Here, we look at the state of play for automotive brands in Web3 and the metaverse: What’s the opportunity, who’s winning, and what does the future look like for cars in a world of post-metaverse hype?
Below are three automotive brands who are already reaping the rewards of adopting a 360° approach.
Hyundai
Long before the adoption of its brand mission ‘mobility’, South Korean car giant, Hyundai, was already establishing a solid foundation in Web3 and the metaverse.
In June 2021, it joined forces with fellow South Korean innovator, ZEPETO (the virtual gaming environment), allowing users to test out its Sonata N Line. This was followed by a full branded experience, Hyundai Motorstudio, in May 2022.
A year on, Hyundai was showcasing its Creta model in blockchain-based environment, Decentraland, around the same time as launching ‘Hyundai x Meta Kongz’ – one of the first automotive brands to drop an NFT collection.
The launch of its Roblox experience, ‘Hyundai Mobility Adventure’ in September 2022 made it the first automotive brand to create an experience in the virtual gaming environment that attracts over 250 million monthly users.
McLaren
Having launched its digital collectible programme, The McLaren Racing Collective, in partnership with Tezos in 2021, British luxury automotive brand McLaren turned its attention to gaming audiences in 2022, with the launch of ‘McLaren F1 Racing Experience‘ in Roblox.
McLaren’s strategy was smart. They built a relatively small experience, but utilised portals that allowed users to access the experience from three of the most popular driving experiences on Roblox, which have total combined visits of over one billion. Users could drive as F1 stars, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and use their McLaren across each of these experiences.
Honda
Japanese car maker, Honda, leveraged virtual gaming environment Fortnite Creative to bring its Honda HR-V model to life in June 2022.
Players were able to parkour around the car which, according to Honda, was the largest virtual recreation of a car to date. While Ferrari was the first automotive brand to integrate one of its models into Fortnite, Honda became the first to establish a full branded experience.
In October of the same year, Sony Honda Mobility was announced, which will begin delivering high-end, software-oriented electric vehicles (EVs) by 2026.
Having seen success in Fortnite, Sony Honda Mobility is now working with Epic Games to create a video game world based on its EV’s, and has plans to launch its own metaverse environment in the future.
About GEEIQ:
GEEIQ help companies of every shape and size to effectively navigate the metaverse through our enterprise platform, which leverages data to identify and optimize metaverse strategies. Our platform has empowered the likes of Gucci, Walmart, Heineken and L’Oreal to enrich the experience of untapped virtual communities, grow addressable audiences, and to create sustainable revenue streams in a new marketing vertical.
