Click through to the good bits.

00:00 Introductions.

02:22 What’s in the marketing news?

04:18 Zero-party data vs first, second or third-party data.

13:58 How Gen Z breaks marketing’s cultural mould.

22:24 Elon Musk under federal investigation over Twitter deal.

28:09 Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Metaverse legs were staged.

Introductions

Martin Henley: [00:00:20] My name is Martin Henley. This is the Effective Marketing content extravaganza. And if you’ve spent a second here, you will know that I’m on a mission to give you everything you need to be successful in your business. Providing, of course, what you need to be successful in your business is to know much more about and be much more effective in implementing sales and marketing. So what goes on here is I pull in anyone I can find with experience useful to you if you’re looking to be more successful in your business. We look at the very best and the very worst of marketing content on the Internet, and every other week we bring in the concierge of co-creation. That’s crazy. Might work. It’s Melanie Farmer. Good afternoon, Melanie Farmer. [00:00:59][39.7]

Melanie Farmer: [00:01:03] Hello. I hope you can see me. [00:01:05][1.7]

Martin Henley: [00:01:06] I can see you. You know yourself. [00:01:08][1.9]

Melanie Farmer: [00:01:11] And now I’m seeing a very delayed 5 minutes ago version of you. [00:01:15][4.4]

Martin Henley: [00:01:17] Of me. [00:01:17][0.3]

Melanie Farmer: [00:01:18] Which has been there? Yes. [00:01:19][1.4]

Martin Henley: [00:01:20] Okay. Well, I’m seeing an ever so slightly split, second delayed version of you. So we good? We are struggling with technical issues at the moment. I think my computer’s overworked. I think your computer’s overworked. I think the Internet is overworked. I think that’s what’s going on. Are you hearing me? [00:01:34][13.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:01:36] I can hear you. That’s the main thing. [00:01:37][1.4]

Martin Henley: [00:01:38] Okay, that’s the main thing. And we are seeing you. So so we are good. We are also push for time. We’ve got 36 minutes to get this done. Have you got a 32nd post that you want to share? [00:01:47][9.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:01:49] Doing an amazing programme around inclusivity in play, which is awesome 70 participants, so doing it all online and they’re very inclusive and so forth. So I’m really excited about that. [00:02:04][14.1]

Martin Henley: [00:02:04] Excellent call. That sounds very exciting. Well, I have been doing mainly for the last two weeks is growing my beard. My beard is actually a monstrosity at this stage, but it’s probably all I’ve achieved in the last couple of weeks. There might be other things, but, you know, I’m overdue for a bare trim. [00:02:21][16.7]

What’s in the marketing news.

Martin Henley: [00:02:22] And we’re here to talk about the news was caught your eye in the way of marketing news in the last two weeks. Melanie Farmer. [00:02:28][6.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:02:29] Yes. And I’ve sent you two links. The first one is a story about Elon Musk, who, of course, is often in the news, but he’s now under federal investigation regarding the Twitter purchase. And the second one is about zero party data versus first, second or third party data. [00:02:51][21.5]

Martin Henley: [00:02:52] And okay, so that’s interesting. I have got those on the screen, so we’ll be able to look at those links. Thank you for those. Here’s what I’ve got. I’ve got there has been a study in to the. Oh, wait a minute. Those are all ads. Flipboard zero zero party data. Okay. So my first headline is Generation Z. I suspect we’re going to call them Generation Z, annoyingly. Generation Z breaking the cultural marketing’s cultural mode. That’s my first story. And the second story is I want to talk about the malaise and matter. It’s a long time since we really bathed in the. That the car crash, the train smash, that is. It’s insane. I’ve got four stories around that that I want to share with us very quickly. Right. So what we need to do is we need to prioritise these Gen Z. Gen Z. Please, God, I don’t want to be talking about Gen Z for the next 15 years. It’s Gen Z. I think that’s more study type stuff. The market, the method stuff is. Let’s start with yours. Let’s start with zeroing in on zero party data. What does that mean? It sounds very serious. [00:04:15][83.1]

Zero-Party Data vs First, Second or Third-Party Data.

