As the internet evolves into the metaverse it will impact every aspect of our lives from how we look, work, and socialize to what we buy and why. Brands once again have a massive opportunity before them. Winning means adapting quickly and developing a focused strategy that delivers value in new ways based on the defining elements of web3: identity, ownership, and community.

Identity is about more than how you look, it’s about who you are. Our identity is how we want the world to see us, and how we see ourselves. As the metaverse goes mainstream and becomes increasingly immersive, our virtual selves will influence our real selves impacting what we buy, the people we meet, and how we signal our status.

While mobile provided the ability to purchase anywhere a smartphone could get a signal, the products were the same ones sitting on the store shelf. The channel (mobile access) was the innovation. With the metaverse, the innovation lies in both the channel and the product, as brands can now create “digital twins” of their physical products that consumers can buy on the blockchain.

Although it's early days in web3, one truth is becoming abundantly clear. Brands that understand how to build a community are well positioned to master the metaverse. Why?

While the metaverse is making all the headlines lately, savvy marketers need to shift their focus to something far less theoretical and much more critical to the bottom line – social shopping, a mobile-first form of commerce expected to reach $1.2 trillion in global revenue in three years.

Bloomberg TV’s “Bloomberg Markets: America” featured MI&C Founder Quynh Mai in an interview with hosts Mike Miller and Paul Sweeney to discuss the future of Social Commerce, Investment Trends and the inner entrepreneurial spirit of Gen Z which will revolutionize how we all spend our time and money in the coming years.

A year ago hardly anyone knew what an NFT was. Even fewer had heard of something called the metaverse, and Instagram still defined itself as a photo-sharing app. The acceleration of digital was ignited by the pandemic, causing a paradigm shift in how brands connect with consumers. This article reviews five of the top digital trends we wrote about in 2021 that future-focused brands need to embrace to lead growth through 2022.

With 70% of Gen Z consumers saying they are monitoring their spending more closely this holiday season as a result of the pandemic, brands need to work harder to win their business. This means leveraging social commerce, expanding payment options, and exploring new shopping experiences.

At its core, web3 changes how we define ownership, identity, and community in digital environments, creating massive opportunities for future-focused brands to drive growth and deepen customer relationships.

Massive fandoms are mobilizing faster than ever, fueled by the shift from web2 (going viral) to web3 (going tribal). These legions of like-minded enthusiasts are self-organizing around passion points while amassing significant commercial and cultural power that future-focused brands can leverage to deepen relationships and grow revenue.

Digital experiences are getting deeper. They are evolving from the flat feeds of social media where engagement rates have fallen under 1%, to increasingly immersive environments.

In this episode of Fashion Tech Forum: In the Studio, Karen Harvey speaks with Gen Z and digital expert Quynh Mai on understanding the mindset of this next generation as well as the future of consumerism and community overall.