Inside Asian Gaming

IAG DEC 2021年12月 亞博匯 97 數碼聚焦 W hile the post-pandemic rebound inMacau has been slow to emerge on the ground, developments in the digital marketing space have accelerated exponentially in the past 18 months, producing an entirely changed landscape for customer acquisitionandengagement than the one known in the pre-COVID 19 world. We examine five of the leading innovations in the digital marketing sector and the potential implication for customer engagement. BRANDED VIRTUAL WORLDS While virtual reality has been a fixture on the marketing agenda for quite some time, brands have struggled to exploit the medium for marketing campaigns beyond niche promo-exhibitions or simulated experiences presented via VR headsets, which appealed to few beyond a minority of loyal fanatics. However, the metaverse has become a household name this year, literally given the rebranding of Facebook as Meta, and a growing number of companies are engaging or partnering with metaverse avatar platforms to launch branded digital avatars and brand-inspired digital environments. In these virtual domains, customers can connect virtually with branded products, services and experiences to see, test and purchase online. The great advantage of the metaverse platform over a dedicated mini-program or app is the ability to funnel existing metaverse users to the brand’s own virtual world for cross-marketing purposes. The metaverse platforms also have the capability to embedbrandeddigital assets forpurchase, including digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens that we will discuss further below, to allow for amore holistic brand shopping and engagement experience in a single place – rather than diluted across a diverse array of digital marketplaces, mini-programs and websites. The concept works especially well for destination-type organizations, where a branded- virtual world that reflects the brand’s location can be created in which the customer is immersed and invited to explore simulated activities, thereby cultivating demand and engagement pre-trip for the physical world equivalent. 雖 然在澳門的後疫情反彈速度依然緩慢，但在 數碼市場推廣領域的發展卻在過去十八個月 間提速推進，並在擄獲客人和與他們互動方 面，達到了一個與疫程前世界相比閃是完全 翻天覆地的境界。我們將探討在數碼市場推 廣界別的五個領先的創新發明，以及它們對於與客戶互動方面的 潛在影響。 虛擬世界品牌推廣 雖然虛擬實境已經在市場推廣業界中出現一段時間，但很多 品牌卻無法好好地利用這個媒介去進行品牌推廣活動。那些有使用 虛擬實境進行推廣的，大多都把宣傳活動侷限於通過虛擬實境眼罩 進行針對特定顧客的推廣型展覽或仿真體驗，但這些活動大多都只 會吸引到一小撮對品牌非常忠誠的熱情支持者。可是，元宇宙已經 成為今年家傳戶曉的一樣事物，這有賴於Facebook把自己更名為 Meta，以及有越來越多的公司開始接觸元宇宙虛擬平台，或者與 這些平台夥拍並推出品牌化數碼虛擬化身，以及從品牌獲得靈感的 數碼幻境。在這些虛擬領域中，客戶可以與品牌產品、服務及體驗 虛擬聯動，並且在網絡上觀看、測試及購買它們。 相較於專門的小程式或移動裝置應用程式，元宇宙平台的 一大優勢在於其能夠把現存的元宇宙用家帶到品牌本身的虛擬 世界，達致交叉市場推廣的效果。元宇宙平台亦能夠加入品牌 化的數碼資產以供購買，當中包括數碼收藏品及非同質化代幣 （non-fungible token, NFT）資產等我們之後會再深入探討的 事物，從而在同一個環境中提供一個更全面的品牌購物及互動體 驗，而非讓用家分散到多個數碼市場推廣空間、小程式及網站。 這個構思為那些目的地類型的機構尤其合適，因為它們可以創造 一個品牌化虛擬世界來反映出該品牌所在地點，讓顧客可以沉浸 其中，並且被邀請去探索不同的模擬活動，從而讓他們對這一切 產生需求，同時參加一個與真實世界旅程相同的行前預覽。