Melanie Farmer: [00:04:18] Yeah. So I think we’ve all seen lots of changes going on with respect to privacy of data, particularly in Europe. But, you know, other parts of the world. We are not trusting organisations with our data. The governing bodies across the world have started to really crack down on privacy for multiple reasons. And so really the, the trend is to go back to zero party data, which is, which is I guess getting your data yourself about your customers. So when your customers sign up, you ask them what you need to know about them and you you learn about them direct rather than trying to learn about customer trends behind these patterns from third party or second or even first party providers. So I think it’s the response as well to some of the changes that are happening with Google Analytics. And so places we might have traditionally gone to for answers and trends and information and where people click in all of that, there’s a trend back to zero party data. And so that’s kind of interesting because it does beg the question, what are people doing when they when they’re interacting direct? What information do they have about their direct clients? And what can they learn from their direct clients? Without having to go off to third parties. [00:05:59][101.5]

Martin Henley: [00:06:02] Yes. Can I be very honest with you? I don’t know what zero party data is. What does that actually even mean? [00:06:09][6.5]

Melanie Farmer: [00:06:10] Well, I guess if you think about zero being home base, that’s that’s your self, your own organisation. So rather than say using Google Analytics as an example and, and seeing where people are clicking and so forth, you, you prioritise actually engaging directly. So your client gives you exactly the data, answers the questions. Does the survey, that’s your own data. So it’s, it’s just pushing back to having direct relationships with your clients and not going through any third party or. Or any. Right? [00:06:55][44.3]

Martin Henley: [00:06:59] So it’s kind of about personalisation, is it? So they’re saying here 79% of Americans are concerned about the way companies are using their data and distrust continuing to grow. Brands must now pivot away from previously relied on, relied on data tactics and evaluate new privacy oriented strategies. So that’s about building zero and first party data assets and forming compliant second party relationships. So that is about what’s that about? It’s about basically building your own data rather than buying in. Is that what they’re saying? [00:07:36][37.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:07:38] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so you’re building your own data. How tailored is it? Are you do you have the information you need? And in fact, there is you know, I think about fashion retailers. They know everything I’ve bought, but they haven’t asked be one. That’s their own data. They know that I bought something from their shop. They know when I bought it. They know what it is. They know my size. So they have a lot of information actually about me from that direct interaction. They don’t need to go elsewhere to just try to establish what are women my age in this area buying, for example? [00:08:21][43.8]

Martin Henley: [00:08:22] Yes. [00:08:22][0.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:08:23] And how do I reach them through Facebook ads or whatever? Right. So it’s saying, no, don’t don’t get information that way. Instead, have a loyalty programme, for example, but do that direct and make sure that it’s compliant. So Qantas are actually pretty masterful at this. Their frequent flyer loyalty programmes then more revenue than their flights, if you can believe that. And what about the power of that data? That frequent flyer data tells you a lot of things about their direct customers without having to go outside of themselves and look for trends and patterns and behaviours and be spamming people. [00:09:04][41.0]

Martin Henley: [00:09:05] Right. Yeah. I mean, it makes perfect sense. I think there’s definitely space, isn’t there, for a more likeable, less intrusive kind of a brand. And following on from what we were talking about with the data breaches two weeks ago, I don’t think these businesses need quite as much data as they seem to want to have. You know, like telephone companies don’t need to have copies of your passport or your driver’s licence. They don’t need to have that. So I think 100% there is space. I think it would be quite unique in 2022 if a Brian Stelter stood up and said, look, you know, we respect you. You know, we’re not just going to sit on your data because we can you know, we are going to respect the data that we have and we’re going to, like it says in this article, make privacy an important aspect of doing business with us, you know, as respecting your privacy. Do you believe them? [00:10:05][59.3]

Melanie Farmer: [00:10:07] Well, whether those brands who are saying that are believable or not, there’s a definite trend away from other suppliers of data who are tracking. And and part of that is a response to the fact that there is less information in the first place from third party suppliers. But also the fact that organisations are getting litigated against legal action is happening because they are breaching privacy laws. And so it’s it’s really the legal sector coming and government coming down on organisations who, who are not adhering to those policies. That the privacy standards. Yes. And if so, what that is going to do is it’s going to make organisations very selective about any third party they’re using. But also, you know that the parties themselves are going to have to raise their standards about who sees what’s in the data that they’re making available. [00:11:20][73.0]

