The BS, the risks and the opportunity: why marketers should care about Web3

I was lucky enough to tune into the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Marketer Week earlier this month, which had brought its members back together for the first time since the pandemic hit in 2020.

Sir John Hegarty was in attendance at the Athens shindig and his now familiar lament that a lot of today’s advertising is “shit” went down well judging by the appreciative laughter. 

He regaled the audience with a moral dilemma he’d recently experienced: what do you do when you’re in business class and a man from economy sneaks in and starts enjoying the delights?

It’s not a problem I expect to encounter any time soon, but for all you seasoned left-turners, Hegarty supported the chutzpah but might have turned him in had the intruder tried to nab the last salmon lunch. Make of that what you will.

Also on stage was David Jones, the founder and chief executive of The Brandtech Group, to talk all things metaverse and Web3. Now, as someone who is much more at home IRL, I made an effort to listen properly instead of attempting to do the Ocado shop at the same time.

I’m glad I did as it was an excellent presentation for metaverse curmudgeons.

Sensing his audience were with me at the sceptical end of the spectrum, Jones flashed up a glut of headlines from just the past week to illustrate how the world’s biggest brands and companies were investing in metaverse/NFT/web3 moves (see below).

“It’s absolutely unbelievable. The hype behind this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before… The one thing I would say to the cynics in the room is [that] you personally may not think this is going to be a big thing but the world’s biggest companies are obsessively trying to make it that,” he said.

A glance at my inbox backs this up. Heineken’s first beer in the metaverse is harmless fun – the brewer actually uses the activity to point out that some things are best enjoyed in real life. Absolut Vodka appears to be taking it more seriously, tying up with Coachella in Decentraland, as does the whisky Ardbeg, which has launched a collectible limited edition malt as an NFT. Meanwhile, Charlotte Tilbury is claiming to have launched the “first ever 3D volumetric avatar” in the beauty industry.

The potential size of the overall market is dizzying. Citi says the metaverse economy could be worth a mind-boggling $13tn by 2030.

There are still parts of this that feel faintly ridiculous. Jones talked about how the NBA allows fans to buy an NFT of a video clip of a special happening like a LeBron James slam dunk. 

As anyone can go and view these moments on YouTube, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy this has more than a whiff of the Emperor’s New Clothes. But as Jones points out, the buyers are gambling on the fact that one day its value will grow. It’s a cliché but time will tell.

While I didn’t come away as an evangelist, I’m a bit more persuaded to the cause.

But there’s an undoubted dark side that’s taking root among all the innovation. In her funny but at times scary blog, “Web3 is going great”, software engineer Molly White documents “examples of how Web3 isn't actually going as well as its proponents might like you to believe”. It paints a picture of a Wild West rife with scams, grifts and avarice.

Also raising issues about the way it’s panning out is Conny Braams, Unilever’s chief digital and commercial officer. Her insightful presentation “The internet of the people” at the WFA conference highlighted the “unintended consequences” of Web3 and warned of the creation of an environment that is “riddled with scams”.

Speaking to me afterwards, Braams said that as Web3 is in its infancy, now is the time to think about “what are you designing and what do you want to prevent from happening”. 

Braams wants to see government, regulators, tech, business and consumers come together to make Web3 an environment that is a good experience for users. If this doesn’t happen it could become a “problem for the next generation”.

This doesn’t mean that the FMCG giant isn’t dipping its toe into the space – it launched its Tatcha Rice Wash cleanser product in Animal Crossing and an AR student careers fair using its Pot Noodle brand. And it has a global grouping called the “Web3 Collective” to build capabilities but also to connect with outside organisations.

But Braams’ cautionary message is a wise one and something that marketers should get behind to make sure that the very obvious opportunities offered by Web3 are not dragged down by the risks.

Gemma Charles is the deputy editor of Campaign