On March 19, the famous beer brand Heineken Silver held a press conference in Decentraland to launch the first virtual beer made in the virtual world, Heineken Silver, and jokingly called it "two-seat raw hop brewing grown by NPC farmers", ironically expressing its attitude to this meta-universe boom.
▲ Heineken Silver conference, from: augustman.com
The Heineken website also carefully lists the nutritional content of this virtual beer, but the number is all "0".
▲Heineken Silver Nutrition FactsHeet, Image from: heineken.com
In fact, after the fire of the metaverse concept, the industry soon appeared the extreme reaction of "ice and fire double heaven", on the one hand, the name change of the head company, All in, and on the other hand, the cynicism similar to heineken virtual beer.
But in fact, I will also be the opposite irony, as the science fiction writer Douglas said: any technology that exists when I was born is part of the ordinary original order of the world; any technology that is born between the ages of 15 and 35 is a revolutionary product that will change the world; any technology born after I am 35 years old is against the laws of nature and will be punished by heaven.
Irony is useless, both universes need doers. In the early days of the metaverse, "infrastructure maniacs" were needed.
When industry encounters hard work, it will be full of fruits. When illusion meets practice, the illusion will also bloom. This is not the dualistic opposition of virtual reality, nor is it the monism that the metacosm is the ultimate future or that the metacosm must be fraudulent.
Every exploration of the metaverse will make our understanding of the metacosm a step further.
The authorities are clear, and the bystanders are confused. Who are the authorities? It is Baidu, which is the meta-universe platform "Xi'an", and Lynk & Co, which engages in "Lynk & Co Paradise" in "Xi'an", of course, it may also be the first batch of you to enter the park.
I walked around Hill for a long time
On March 13, the first phase of the "Lynk & Co Park" automotive digital showroom jointly built by Lynk & Co and Baidu Meta-Universe Platform "Xi'ao" was officially opened to the public, and then the number one experience officer of meta-universe was recruited for the whole network. The metaverse has not yet taken shape, so it calls people to go to the meta-universe to work, and this wave of operations of Lynk & Co is undoubtedly a rush.
Curious, I went to the first digital exhibition hall of Lynk & Co Park.
The use experience of Xilang is more in line with what Ma Jie, vice president of Baidu, said - it is still only a negative 6.0 version of the meta-universe product.
When walking on the street, trees a little farther away gradually emerge from the blank space as the character approaches, far from the "immersion" required by the metaverse, and there are also stuttering and mold wear from time to time on the way. Of course, similar slots aren't unusual on most Metaverse platforms— in Horizon Worlds, you don't even deserve to have a full body.
Under this basic condition, the completion of the first phase of the digital exhibition hall of Lynk & Co Park is quite exquisite compared with other surrounding buildings. Located in the heart of Hero City, The Creator City, The first city in Hiram, the building's exterior continues the Lynk & Co design style, blending individuality, technology and urbanism.
The interior design reproduces the online exhibition hall of Lynk & Co, but it is more refined and richer in content.
In Lynk & Co Park, users can immerse themselves in the exhibition hall of the virtual world, experience multiple experiences such as car viewing, booking test drives, and buying cars, and the details are also quite realistic, and the whole process is not lacking in changing the color of the body, opening the doors and trunks, feeling the interior and other real-time interaction.
Now users can virtually watch cars and make test drives in the digital exhibition hall of Lynk & Co, and the user's action direction is still physical cars. But I guess the days when they sell virtual cars are not far off. Didn't Hiram already draw all the zebra crossings, and I was looking forward to the day when I drove Around With Lynk & Co.
According to the official plan, Lynk & Co Park will also achieve richer functions and experiences in the future:
New experiences such as online auto shows, new car launches, virtual test drives, virtual spokespersons, and digital collections will be gradually unlocked in Baidu Xilang, and even allow users to have more intuitive contact and perception of the production and manufacturing processes and production quality assurance systems such as vehicle manufacturing and model testing at the Lynk & Co factory.
Frankly speaking, the current negative 6.0 version of The "fetal- level" metaverse product of Greece, and the first digital exhibition hall of Lynk & Co Park built on it, are still far from the metaverse that people talk about.
But to be honest, you might as well give it a try, at least, it doesn't charge or blackmail money.
Old sayings are often read and often new, or we must look at problems from the perspective of development. Just like the train could not run the carriage at the beginning, the current "Lynk & Co Park" is certainly not as fun as the real playground, but the most important thing is not that it is fun or not, but that it really drives out, compared to the train is 5 kilometers per hour faster than a year ago, the train whistle is more important
So, at a time when the infrastructure level is so rudimentary, why are auto brands, including Lynk & Co, enthusiastic about meta-universe?
The metacosm is a mirror
For car companies, what does the meta-universe mean?
This is a question of the benevolent seeing the mountains and the wise seeing the waters. The answer can be a new outlet, a traffic password, or even a market cap management tool. Different answers allow car companies to enter the metaverse with different practices.
At this point, the metaverse is like a mirror that reflects the personality, desires and ambitions of brands.
For example, some people see metaversity as a brand new marketing tool.
Stefan Ponikva, Vice President of Brand Communications and Brand Experience at BMW, was blunt about BMW's virtual world, Joytopia: "We want to have a new conversation with our audience and change the status quo from a brand interpretation to a user interpretation. Joytopia is a new marketing tool in the digital world."
