#72 The Least Boring Weekend Newsletter

March 19, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Good Morning readers! ☕

Have a great weekend! ☀️

Audi will get Holoride's in-car VR technology this summer.☀️ This summer, virtual reality will be available in series production cars, beginning with Audi sedans and SUVs.😍

Holoride announced Saturday that its virtual-reality entertainment system, which uses a headset, will be available in June in certain Audi vehicles equipped with the latest MIB 3 software. 👌The news is a watershed moment for the business, which was spun out of Audi a few years ago, and it also reflects a growing interest among manufacturers to find new ways to attract consumers' attention.🎈

Almund's newsletter will let you in on all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much much more. 

Alright, so let's get right to it! 

This newsletter is going to dive into :

🎵Spotify is on the hunt for Web3 experts

👌How To Get On With Connected Packaging

🌏Mark Zuckerberg Says NFTs Are Coming Soon to Instagram

📜Top reads for this week

👩🏻‍💼Plenty of jobs awaiting you!

So, scroll down already to THE VERY END & read up on what's yet to come your way!

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D2C x CRYPTO

Spotify's entry into the Web3🕷️ fray was just a matter of time. The streaming behemoth has advertised two job openings in search of someone who can assist the firm realize its Web3 ambitions. 

The company's move into Web3 and all that comes with it — apps, NFTs, DAOs, and so on — is only inevitable, given the crypto industry's interest in the music industry. (Wow😍)

 Artists such as Kings of Leon🤴and Grimes have sold their music as digital art, while Snoop Dogg is a big NFT collector. NFTs can be created from songs, lyrics, and albums, which could help musicians earn more money

In recent months, more digital companies with huge creator communities have embraced Web3. Twitter began enabling Twitter Blue 🐦subscribers to use NFTs as their profile photos earlier this year. YouTube🛁 revealed shortly after that it was working on integrating NFTs into its platform. LimeWire, a music piracy website, is being reborn as an NFT marketplace.

Meta also intends to make NFTs a fundamental component of its platforms' user experience, and Mark Zuckerberg stated that this drive is underway even before his metaverse vision comes to fruition. He indicated at SXSW this week that NFTs will first appear on Instagram, with the metaverse eventually allowing users to mint their virtual assets as NFTs.🎉

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How To Get On With Connected Packaging

We’re picking up where we left off. Let’s go!

In the last edition, we briefed you about connected packaging and some great visual examples of various connected packaging techniques in use. But this edition, it’s all about YOU.

Of course, if you’re going through the hassle of integrating new technology into your product packaging process, it has to benefit you by a large margin. Thankfully, smart packaging can give you more than just monetary benefits. Let’s find out how.

😮Brand Awareness

Through various connected campaigns and a touch of creativity, your customers can experience a new way of learning more about your DTC brand. It can be an AR experience via Instagram filters, redirection to a new video upon scanning the QR code, or anything new to entice your customers to interact with you and learn more about the business. 

🤝Customer Engagement

Your customers ARE going to look at the tags on the products, even if it is to snip them out before using what they’ve purchased—it’s inevitable. Why not use this opportunity to interact with them? Through engaging, personalized campaigns, you can usher more customers to interact with your DTC business online and feel connected.

For instance, Levi’s partnered with Ganni to create a range of rental-only jeans. When the rental period ended, they were asked to upload a ‘love letter’, all of it spun together to create a unique story behind every pair as a part of the campaign.

⭐Extended Rewards

Your customers would surely interact with your products if they were guaranteed a reward at the end. A report found that over 66% of customers would be willing to interact with smart packaging if it is linked to an extended reward.

For instance, if a QR code redirects customers to a discount for an ongoing subscription program, they’d be encouraged to place an order. 

📃Data Gathering

With data collection on everyone’s minds, customers are more likely to give away information when DTC businesses offer something worthwhile in return, all on the consumers’ terms. The methodology of interacting with customers via smart packaging is a great way to go about it. 

Through scanning QR codes and engaging with brands online, you can tap into a lot of consumer data, such as customer behavior, product interaction, session lengths, number of scans, user demographics, and more. 

🤓Smart Campaign Management

With the technology stepping up, it’s easier for us, DTC businesses, to come up with better ways to run campaigns. Smart packaging allows you to use the technology to run extended campaigns with no effort.

For instance, if you wish to give the consumer a time-sensitive discount through a QR code on the label but the campaign expires, you can redirect the QR code’s destination to a different URL without having to do anything to the product itself. 

📬Opportunities For UGC Content

Through smart packaging, you’ve managed to acquire the attention of a lot of your consumers. This gives you a platform to help create more UGC content for your brand across all social media channels. Not only would this help create brand awareness and loyalty, but it would also help with customer acquisition, creating a cycle that feeds itself. 

Whew, quite a lot of benefits to list here…

And that’s the reason why many well-known global brands have already integrated connected packaging into their business processes. Would you like to take a look? Here are some of our favorite picks!

#1 eBay

eBay is offering proof of authentication via an NFC-enabled tag for footwear in partnership with Sneaker Con. This adds a level of security to the purchasing process for the customers.

#2 Pepsi

Pepsi’s #Summergram campaign allowed customers to scan the QR code on the bottles to get an AR lens on Instagram to access filters and stickers for IG stories. 

#3 Mezcla

Mezcla, a vegan, plant-based protein bars business, is featuring a QR code on its packaging that allows you to view the collection of artwork by people around the world. The consumer is also given an option to submit their artwork to be featured on the brand’s page. It’s a great way to increase brand engagement.

Connected packaging may be the hurdle you need to cross for better brand positioning, online presence, and revenue. With a lot of untapped potential to various platforms that connected packaging opens up for everyone, DTC businesses must make use of it immediately. 

See you next time!

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WHAT’S COOKING, HUH?

According to a tweet from Engadget Senior Editor Karissa Bell, Meta (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at a panel at Austin's South by Southwest Festival on Tuesday, 

"We're working on adding NFTs to Instagram in the near term." According to Casey Newton of The Verge's Platformer newsletter, Zuckerberg also stated that Instagram users will be able to mint their non-fungible tokens (NFT) within the app "hopefully" in the coming months.🎟️

According to sources familiar with the subject, Meta was working on plans for members of both Facebook and Instagram to be able to show NFTs on their accounts in January.

Instagram will not be the first large social media platform to integrate NFT.

Twitter added a feature earlier this year that allowed certain users to use an NFT as their profile picture.🐦

They appear as hexagons, and anyone interested can click through to view the metadata for the NFT. Given how frequently TikTok features are nearly carbon-copied on Instagram, it wouldn't be unexpected if Meta's photo-sharing (uh, "entertainment") app did the same.🎉

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TOP READS FOR THIS WEEK

👞DTC shoe brand Birdies showcases first lace-up shoes in a new campaign

📉Warby Parker's net loss widens by over $40M in Q4

💤Bored Ape startup plans virtual land sales, APECoin token to kickstart metaverse gaming project

🖼️Instagram Live adds moderation tools

💰Stripe supports Crypto for payment infrastructure

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In need of a  job? We’ve got plenty awaiting you!

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REFER HTE TO A FRIEND

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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great week! ‘Get that D2C business runnin’.