A single spark can start a prairie fire. The "metaverse" concept is spreading like wildfire across industries. In October 2021, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg bet on the metaverse and renamed his social network company Meta. Suddenly, discussions about the metaverse were everywhere. According to Baidu Index, the average daily search volume for the keyword "metaverse" in the past six months was 26,568 times, a month-on-month increase of 6,213%. On December 6, 2021, the "Top Ten Internet Buzzwords of 2021" were released by the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center, and "metaverse" was on the list; in December, "Yao Wen Jiao Zi" released the top ten buzzwords of 2021, and "metaverse" was also included. Many people may be familiar with the term "metaverse," but most are still in the dark about it. From a professional perspective, whether it's computing power, big data technology, VR, 3D, or AR, these determine the completeness of the "metaverse" world and whether its fundamental logic is sound. These are key elements for building the "metaverse." From these key elements, the "metaverse" seems to apply only to gaming and social dimensions. In fact, the metaverse's popularity started from these two dimensions as a "trigger" and spread to all industries. So, what exactly is the metaverse? Why has it become a new trend with industries worldwide jumping in? Can it truly bring new consumption growth to the FMCG industry? With these questions, let's delve deeper. What is the Metaverse? The term "metaverse" first appeared in the 1992 science fiction work "Snow Crash," which introduced the concepts of "metaverse" and "Avatar." In the "Metaverse," people can have their own virtual avatars, and this virtual world is called the "metaverse." Precisely, the metaverse = virtual world. In this virtual world, people control digital avatars. For us now, it describes an advanced future world. More simply, the metaverse has three layers of meaning. The first layer is upgrading the current internet from 2D to 3D. Our current phones are 2D, but regardless of the method—VR, AR, naked-eye 3D, holographic projection, or even future brain-computer interfaces—if it achieves a 3D, multi-sensory internet, it is a new interactive form of the metaverse. The second layer is the linkage among natural persons, virtual humans, and robots. Imagine that with a 3D virtual-real symbiotic space, virtual humans will inevitably be active in that space. Furthermore, the virtual-real symbiotic metaverse will also promote the embodiment of virtual humans and give rise to robots. These two, linked with real-world people, constitute the second layer of the metaverse. With space and people, economic activities will inevitably emerge. Therefore, the third layer is to achieve a creator economy within the metaverse through economic rule adjustments and the introduction of blockchain technology. These layers together form a relatively complete concept of the metaverse. Take the second layer as an example. In January this year, Baixiang Food signed digital virtual human Nan Mengxia as its brand digital experience officer, appearing at Jinan Gaoxin Wanda for the first stop of a national 100-city tour. The virtual human "Nan Mengxia" is a Chinese-style virtual KOL co-produced by XR technology innovator Xiangxin Technology and cross-dimensional IP development and operation company Cishi Culture. During the 2022 Spring Festival, Nan Mengxia sent red envelopes and interacted with real-world users. So, to some extent, the metaverse combines the real world and the virtual world. Why is there such a fervent pursuit of the metaverse globally? In the mobile internet field, at least the Chinese market is nearly saturated, and even Facebook (now Meta) users are no longer growing significantly. Additionally, global smartphone sales in 2020 declined compared to 2019. From these perspectives, the slowdown in mobile internet development has become a trend, and its growth is gradually peaking. This means that even if it continues to develop, it will be in a form of involution. Therefore, industries are now exploring new development spaces. In other words, this is a time node for humanity to upgrade from 2D to 3D interaction. This also reflects humanity's exploration of a deeper spiritual world. In that virtual world, people can reclaim land, plant and hunt, and use virtual currency to buy virtual products. It's like building a channel between the real world and virtual space, connecting the physical and digital worlds, with real humans participating, forming a complete worldview. It's bold to imagine that this might be the next stage of human societal evolution. The Formation of the "Metaverse" Trend While understanding the metaverse, looking back at the outbreak of the metaverse in 2021, there are three key nodes overall. In March 2021, Roblox, hailed as the "first metaverse stock," went public, and its market value more than tripled, drawing attention to the "metaverse." Then, at the end of August 2021, ByteDance acquired VR hardware manufacturer Pico for nearly 9 billion yuan, an event seen as the "first shot of the domestic metaverse," causing a surge in domestic attention to the "metaverse." ByteDance acquisition announcement In October 2021, Meta indicated it would focus on its metaverse business through a "name change to change fate." By this stage, the "metaverse" concept was hot, almost everywhere. Thus, the "metaverse" began to boom in gaming and social. Roblox, claiming to be the world's largest multiplayer online game company, pushed the metaverse concept and surged on its first day of listing, shaking the world. By building virtual identities, VR immersion, and economic systems, they established a metaverse civilization in games, and their stock price has risen 160%, becoming the "first metaverse stock." Following that, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also announced plans to enter the metaverse business; just a day later, U.S. game company Epic Games announced a $1 billion funding round for metaverse business development. Last Christmas, NVIDIA spent over 300 hours building a snow-covered "Christmas Wonderland" in the pixel sandbox game "Minecraft." The realistic and exquisite experience scenes are both real and illusory. The metaverse is vividly reflected in games and has become a core element of social interaction, which is the biggest factor in Facebook's bet on the metaverse. Meanwhile, domestic social enterprises are also gearing up: Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu, Chizicheng, and Soul have all revealed their metaverse roadmaps and actively registered metaverse-related trademarks. The FMCG industry followed closely. In April 2021, Coca-Cola and digital wearable device design platform Tafi jointly launched NFT digital collectibles, the Coca-Cola Friendship Box. According to Tianyancha, in January this year, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., the holder of the Wanglaoji brand, applied