Martin Henley: [00:11:21] Yeah, the thing is, Melanie Farmer, you’re very good at using words like hafta and all these kinds of things. And I don’t I think we’ve got I think the market is have got fat and lazy on the data in the last 12 years. That’s what’s going on. You know, the data you can find whoever it is you want to find and land that message on them. And I think that’s going away, like they say in this article, because of, you know, changes in regulations, like you say, litigation, all these things. I think it’s going away. And I think it would be desirable. I think it would be much better if brands were to move away from this rapacious data scraping, manipulation, blah, blah, blah. I just question whether actually they have the energy to do it or they’ll just continue to be as lazy until the thing completely breaks and they’ll have to do something else. I think it’s a good story. I’m not quite as optimistic as you that these brands might wake up to the fact that there is an opportunity really to stand up and be the responsible, nice guy in their market and just not be. Harvesting customers in the way that they are through this data manipulation. What do you think? [00:12:34][72.8]

Melanie Farmer: [00:12:35] Yeah. And look, you might also see that it drives data underground, so that wouldn’t be the first time. And so if you really want data, you can get it. So I do you know, I’m sure there are unscrupulous businesses who are quite happy to sell you data and that data is probably exactly what you. So is that just going to be pushed underground but you secretly able to get it? So probably the answer is yes if you think you won’t get caught and if you don’t hold privacy literally as your highest value, then of course, why wouldn’t you find that pathway? [00:13:15][39.6]

Martin Henley: [00:13:16] Yeah, and that’s exactly the difference between us is you believe that there are unscrupulous businesses and I only believe there are unscrupulous businesses. So, you know, but the corporations and the brands, you know, they really are misbehaving. And I really hope they wake up one day and see that there’s an opportunity in actually being the good player. But maybe there’s not. This is nice because this segways beautifully into my next story, which is God help them generation z, they are 18 to 25 and we are already thinking about how we can extract as much value from them as we possibly can.[00:13:57][41.1]

How Gen Z Breaks Marketing’s Cultural Mould.

Martin Henley: [00:13:58] And what they’re saying here is Generation Z will break the marketing cultural mould. And I’m not showing the screen. Let me show the screen. Well, this is the other thing I’ve achieved in the last two weeks. I’ve found a marker that works of highlighter that’s worked. So in the research horizon, media found the group no longer believes in mainstream pop culture, pushing marketers in a new direction. So what they say is the first generation to grow up with the Internet everywhere and easily, that’s fingertips. I don’t know if that’s true. Members have matured with algorithms, directing them to new hobby areas and online communities. It sounds horrible and they seem to enjoy the variety. Posing challenges to marketers is what they’re saying. The algorithm is their gateway to the world. They’re showing up on different channels in different places than other generations. They’re hard to pin down. According to the research, 91% of 18 to 25 year olds believe mainstream pop culture is a thing of the past. How do they even know what mainstream pop culture is? I wonder if successful marketing to Gen Z will not be about tapping into the culture in a traditional sense, but rather addressing subcultures that address unique and personalised interests. [00:15:05][66.7]

Martin Henley: [00:15:06] The five major cultures identified are gaming, entertainment, education, fashion and beauty. Hasn’t it always been gaming, entertainment, education, fashion and beauty? I would add in sports, you know, there are lots of different cultures within those category. Subsegments range from gamer girls to scientific entertainers to cursed cosplayers. Here they say you have to be deeply embedded in the culture. I thought there was something else there. Yeah. So basically what they’re saying is that the markets is the market. The market in this instance being Gen Z is. Is going to be much more fragmented than previous markets. Marketers are going to have to be much more embedded in those subcultures to reach them. It kind of goes to what I feel, which is the cost of the Internet, which is exactly what they’re talking about here, which is this what they call it, pop culture, popular culture. Because I remember Melody Farmer, because I’m old. Like if there was a Bruce Lee movie on the night before school, we were all in the playground throwing Bruce Lee moves. [00:16:27][81.6]