The Band Coldplay performs in Joytopia. Source: BMW.com
In this way, it is natural for BMW to invite the Coldplay band to hold a virtual concert in Joytopia - to move the familiar offline brand activities directly to the virtual space.
Modern cars are more likely to use the metacosm as a new way to display and experience products. Players can experience the "Fast and Furious" of many modern models through a game called "Hyundai Mobility Adventure" on the Roblox platform.
In the face of the metaverse, Lynk & Co Paradise showed another posture. The most intriguing thing about it is not the beautiful exhibition hall we saw earlier, but the backhand of recruiting meta-universe experience officers. Promises of "300 yuan per hour" and "no internal troubles for incoming employees" are scratched in the itch of the current young people. The next step is probably to let co:club players enter and create a meta-universe with the Lynk & Co brand.
According to the official statement of Lynk & Co, the responsibilities of the Meta-Universe Experience Officer include summoning immersive bombardment, leading the tour of Lynk & Co Park to play high-performance models, and even doing mysterious duties such as reporting whale people to watch rare black whales, and being aurora guardians to watch the sky at night and enjoy the aurora, suggesting that Lynk & Co Park may have many innovative ways to play in the future. After work, I went into Greece to participate in the party, and everyone looked at the black whales and took a photo with the aurora, which was very Lynk & Co.
Moreover, this kind of play is in line with Lynk & Co's past brand actions.
Lynk & Co's Metaverse "Gene"
In fact, when I first saw the name "Lynk & Co Park", the first thing that came to mind was the "urban playground" that Lynk & Co did offline before.
Turning a vacant parking lot into a place to skateboard, play basketball, bungee jump, and climb rocks, the angle is clear, and there is no lack of alternative thinking about the problem of urban road congestion and parking dilemmas.
Behind this alternative thinking is the brand spirit of Lynk & Co's "Why not" to challenge conventions.
At the beginning of its birth in 2016, Lynk & Co was positioned as a smart phone on wheels, providing consumers with a series of industry-high standards such as "three free lifetimes" (free warranty, free roadside assistance, free data traffic) for daily car slots that are difficult to use, slow service and poor signal, and provide consumers with a series of high-standard worry-free car purchase, worry-free car use and other value-added experiences.
In addition, Lynk & Co also crossed the dimensional wall, and joined hands with B station virtual artists and top 100 UP masters to "break the circle" circle fans; deep into the Z generation e-sports culture, and cooperated with Li Ning LNG team to make the brand closely tied with keywords such as "Z era" and "young". With a unique approach and experience that is almost "unrepeatable", Lynk & Co expands the user's trend life circle and strengthens the brand label of "more than car".
Breaking the mold, throwing away shelves, and playing with users as equals are the secrets of Lynk & Co winning the favor of young people. Among Lynk & Co users, 51% are post-90s, and the average age of car owners is 32.5 years old, which can be said to be the youngest car brand in users.
When these young people come together, they naturally form a huge trend community: Lynk & Co App has 1.83 million registered users, with a maximum of 660,000 monthly active users and a maximum of 170,000 daily active users. In 2021, the Lynk & Co App launched a circle function, which can be formed around products, interests, industries or regions, making the user ecosystem richer and more perfect.
A strong user base and innovative gameplay that dares to lead the trend are the "meta-universe genes" of Lynk & Co. When the metaverse really arrived, Lynk & Co Paradise would be a natural success.
In my opinion, there should be at least two versions of the car + metacosm story:
The first is "driving the car into the metaverse", BMW's virtual concert, modern racing game, and Lynk & Co's digital showroom, all belong to this version, that is, to put the car content into the metaverse.
The name "Xi Lang" comes from the Shan Hai Jing, which obviously means "resting soil", which means soil that will grow and expand by itself, and Dayu once used the soil to control water. But reality is not a myth, and when it is a metaversic platform, it will definitely not grow ecology out of thin air. The cars and roads are all built bit by bit. Lynk & Co, now we are doing infrastructure work. After all, starting from the industry, although this matter crosses the line, it is still a light car.
Another version is "putting the metaverse in the car".
From the user's point of view, there is a very important question: where will we access the metaverse in the future? Imagine needing a relatively private, undisturbed place with comfortable seats and pleasant temperatures... Wait, isn't that talking about a car?
▲Lynk & Co smart cockpit
Intelligent cars and metaversics, two seemingly independent fields of development, are common at the bottom, and the two have the same high requirements for perception, computing, communication and other technologies. For example, the metaverse has high requirements for the edge computing power of each player's device itself, and intelligent driving also has strong edge computing capabilities to support.
The privacy and immersion offered by the smart cockpit makes it possible to become one of the most competitive terminals in the metacosm in the future. The smart cockpit of the future should have the underlying ability to access the metaverse from the factory, and have a unique advantage over specialized equipment in terms of function and experience.
Lynk & Co's smart cockpit, coupled with Lynk & Co's Paradise in Greece, may be a complete picture of the "Lynk & Co Meta universe".
It sounds distant, but imagine that it is also a lifetime. Twenty years ago, cars listened to songs and had to stuff tapes into it, but now, connected to the 5G network, the screen is comparable to a computer, and assisted driving is very smart. I don't need to say much about it later: there is no need for people to drive, but people need to take a car. What about the liberated? Mobile? No! Happy in the metaverse? OK!