This week Acura opened a virtual showroom on the 3D platform Decentraland to promote the 2023 Acura Integra and increase brand awareness among new customers using a multi-layered NFT strategy. There is also an opportunity for customers to reserve one of the new automobiles based on exclusive NFT benefits and experiences.
“We are seeing this as a way that digital is supporting our marketing efforts where we aim to attract the next generation of premium buyers,” said Melizah Humphrey, Senior Manager, Acura Marketing. “In the process of learning from other campaigns, we are fully engaging a digital hub in the metaverse.”
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Why do we care? According to Acura, the goal of their Metaverse presence is brand awareness. Together they are running an integrated March Madness campaign with digital media that is strategic. Because hubs like Decentraland are literally selling brands and users space in their virtual worlds, it’s like a land grab for first movers who want to plant their flag in the ground.
Decentraland also provides a venue for customers to showcase their newly acquired NFTs, so there is a synergy between the branded virtual space and the NFT drop in Acura’s strategy.
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A fashionable place for VR. The Acura Showroom at Decentraland kicks off with a Metaverse Fashion Week at Decentraland in the Hub’s Fashion District. This means that there is more foot traffic by fashion-minded avatars in these parts.
The Acura showroom is located next to a charming mansion built by high-end lipstick brand Walde Beauty, complete with large signage in the parlor and a QR code that takes visitors to the Walde Divine NXT collection.
“With Fashion Week approaching, we will be hosting over 60 new and established brands, and will open the doors to many more,” said Decentraland creative director Sam Hamilton. “Live concerts, conventions and art galleries are among the activities, while runway shows, pop-up stores and afterparty showcase new looks during Fashion Week.”
With approximately 562,000 monthly active users, other brands that have launched on Decentraland include Samsung, Nike, Coca-Cola and Domino’s.
VR experience and NFT integration. The Acura showroom places the new Integra on a pedestal, where you can walk upright and view the model for yourself in either third-person or first-person mode. One of the innovations of the experience is that some of the club members can leave their personal mark on the space.
“In our new Acura digital showroom, fans immerse themselves in this virtual room that’s unlike anything else,” Humphrey said. “One of the things we wanted to do is to allow people claiming NFTs to have it in this gallery.”
This is where multi-level NFT propagation comes in. The first 500 customers to reserve 2023 Integra will receive a limited-edition NFT. When the car is delivered, that NFT is upgraded to a unique design created by the same 3D artist, Andreas Vanerstedt.
And in keeping with the Fashion Week theme, Decentraland users can also get wearables—digital clothing for avatars—that are Acura-themed and show support for the brand.
“We saw Andreas and his work perceive art in motion, and for a vehicle like the Integra, their texture and motion speak to the goal,” Humphrey said.
Who’s showing up in the showroom? From December 2021 onwards. Decentraland has averaged 50,000 daily users along with its increasing number of monthly active people.
“These figures demonstrate the visual expansion of virtual worlds in blockchain as well as its creative economy,” Hamilton said. “They demonstrate a high level of consumer interest in the Decentraland (DCL) marketplace as well as the economy that has established itself in the areas of wearables and digital fashion. Brands are turning to DCL to connect with their customers because It is an effective way to connect on a personal level and truly understand the needs and wants of the customers.
He said, “Dicentraland is more than a game, it is ultimately a virtual world created by the community and its members. Users will play, explore and interact with games, activities and other members of the community. You can also buy land And can use it to build their own settings, marketplaces, and applications. In some ways, users will do anything and everything they already do, as well as things they might not do in the real world.”
What will happen next? As Acura shows with its NFT component for propagation, these techniques can be upgraded as metaverse activation matures. As marketers and analysts across the industry have been saying, it’s all still an “early stage.”
But what is Acura going to do next in the metaverse?
“We’re having those discussions and haven’t made any concrete plans,” Humphrey said. “We know there are possibilities because there are a lot of things that can be updated and enhanced. Those are the discussions we are having.”
About the Author
Chris Wood has over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing technology landscape. He has interviewed leaders in technology and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins to former Cisco CEOs John Chambers and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the nation’s first federal CIO. He is particularly interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “Innovation Theatre” at the Fintech Inn in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades such as Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and Addition News, Wood has also written for Kirkus, and contributes fiction, criticism, and poetry to several major book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.