Martin Henley: [00:16:28] Do you know what I mean? What did I say? Bruce Lee was consistent there. And yes, the snooker was on when I was at secondary school. Then we would all go in the next day like this. The finals was on. Everyone would have watched it. And I think this that popular culture afforded cultural icons like, I don’t know, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, David Bowie, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I don’t think we get those anymore because the media is or the market is so disparate. It’s so fragmented, you know, and I think the Internet is working to isolate people more and more. And I don’t think that’s healthy. And Generation Z are suffering. We’re seeing the data stupid rates of depression, anxiety, suicides, online bullying, all of this stuff. Um, what do you think? I really feel for Generation Z. I really feel for them. Well. [00:17:27][58.7]

Melanie Farmer: [00:17:28] Yeah, I mean, but every generation has different challenges. I mean, we we thought we were going to get so third world war. So, you know, you have really different challenges and the same bullying challenges happen no matter when they happened in history. It’s just that they have new channels, different channels for those things to occur. But I think I would use a different way to fragmented and more like curated, because if you’ve got game moguls, you now can find them. So there’s all sorts of weird and wonderful subcultures that you might have felt you were the only one. Now you’re not. And as a marketer, if you want to reach that group, you would have no idea where they were. And now you do. So you can sort of find groups, and so you might not have a market if there was only one game ago. But now that there’s a place where they gather online, that site, you actually now have a sizeable audience if you add them up around the world. So I think there’s a possible better service that could happen for those subgroups that are independently in their different parts is not enough of them. [00:18:44][76.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:18:45] But when they’re grouped, you know, in their group and find each other, now there’s a tribe, you actually now have a proper audience to to justify marketing to them. And I think this idea of fragmentation fragment has happened in music that previously you might have had a mass hysteria over the Beatles, but it wasn’t like you had every possible permutation of music available to you. You would have had a very different choice choices. Now you have all the choices and you can make your own music. And so you mass customisation which kind of peaked in the US probably really in the nineties. It’s just as the result of to me of mass customisation. You can have any kind of weird and wonderful type of music. You can say, I want a happy acid chance. D There it is. You know, you can have it. So yeah. [00:19:42][56.9]

Martin Henley: [00:19:45] I don’t like it. [00:19:45][0.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:19:45] It’s the result of mass customisation is what it is and it happens. Diversity going really all out. It happens in the rainforest. You start with one tree and then for success you have multiple different types of trees, multiple different. So the more life forms you have, the more sustainable that forests. [00:20:07][21.9]

Martin Henley: [00:20:08] But they all rely on the same and the same nutrition coming up through the same soil. You know, there’s all of there’s all of that. You say, I think because I’m old, I don’t know if it’s because I’m old. I think the nineties I think the Internet killed music. I think then like the nineties was the last really good decade for music. And then I think smartphones killed gigs because now you go to a gig, you don’t get to see the gig. You get to see the representation of the gig on the person in front of you, smartphones, you know what I mean? Which they’re holding up in front of your face. So this is what I think. I think it is becoming fragmented, but I think smart marketers are doing this work anyway. They don’t need this article to know that you really need to understand your customer better and better and better. And talking about these types of customers is almost poor marketing. You know, I mean, it’s like I’m interested in of course I’m interested in the demographic. I’m interested in the psychographic. I mean, the difference is I’m really interested in my customers, you know, I mean, I’m really interested to be able to identify who they are. So if you’re working out from your customer, this really doesn’t make sense unless you’re just saying gamer girl, that’s whatever the word is they use. You know, that’s that’s our target is gamer girl. Well, why? Whereas I’m thinking I deliver value for male. How do I find more males? By really understanding and caring about mail. That’s what I think. Yeah. Okay, that’s. I mean that. What’s that? [00:21:43][94.5]

Melanie Farmer: [00:21:43] And it’s you must. I like the way you framed that customer focus, not push. [00:21:47][4.2]

Martin Henley: [00:21:49] Yes. Yes. [00:21:49][0.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:21:50] Even though you don’t need it. Yeah. [00:21:52][1.5]

Martin Henley: [00:21:53] Even though. Well, yeah. [00:21:54][0.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:21:55] Even though you don’t need or want this thing. I’m pushing it at you. That’s a very. Yeah. The opposite of that. [00:22:00][5.3]

Martin Henley: [00:22:01] Yeah. The opposite of that. I think the opposite of that is goods. And the truth is we’re more empowered to do that than we’ve ever been in history as well. So, you know, that’s another option. You could be the bad guy. You could be the really good guy. That’s it. So talking about good guys and bad guys, what’s the story about Elon Musk? What’s going on here? [00:22:22][21.2]

Elon Musk Under Federal Investigation Over Twitter Deal.

