Executive Q&A Series: Q&A with SmartMedia Technologies CEO Tyler Moebius

With all the talk of Web3, NFTs, cryptocurrencies and metaverse for retail lately, Retail Leader Pro tapped expert Tyler Moebius, CEO of SmartMedia Technologies (whose media platform SmartMedia Stack includes a self-serve, no-code, drag-and-drop NFT and Web3 design studio) to talk about how brands are harnessing the power of next-gen commerce (including a very cool activation the tech company recently launched with Selfridges). Retail Leader Pro (RL Pro): How would you define Web3? What’s the most important thing that you think every retailer should know about Web3 and NFTs? Tyler Moebius: Web3 is more than the next evolution of the internet and technology — it’s the future of how we as human beings will connect and build communities with each other online. RL Pro: How are retailers and brands embracing Web3 marketing strategies? Moebius: What we’re increasingly seeing is global retailers future-proofing their businesses by building Web3 directly into their pre-existing marketing strategies, rather than establishing separate efforts specifically for the Web3 space. Brands like Nike, Unilever and Meta all understand that the power of Web3 comes from its ability to unite consumers within one decentralized environment, rather than from treating Web3 as a separate entity to “traditional” marketing. Our client partners are leveraging Smart NFTs to create engaging brand experiences to build loyalty and community with their customers. By harnessing the power of utility NFTs, their Web3 marketing strategies are future-proof and integrated with Web2 strategies. RL Pro: What’s the biggest misconception you think retailers/brands have about Web3 and NFTs? Moebius: That it’s all about speculation and cryptocurrencies! At SmartMedia Technologies, we’ve been building powerful marketing and adtech for Fortune 500 businesses for years that are powered by non-fungible and Web3 technology. These consumer-facing products use the underlying utility that NFTs have to help our clients build communities and deliver meaningful experiences for users, while still returning market-leading stats. RL Pro: Tell us about the Electric/City activation for Selfridges and designer Charlie Cohen — and how did the program engage consumers? Moebius: Electric/City is a fully immersive cyberpunk-themed metaverse experience — built by SmartMedia Technologies, Selfridges, Charli Cohen and Yahoo for Business — that uses NFT and blockchain technology to give users a glimpse into what the future of fashion might look like by recreating the sensation of in-store shopping within the metaverse. We used cutting-edge technology, including motion capture, virtual reality design spaces and video game creation engines to build a “brandiverse,” a virtual city that acted as a futuristic retail environment users could navigate through and purchase NFT clothing within in real time. SmartMedia Technologies acted as a unifying glue layer for the campaign; using our integration with Stripe to enable users to purchase, store and authenticate their limited-edition NFT clothing seamlessly within the brandiverse and communicating user’s ownership rights with external platforms, including Snapchat, ReadyPlayerMe and others in real time from within a user’s Electric/City wallet. The campaign used a mixture of media, including press coverage and an in-store Selfridges billboard, to drive users to the activation, and delivered a 25% consumer conversion rate from landing page to purchase. RL Pro: How does Web3 fit into the omnishopper journey? How can a Web3 strategy drive traffic in-store and online? Moebius: The great thing about Web3 technology is that it offers new ways to engage consumers in novel and powerful ways that they haven’t seen before. With entertainment value being such a powerful tool for engaging consumers today, interactive campaigns powered by Web3 dynamics — such as cross-platform rewards schemes tailored to consumer preferences and Pokémon Go-style treasure hunts that drive foot traffic into retail stores — now offer retailers powerful tools to engage and monitor omnishoppers on a continuous basis. Our ongoing loyalty scheme with iconic outdoors brand Fjällräven is one great example of how big-name retailers are using this Web3 technology to engage omnishoppers and drive traffic both in-store and online. Since 2018, they’ve onboarded over 750,000 users to their NFT wallet through a variety of SmartMedia-powered experiences, including image recognition technology and augmented reality retail experiences. As part of the scheme, we developed a new Fjällräven-branded currency, “Fox Coins,” which is distributed to engaged users as a means of motivating and rewarding continued engagement with the brand. These coins can be exchanged for a variety of digital and physical prizes that can be redeemed in store. We’ve seen over 2.5 million total brand engagements so far as a result of the scheme, and we think that neatly encapsulates how Web3 technology isn’t a temporary fad, but a powerful tool that high street retailers have already been using to bring major results to their brands for years. RL Pro: What trends are you currently seeing gain momentum in the Web3 landscape? Moebius: We’re increasingly seeing a demand from the market for Web3-aligned businesses that deliver complete end-to-end branded experiences for consumers. The