India – Creative agency Virtue Worldwide, powered by VICE Media Group, has unveiled the 2024 Virtue Guide to Culture, an in-depth report on Gen Z culture and behaviours. The guide is based on research conducted across Asia Pacific markets, analysing various cultural codes that influence Gen Z in Asia. 

According to the report, the demographic embeds absurdity and chaos into their unique self-expression. Using unconventional norms in art, fashion, technology, and culture, Gen Z showcases eccentricity and authenticity. In Asian countries that are considered to be traditionally conformist, including India, embracing the absurd is a new norm. This is reflected in the popularity of homemade, lo-fi, and slapstick social media content. 

The guide also shows more substantial fan authority among Gen Z, which gives them a sense of belongingness and collective identity. It has resulted in a shift in power from media celebrities to the fans themselves, where the fans have the authority to shape the success or downfall of public figures.

Meanwhile, the rise of empathic technology is also apparent. Technological advancements have become more influential in social interaction between young people. 

Another emerging cultural code is feminism’s soft revolution, which comprises new ways of assertion and protest. This includes fun and leisurely ways to embody the feminist movement. 

“For brands to have conversations with audiences that matter to them, it is critical for them to seat themselves in culture codes relevant to those audience groups. The Virtue Guide To Culture unlocks such codes that can enable communications that can be both short term, specific and dynamic, as well as long-standing and consistent,” Saumya Baijal, Virtue Worldwide Strategy Lead in India, said. 

The guide aims to provide brands and marketers with valuable insights to help them engage with the Gen Z demographic. 

Singapore As it gains more traction and public knowledge, the metaverse space opens limitless possibilities for brands and businesses alike. But because many still seem to be intimidated by its concept, how will marketers be able to instil their metaverse activations in their consumers and audiences? 

MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with consumer intelligence platform Talkwalker, gathered industry leaders to give light to this question through its recent webinar titled, ‘What’s NEXT 2023: Metaverse Marketing Activations in APAC’. Benjamin Soubies, managing director for APAC and Japan for Talkwalker, delivered a keynote presentation that tackled how metaverse can be leveraged to effectively engage communities. 

In his presentation, Soubies shared that the metaverse has paved the way for people to create connections that are even further engaging and with it, brands may be able to reach their consumers and potential consumers in more ways than earlier imagined. He also shared about the metaverse conversation hotspots in the APAC region, different ways brands are engaging their communities in the space, key features of metaverse brand campaigns, and the metaverse-gaming connection, amongst others.

“As more players join in the game, it is extremely important to leverage consumer insights in order to identify the most promising opportunities in the metaverse that you should be investing in,” he said.

To further discuss the topic, a panel discussion was conducted which was joined by industry leaders Ramakrishnan C.N., managing director for SEA and metaverse lead at Accenture Song, Amrita Mallik, vice president of HSBC, and Chris Gurney, group creative director for APAC at Virtue Worldwide. Each of them discussed the trends, opportunities, and challenges, amongst others, that the metaverse space presents to the marketing industry.

The experts also shared their insights on how to activate marketing campaigns in the space through their perspectives from the brand and agency sides as well as some metaverse marketing initiatives that have proven to be successful.

The webinar was attended by 180 professionals from various industries such as marketing, advertising, banking, and technologies, amongst others. Brands and companies ePLDT,  Inc., Estée Lauder, Metrobank, Netflix, Nielsen, Philips, Publicis Groupe, TBWA, The Coca-Cola Company, and VICE also took part in the event. The top markets present were Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. 

Concluding the webinar, MARKETECH APAC’s Founder & CEO Joven Barceñas, who also hosted the webinar and moderated the panel discussion, remarked, “We began the discussion with the goal of discovering the different challenges and opportunities in the metaverse that await brands and agencies as we enter the new year filled with new trends. I am sure our audiences looking to adopt the virtual space are more than excited to explore the opportunities we’ve talked about.”

Soubies further commented, ”I hope the webinar gave some clarity to brands out there who are contemplating their own 2023 metaverse activations. After discussing the ways brands can engage communities in the metaverse, and hearing from our expert panelists on trends, opportunities and challenges in the space, it will be exciting to see how the newer players find their spot in the metaverse.” 

He also added that in order to succeed, brands and marketers must ensure that they have a solid understanding of their consumers to create “relevant and impactful” metaverse experiences.

Learn more about marketing leaders’ insights on metaverse by getting your on-demand access to the webinar here.

New York, USA – Virtue Worldwide, the creative agency under media company VICE, has launched an office inside the metaverse for VICE Media Group (VMG), which will be open to multiple VMG businesses including Virtue and VICE and act as a permanent residence for the group in 3D virtual world browser-based platform Decentraland.

The initiative was created by Virtue Futures – a dedicated innovation division within Virtue that helps brands to innovate in new platforms, technologies and spaces in culturally relevant ways. VMG’s virtual building is designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, the architectural firm behind The Pyramid in Manhattan and Google’s Mountain View North Campus. Built in Decentraland’s open digital world platform, the space will serve as the agency’s virtual innovation lab where teams can experiment with NFTs, DAOs, and Web 3.0, applying insights directly for brands eager to make an impact.

Moreover, the Decentraland HQ serves as the central node in Virtue Futures’ global borderless team setup. Here, clients and collaborators can meet for briefings, presentations and in-situ demonstrations of recent projects. The space showcases a range of digital experiments, and has plenty of hidden extras for curious explorers, including a direct route for young creatives to reach a selection of highly acclaimed global Meta-Mentors. It will also serve as a launchpad for digital field research into the sociology of digital communities.

Morten Grubak, Virtue Futures’ global ECD innovation, said, “The creative opportunities within the metaverse are hugely exciting and as we’re already helping brands navigate this new space it makes sense to have an office there ourselves. Working with the world-renowned architects at BIG, the vision has taken on a new reality.”

Meanwhile, Nancy Dubuc, VICE Media Group’s CEO, said, “Vice has always been about being inside culture, going to places where our audiences are. This is a new frontier filled with potential and once again, we’re proud to be pushing the boundaries.”

Adam De Cata, Decentraland’s head of partnership, shared that they are seeing massive interest from players big and small, but for a lot of the more entrenched actors, it’s more about saying they did it than actually involving themselves with the community. 

“So it brings us great joy to see two such iconic organisations — BIG and Virtue — get their hands dirty with such earnest dedication,” said De Cata.