interact with users online. Building a 3D presence can also open new revenue streams.
Interoperability, or the seamless connectivity between digital experiences, is a key feature of the metaverse. Closed platforms, on the other hand, are the rule right now.
Link: https://media.monks.com/articles/report-make-sense-metaverse
Who are KOCs and how do you work with them?
KOCs means Key Opinion Customers. Compared to KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) they are individuals with relatively strong influence over their peers, family, friends and group of potential followers.
Because they are not paid, they are more genuine, making KOC marketing a low-cost marketing method. This means fewer people will see your content, and you’ll have less control over it. You’ll also have less tracking.
Platforms: Xiaohongshu, Dianping, WeChat, Douyin.
Methods: asking for feedback, personalization, product seeding, live streaming, focus groups.
Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/u9IQ3gyL_tR0-COMeniOBw
2021 Top 4 trendy scenarios for brands
- Metaverse: As a result of the post-pandemic increased social virtualization, marketers sought out new scenarios to expand their commercial opportunities. Xirang (希壤)is the name of Baidu’s social metaverse app. In the app, users can make friends and trade. Xirang will become a major site for life, work, and recreation in the future due to its strategic location. The ambition of Baidu is to become the Metaverse’s infrastructure platform, providing AI, cloud computing, and other technical engines for Xirang and other Metaverse businesses. Xirang’s version number is currently – 6.0, which is still negative after more than a year of development and testing. It’s not ideal, and there’s still a lot of opportunity for improvement. Many brands, including Burberry, Oreo, and OPPO, have developed their own NFT variants.
- Outdoor camping: People are increasingly interested in outdoor activities as a result of the disease, and they want to get in touch with nature. According to Alibaba research, the number of reservations for tents and camping on their travel platform surged by more than 14 times month over month
– CTI magazine worked with Milklad and Red to host a “City coffee camping season” offline event.
– Adidas teamed up with Camplus, an outdoor lifestyle platform, to host an outdoor hike at the Great Wall’s base.
- New consumer brand stores (Concept store or crossover): This type of store helps communicate the brand’s distinct concept to a younger audience.
– Ice cream brand Zhongxuegao collaborated with coffee shops
– Coffee brand Saturnbird collaborated with lifestyle brands and organized a pop-up market. It will become a dancing party at night.
- Creative Livestream: The brands tried different formats like talk shows or created new formats to attract potential users.
– Down jacket brand went to Tibet
– Milk brand showed the audience the cattle on the grassland
Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/cfi9hkzjXVOs1rJpwMw9-g
Why don’t young people pay for the “internet celebrity brand” anymore?
Last year, an Internet celebrity brand Zhong Xuegao developed a “lixiangguo” dumpling brand. The price of a single dumpling was around 3 yuan, with the hopes of attracting customers’ attention through “high price,” however it had had little success.
Why don’t young people want to pay for the “internet celebrity brand” anymore?
- For internet celebrity products, most customers think that the products are expensive. Consumers will choose them because of their temporary popularity, and give them up because of the influence of product quality.
- In most cases, High-cost investment and huge risks make brands unbearable. They focus on Marketing which can bring a lot of traffic in the short term, so brands spend money on famous platforms like Douyin, they only pursue marketing and ignore products.
- Many internet celebrity products generally have a weak foundation, the team and products are not mature enough and will not be finely operated.
If a wanghong brand wants long-term development, it should pay attention to promoting product design; it should also pay attention to user experience. Continue to innovate and create new value.
Link::https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-J95lxEC7zOS3b-wAI__2A