Melanie Farmer: [00:22:24] Well, he’s under investigation. This article came out three days ago, and so I’m not surprised this has happened, but it’s not great. So he’s under investigation by federal authorities in the US for his conduct in connexion with the acquisition of Twitter. And so there have been substantial correspondence investigated as part of this work with the federal authorities and. And particularly if it’s the identification of spam accounts. So. It could it could be bad for either party. I think it’s probably going to be bad for Twitter. But yeah, it is it is interesting because it was, I think last week where he said, I’m going to proceed. I will agree to. [00:23:29][64.4]

Martin Henley: [00:23:30] The original price and the original offer, which is a much better off now than it was then. [00:23:34][4.2]

Melanie Farmer: [00:23:37] Yes. And you’ve got to question whether he agreed to proceed on that process to avoid a trial because he had to agree on the price to avoid trial. But since that moment only three days ago, there’s more questions being opened up. Opened up. And then there’s this investigation. So they’re now going to court on the set. What? Yesterday. [00:24:02][25.2]

Martin Henley: [00:24:03] Yesterday. [00:24:03][0.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:24:05] Yesterday. Off they went to court, which was they were trying to avoid. And now they’re in court. So I think it’s going to be a Johnny Depp and Amber Heard five and someone’s not going to come out on top saying, yes, okay. [00:24:21][16.8]

Martin Henley: [00:24:22] This is my position. It’s really short. I’m a little bit part of this soap opera now. Who cares? It clearly isn’t. What’s it? There’s clearly something going on like this. Clearly. I don’t know. I don’t. I can’t care very much anymore. [00:24:41][19.3]

Melanie Farmer: [00:24:43] Yes. It’s whatever happens is not going to be great for either brand no matter the outcome. That’s my my view on that. [00:24:50][6.7]

Martin Henley: [00:24:50] Yeah. And is it going to be good for marketers? Is it going to be good for free speech? This is what was supposed to be going on. Is it going to be good for anything? Is it good for business that the you can now be charged by the federal authorities for showing an interest in buying a business and then realising that business wasn’t quite what you thought it was and changing your mind. And you know that now is a federal. Is that a federal crime? What exactly is he being charged with? I don’t know. I don’t care. You know. You know, my you know. [00:25:25][34.8]

Melanie Farmer: [00:25:26] Yeah. I do think it’s become a lot of theatre at this point for for for those watching. But I don’t think it’s going to be good for either of them. And anyway, it’s going to be over the fact they’re in court now. So he has not been able to avoid court. So that is going to be interesting. Is is is I think he’s struggling to have other things in the news, if you know so. [00:25:53][27.2]

Martin Henley: [00:25:54] No, really. I mean, look at this. He’s also I mean, last week he put up I don’t know if you saw he put up a plan for peace and Ukraine and space X have this StarLink technology which is supporting Ukraine to defend itself. So he’s not really struggling to be in the news at all. I don’t think I think what’s going on is. [00:26:19][24.9]

Melanie Farmer: [00:26:21] Yeah. It does say, although StarLink is losing money. So, you know, depends on who you’re trying to impress. Yes. If I are an investor in Elon Industries, how happy I am, I would he’s spending money out of something that’s losing money regardless of the reason. Is that a good business decision? I mean, so you just wonder it’s is it ethics? You know, what’s he doing? And now he’s under investigation. Should he not focus on that? And, you know, so I think. How does this affect brand Elon? I don’t know. [00:27:03][42.0]

Martin Henley: [00:27:03] Okay. [00:27:03][0.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:27:04] But yeah, there’s just we’ll see. We’ll find out. [00:27:08][3.7]

Martin Henley: [00:27:09] My theory is Brand Elon is built on this huge you know, it’s more Kardashian effect for me. He’s getting away with X because he’s so famous here. He’s been so successful because he’s so famous. So I don’t think it’s really going to hurt Brand Elon although I don’t know there was talk of people not buying his cars anymore because they think what he’s doing is I don’t know I’m struggling to care Melanie I think this. [00:27:38][28.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:27:38] Is. [00:27:38][0.0]

Martin Henley: [00:27:39] The last. [00:27:39][0.2]

Melanie Farmer: [00:27:40] Year but ever. Okay. [00:27:42][2.2]

Martin Henley: [00:27:43] You know, what I care about is I care about poking fun at Mark Zuckerberg and matter. So let’s put the work in here. Okay. This is really weird. Everything’s behaving weird today. Can we go a bit bigger with that? Okay, we can. Right. So here’s what’s going on for Meta. [00:28:05][22.2]

Melanie Farmer: [00:28:08] Beautiful. [00:28:08][0.0]

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Metaverse Legs Were Staged.