sometimes dizzying world of marketplaces, different types of “chains” and augmented/virtual reality can be a potentially intimidating prospect for consumers: brands want to ensure that utilizing these powerful emerging technologies doesn’t come at the cost of alienating potential customers along the way. We’ve spent a lot of time since 2018 designing SmartMedia Technologies to be not only a complete service provider for our clients, but also ensuring that consumers using our products are shielded from the more complex technical aspects of this emerging technology. With the crypto winter upon us, we are seeing a lot more focus on the utility of NFTs rather than the trading and speculation of NFTs. I’m also excited about businesses' continued focus on building community through the utility of NFTs and blockchain technology. We recently released a range of PBR Team Series trading cards with our partners Professional Bull Riders, which enables sports fans to build their own fantasy team composed of their favorite riders. We’ll be launching a Fantasy Leaderboard this summer that will rank and reward fans based on how their team of riders performs in real life. This is SmartMedia’s debut venture into Play-to-Earn experiences built for Web3, and it’s a really exciting way for our clients to merge the utility of NFTs with fantasy sports and gamification. RL Pro: What technological tools are being used to track consumer behavior in Web3? Moebius: Blockchain technology, when combined with smart NFTs and Web2 strategy integration, gives us the ability to trace a user’s activity from the first touchpoint through the final behavior within a given marketing campaign and beyond. Additionally, one of the biggest value-adds that Web3 technology offers businesses is its ability to move them from a reactive to a proactive model of gaining insight into consumer preferences and behavior. We’re combining businesses' desire to better understand their target audiences with cutting-edge NFT technology to create interactive campaigns that reward engaged users, who complete certain tasks (such as answering questionnaires, sharing campaigns with their friends and actively learning about product offerings) with a variety of prizes that either hold value themselves as digital assets or act as vouchers that can be redeemed for physical items in-store or online. We’ve seen this technology successfully used to deliver consumers trackable discount codes they can use in retail stores, collectible digital trading cards for sports fans and even entice consumers to visit certain locations by dropping free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream vouchers around retail stores in a Pokémon Go-style activation. These activations deliver next-level consumer insight for our clients by collecting unique first-party data about their behavior in a very equitable manner, because these consumers are being immediately rewarded with items they want for their participation in campaigns. These kinds of activations help develop more meaningful relationships with consumers and help motivate them to re-engage with our campaigns on a consistent basis. RL Pro: What is the biggest barrier for retailers to embrace Web3? Moebius: Leaping into Web3 as an isolated component of a wider marketing strategy poses clear challenges for brands: Where does it fit and how can it be leveraged if it’s implemented in a silo? The biggest barrier for retailers may well be in simply not knowing where to start, or how to integrate Web3 tactics in a way that’s cohesive and efficient. One of the solutions here is to ask how Web3 tech can support and elevate your existing initiatives and ecosystems. Starting small is infinitely better than not starting at all. RL Pro: What are some good strategies for success with NFTs for retailers? Moebius: Utility, longevity and lateral thinking are three essential strategies for retailers looking to succeed in the world of NFTs. The first wave of awareness brought non-fungible and blockchain technology to mainstream consumers. Now we’re seeing retailers embracing how the tech enables them to open more non-traditional revenue streams. Nike has made over $185 million in NFT sales, while also generating more than $1.2 billion in secondary sales through their NFT efforts. Consumers are going to buy Nike NFTs and are walking away with more Nike clothes, shoes and bags. We’ve partnered with a variety of brands to power private, custom, branded NFT marketplaces that offer consumers not only non-fungible purchases, but also the chance to win event tickets, discount codes for retail stores and more — all within a completely seamless, branded environment that’s easy to navigate for the consumer. RL Pro Rapid Round: For this last segment, we asked Moebius to fill in the blank for these rapid-fire questions below… The future of Web3 is: Easy. The first platform that makes entering Web3 spaces as easy for consumers as creating a new email address is today. The best career advice I ever received is: Become an entrepreneur and an expert in an industry. That way you can stand at the plate and watch a lot of balls go by and when the time is right and you see the perfect pitch — you can hit it out of the park! Piece of media (podcast, book, movie, etc.) that’s inspired you recently: Sam Harris Making Sense Podcast - “The Paradox of Psychedelics.”

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