to register the "Wanglaoji Metaverse" trademark, as well as "Lixiaoji Metaverse" and "Ciningji Metaverse" trademarks, under international class "32 beer and beverages," with the current status as "application pending." According to the official website of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, Chairman Li Chuyuan stated that Lixiaoji, along with Wanglaoji and Ciningji, would form the group's "Three Auspicious Treasures." Just days before the Wanglaoji trademark application, Wanglaoji publicly auctioned a digital artwork "Baijiahe" on Taobao for the first time. It is reported that the "Baijiahe" digital collectible has a unique identifier and ownership information on the blockchain, cannot be stolen, so once users obtain it, they own a unique and non-fungible digital asset. It's clear that Wanglaoji, with surname culture as the main theme, traditional culture as creative elements, and digital technology as the carrier, launched 100 "Baijiahe" digital collectibles, marking its first step into the metaverse. Given all this, some joke: "Everything can be metaverse." But it's undeniable that not only FMCG brands but brands across all industries have ridden the "metaverse" wave to refresh their presence. What Role Does the Metaverse Play in the FMCG Field? Back to the FMCG field, a colleague once asked: What is the relationship between the metaverse and the FMCG industry? How did these two seemingly unrelated names stir up a "cosmic wind"? Applied to retail and FMCG marketing, we can simply understand it as the "field" in the new retail "people, goods, field" framework—a brand-new immersive, tech-driven, virtual-real combined scene experience. For example, in December 2021, Baidu's first domestic metaverse product "Xirang" was officially opened, and Yuexianhuo fresh milk, as the only dairy brand partner, officially landed in the Xirang space to meet consumers nationwide, thus beginning a new era as the first milk brand in the metaverse. In this virtual space, a 100-story "fresh milk experience factory" was discovered. Why build a milk factory in the metaverse? Yuexianhuo hopes that through this metaverse space, consumers can intuitively experience integrated management of the entire industry chain—from pasture planting, dairy farming to production and processing—seeing the top standards and ultra-international quality of Yuexianhuo's milk sources, while also allowing users worldwide to witness the innovation research institute built with an investment of 500 million yuan. By being transparent in the virtual world, the entire industry chain is subject to consumer supervision, and research results are visualized, promoting product quality improvement. This is a very pragmatic approach. This collaboration made Yuexianhuo the only dairy brand partner and the first milk brand in the metaverse. From this perspective, digital virtual humans are not truly the metaverse; they do not meet the definition of "field" in "people, goods, field," and are mostly just virtual characters wrapped in the metaverse concept. According to the "Virtual Digital Human Development White Paper," virtual digital humans are virtual characters with digital appearances that rely on display devices, possessing human appearance, behavior, and thoughts, and can communicate with others. So, whether it's Nan Mengxia, virtual idols like Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi, or virtual streamers launched by major live-streaming platforms in recent years, they are ultimately another form of animated characters and cannot be considered the metaverse; the same applies to virtual spokespersons and virtual employees launched by brands like Nestlé, Tmall, and Florasis. So, can the metaverse truly bring new consumption momentum? First, analyze the main consumer group enthusiastic about the metaverse—the younger generation, more precisely the post-95 to post-00 young people, who have a natural affinity for collecting virtual IPs. According to QuestMobile's 2020 "Z Generation" Insight Report, the user profile of the Z generation, who grew up in the internet world, includes three important tags: "anime," "celebrity," and "gaming," which align with the virtual IPs, NFT art collectibles, blind box economy, and other content that may appear in the metaverse. For a brand, the truly interesting part of metaverse + new consumption lies in "beyond physical" and "non-fungible"; simply replicating its physical products in the metaverse does not bring much value. What is truly valuable is creating next-generation products that combine the metaverse environment, creating a new generation of "people, goods, field." This is what the Z generation is genuinely interested in. For brands, it reflects three improvements: enhanced user value perception; improved product quality; and products being tagged as "premium." This virtual-real combination adds to the brand's social attributes. So, rather than saying consumer brands are interested in the "metaverse," it's more accurate to say they are seizing the huge young market. Whoever can accurately understand the metaverse concept will win the favor of young users earlier. Returning to calm, no matter how people joke about the "metaverse," is it a real transformation or a fleeting pseudo-concept? Can it truly bring new consumption momentum? Let's continue to observe. But for now, a new round of global technological revolution is brewing. Final Thoughts: In the CCTV "News+ " series "Chatting about the Metaverse," Shen Yang, a professor at Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication, mentioned that we could replace "metaverse" with "next-generation internet," and perhaps there would be less controversy, but it wouldn't spread as quickly as it does now. This name has the positive effect of gathering attention, but also the negative side of creating bubbles. The word "universe" encompasses everything; it cannot have only positives without negatives. We must view it dialectically. Excessively debating the "name" of the metaverse while ignoring its "substance" can lead to misinterpretation. According to Professor Shen's logic, the metaverse is not a new concept; it is more like a rebirth of the classic concept of "internet," a concretization under new technologies such as extended reality (XR), blockchain, cloud computing, and digital twins. Through technological means, it maps and interacts between the real and virtual worlds, forming a digital living space of a new social system. A survey found that 70% of respondents believe that by 2030, we will be able to enter a nearly "fully realistic" virtual world. More broadly, the term metaverse is now used to refer to any online space that strives to create immersive environments. By extension, the integration of the metaverse may become a novel, tech-driven, digital marketing approach in the FMCG industry. However, to freely navigate the metaverse requires long-term effort and breakthroughs from all enterprises. Cover image source: Zhihu - "Things in the Crypto Circle" -END-