Martin Henley: [00:28:09] Okay. Matter. So this is coming from decrypt dot com. And what they’re saying is, I don’t know if you caught this. This is kind of like legs gate Mark Zuckerberg’s matter metaverse legs were staged the billionaire founder did site. Seriously legs a heart. So what’s going on here is I can’t see you, but I’m. Yeah. [00:28:30][20.7]

Melanie Farmer: [00:28:31] I’m looking at this picture. [00:28:31][0.8]

Martin Henley: [00:28:33] Still there? [00:28:33][0.6]

Melanie Farmer: [00:28:35] Yes. [00:28:35][0.0]

Martin Henley: [00:28:37] Okay. So legs are hard. Legs are hard. So the issue was, why do these characters in the metaverse not have legs like Mark Zuckerberg is the most excited? One more feature coming soon. That’s probably the most requested feature on our roadmap legs, he said. I think everyone has been waiting for this, so they put out this thing, which is basically them having legs. So the issue with legs is that legs are hard because you put on a mask and he put on gloves and stuff. When you do this sort of thing, but you don’t necessarily put anything on your legs which makes legs hard. So legs are hard. So this is what’s going on. What’s interesting to me is that they’re admitting this because they didn’t used to make these things, did they? These huge corporations, now they’re admitting it. It’s hard to have legs. Okay. So that’s one thing. The next thing is this internal report has been released where they’re saying even Facebook isn’t using its own metaverse and begs employees to spend time in it. So the VR project is not popular amongst major staff, according to leaked memos. What it’s saying is the metaverse app is so dreadful, even the people making it don’t want to use it. It’s a synchronous social network. Horizon world is the synchronous social network. Web creators can build engaging worlds. The Verge says they have sent an internal memo from within Metta that discusses how their flagship VR app for the so-called Metaverse, according to feedback from play testers, is so riddled with bugs, quality issues and paper cuts that it’s too hard for our community to experience the magic of Horizon. For many of us, we don’t spend that much time. Why don’t we love the project we build so much that we use it all the time? The simple truth is, if we don’t love it, how can we expect our users to love it? Everyone in this organisation should make it their mission to fall in love with Horizon Worlds. You can’t do that without using it, they’re saying and basically they’re saying here it’s very funny. So they are now in trying to inspire people to use it under the threat, of course, of this freezing hiring and firing that’s going on. So now they’ve got international joiners are being notified just three weeks before their start date that they don’t actually have a job anymore. So this just feels to me like the worst kind of passive aggressive, like last thing or be out of a job. And then this is the last thing. [00:31:09][152.8]

Melanie Farmer: [00:31:10] Was that is our practise. Why use our product or die love. [00:31:15][4.3]

Martin Henley: [00:31:15] It or die basically. It really does reek to me. And then this is the bit where it becomes relevant to marketers because they’ve conducted this study. So matter shares insights on what people want, so matter shares insights into how consumers view the next big tech shifts, blah, blah, blah. They’ve done a conducted a survey of 30,000 shoppers. My question is 30,000. Why 30,000? Don’t they have access to 2 billion people through Facebook? So that’s interesting. So what they’re saying is 28% of people are using or have used air augmented reality while shopping, while 42% imagine that air can improve the shopping experience. So they’re saying triage, but by this article is about the fact that VR isn’t the metaverse. Here are their findings. 42% of shoppers believe that the metaverse will positively transform their shopping experience. 51% say that virtual stores will offer a more convenient way to shop. 50% indicated that they believe that brands will need to have a presence on gaming platforms and other virtual worlds to be successful in the future. They’re saying shoppers already start purchasing digital twins like digital versions of the physical products they buy. 46% say it’s important that new world real world products become available as virtual products. 46% of shoppers surveyed say virtual products provide a feeling of association with a brand, and 48% say it makes them more loyal. If loyal, if a brand offers a virtual good as a reward for their loyalty, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, it goes on. I don’t believe a word of it. So basically we can’t do legs. The product is so bad, we can’t get our internal users, our staff to use it even though there are job. Cuts going on. There are job cuts going on. Here it is world. You are absolutely going to need this if you’re going to be successful in the future. I’ve been asking people because, you know, we were supposed to do this yesterday. I don’t know anyone who owns a virtual VR headset. I don’t know anyone. So I certainly don’t think that half the people I know think that it’s important that brands have an online presence for them to continue buying stuff. Maybe because I’m just cynical and old. These are the percentages that we see all the time. 49% say that, 28% say that. Why is it such a small survey? Why does nobody I know you know, how did they manage to find these 30,000 particular people where 15,000 of them are like, yeah, it’s really important to me that people that brands have a presence in the. Oh. [00:33:58][163.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:33:59] I just think they might have had a billion people. But then because of conflict of interest, they had to remove the Facebook staff. And so that with some with 30,000. [00:34:08][9.8]

Martin Henley: [00:34:10] Yes. [00:34:10][0.0]

Melanie Farmer: [00:34:11] But also all they’re talking about there is sentiment. They don’t have actual behaviour. So if someone says, oh, I like the idea of that, I think that will make things better. That doesn’t mean that they will change their behaviour when the thing is there. So so you’re just polling meaninglessly about sentiment and beliefs and values but not actual behaviour. So I would only be interested in reading. Four out of ten purchases made are informed by what’s written on Wikipedia, which was a claim made by Wikipedia I think in the early 2000s that people would own Wikipedia and see whether a thing was good and they would make their purchase decision based on that. So that’s a very different one to people who feel like it might be good but not committing, you know, it’s like, who knows what people think? What they do is what we care about as marketers. They are. [00:35:09][58.0]

Martin Henley: [00:35:09] 100%, 100%. But this is the way that they are going to try and pull these brands in by giving them these data. They’re hoping that these marketing managers are walking into their meetings and saying, well, 48% of people expect us to be on the metaverse, so we better get on the metaverse. I don’t think that’s happening. I don’t think I made it quite clear enough that what they did is they faked the legs than in this video. So the legs weren’t real. They animated them because they still haven’t been able to code it. It’s pitiful. [00:35:40][30.4]

Melanie Farmer: [00:35:42] So what I’m hearing from you, Martin, is Metaverse doesn’t have legs. [00:35:45][3.8]

Martin Henley: [00:35:47] Metaverse legless. [00:35:48][1.3]

Martin Henley: [00:35:51] Something. [00:35:51][0.0]

Martin Henley: [00:35:51] Something like. I mean, this is just farcical. They’ve spent $10 billion on this, and their share price is 40% down. And for me, it just makes the point that corporations are incapable of innovation. Incapable of it. They don’t. They’re not dynamic enough. And also they don’t listen because you know what? I think there’s probably quite a big market out there for something like this. And if they had that market then and they were evolving it with that market, then they’d come up with something really useful and good. [00:36:21][29.4]

Melanie Farmer: [00:36:22] Almost like friends reunited. And then along comes something. Yeah. So if I think of creative friends reunited, someone else will be looking at that going, Great idea. It doesn’t have legs. I’ll tell you what. I’m going to go and I’m going to sort it out. So that may be what happens next to this. But I think I can live without the metaverse and maybe others feel the same. I don’t know. [00:36:47][25.3]

Martin Henley: [00:36:48] I hundred percent don’t know anyone who’s got any interest in this metaverse thing whatsoever. And I teach young people. Do you know I mean, I can’t find people who have any interest in this whatsoever. Okay. You have to run because you have another meeting. We got it done. Melanie Farmer, you’re an absolute legend. Thank you for being here. I’ll see you in another couple of weeks. [00:37:06][17.9]

Melanie Farmer: [00:37:07] Yeah, thanks Martin. See ya! [00:37:08][1.5]

Martin Henley: [00:37:10] Take care. [00:37:10][0.0]

WHAT DO YOU THINK?