0:00

Did it a little bit differently, took a risk

0:02

with that risk paid off. We created the first

0:04

ever brand based utility on the platform that's all

0:06

about discovery. So the same way that

0:09

Walmart, be it the physical store in

0:11

your neighborhood or walmart.com or the Walmart

0:13

app has everything. We also have your

0:15

thing. And that is how we manifested

0:17

Walmart on the Roblox platform. This

0:19

episode is sponsored by SAFE, the account

0:22

abstraction leader on Ethereum. Hi Sam, how's

0:25

it going? Avery,

0:41

so great to see you. I

0:43

want to hear everything that happened

0:45

at Cannes this year, because I

0:47

lived vicariously through your Instagram stories.

0:50

But it seems like it was so much more than that. So tell

0:52

me how it all went. Can't wait this

0:54

year was amazing. This was my first

0:56

year as CMO at Vayner. So my

0:58

team is responsible for orchestrating our whole

1:00

little dinghy activation. So from

1:03

Sunday to Thursday, 8 a.m. till

1:05

3 a.m., the Vayner vote was

1:07

popping with panels, with CMO circles,

1:09

with parties. It was really fun. It

1:11

was a nice blend of creativity and about discovery. So

1:13

the same way that Walmart, be it

1:16

the physical store in your neighborhood or

1:18

walmart.com or the Walmart app has everything.

1:20

We also have your thing, and that

1:22

is how we manifested Walmart on the

1:24

Roblox platform. This episode is

1:26

sponsored by SAFE, the account abstraction

1:28

leader on Ethereum. The news. Hi

1:45

Sam, how's it going? Avery, so

1:47

great to see you. I want

1:50

to hear everything that happened at

1:52

Cannes this year, because I lived

1:54

vicariously through your Instagram stories. But

1:56

it seems like it was so much more than that. So tell me

1:58

how it all went. line this year

2:01

was amazing. This was my first year

2:03

as CMO at Vayner, so my team

2:05

was responsible for orchestrating our whole little

2:07

dinghy activation. So from Sunday

2:10

to Thursday, 8am till 3am,

2:12

the Vayner vote was popping with

2:14

panels, with CMO circles, with parties.

2:17

It was really fun. It was a nice blend of creativity

2:19

and culture and of course a lot of business

2:21

stuff as well. So it was really fun,

2:23

really productive. We had a

2:26

nice little highlight on our final

2:28

night. We had the favorite, America's

2:30

favorite brother stop by. So we

2:32

ended with that little sprinkle. Jason,

2:34

Kelsey and Travis, right? Exactly. There

2:37

was also a lot of talk on innovation. I think AI

2:40

was the talk of the town. There were actually still quite

2:42

a few people from the world of web three who were

2:44

there. Saw Binance there, saw

2:46

Coinbase there. So nice stream of innovation as

2:48

well. We missed you, Sam. I

2:50

missed being there. I want

2:53

to know, Avery, when I think of like

2:55

South by Southwest or even I think of

2:57

like something like CES, it still feels like

2:59

it's very much about people who really are

3:01

leveraging their company's travel budgets to try to

3:03

network for the next job. Can

3:05

still feels to me like a deal making

3:07

opportunity and that people are there really to

3:09

do business. Is that the right read for

3:11

Can? I think a lot

3:13

of people think that CanLion was just a boondog

3:15

lender in the South of France drinking rosette. Which

3:18

is true. And it's the most productive

3:20

business week of the year for us at Vayner because

3:22

there's no other place where we can get like 250

3:26

Fortune 500 CMOs together to talk about what

3:28

the future of marketing looks like and what

3:30

the future of creativity looks like and how

3:32

you can use creativity to drive business. So

3:34

for us, it's really productive. Does it

3:36

have streets of boondoggle? Absolutely. But let me

3:38

tell you, my team was working the entire

3:40

time. I

3:43

did notice that from the reporting I was reading that

3:45

there seemed to be a less

3:47

of the media publishers were there. We know

3:49

what happened with Washington Post and they pulled

3:51

out. The New York Times seemed to be

3:53

pretty light there. And so it used

3:55

to be a place. Yeah, but it used to be a

3:57

place where the big media companies were showing up in the

3:59

same way. that the big tech brands were. Now

4:01

it seemed like it's Pinterest beach. It's, it's kind

4:03

of still big tech running the show. Were there

4:05

any other sort of like thematics that you thought

4:08

were interesting that lead us to think where marketing

4:10

is going to go? Three

4:12

things that I think stood out this year. One, it's absolutely

4:15

the creator era. Every which creator was

4:17

there from like, Hey, I have a hundred

4:19

thousand followers and I'm here to meet brands

4:21

to I'm Issa Rae or Chrissy Teigen, et

4:23

cetera. So big folks and creators and, and

4:26

camera and actually had their own programming around

4:28

that as well. Second thing

4:30

was communities. Sam, this really resonate with

4:32

you, but I actually feel like amidst

4:34

this crazy, big festival, the most impactful

4:36

conversations are the ones that are like

4:38

smaller, whether that's a CMO circle or

4:40

that's a black week party, or that's

4:42

a gold house event, or that's a

4:45

Patel meetup, those smaller communities, like really

4:47

matter and really influence decision-making through like

4:49

word of mouth, et cetera. Social

4:51

absolutely like took over and it is, it

4:53

is now taken seriously. I think we've been

4:56

waiting 15 years for people to realize that

4:58

in fact, social is incredibly important and like

5:00

they realized it this year. You mentioned

5:02

Pinterest beach, metas doing their big thing. TikTok

5:05

had a huge presence where they unveiled symphony

5:07

AI. There was a big focus

5:09

on like social first creative thinking. And then

5:11

on the more like cultural side of things,

5:14

I saw a lot of like work-life integration

5:16

examples. A lot of people bringing their kids,

5:18

bringing their spouse, bringing their parents, if you're

5:21

the mainer talks. And I thought

5:23

that that was almost just like a zeitgeist moment

5:25

because, you know, if you're a really high powered

5:27

executive and you work 70 hours a week, you

5:29

don't have that much free time. And when I'm

5:32

seeing people plug in their free time in

5:34

creative ways and really be like, there is

5:36

no work-life balance. It's just life.

5:38

And whether it's CMOs kids volunteering

5:40

at the female quotient or people bringing

5:43

their spouse to like dinners or whatnot, I felt a lot

5:45

about this year. I sort of love that because I remember

5:48

the first 10 years of owning my agency. I was

5:50

traveling constantly and I would go to Chicago

5:52

or LA or London or whatever. And it would

5:54

be like, how was London? I'm like, I spent

5:56

it all in a convention center. So I don't

5:59

actually get the opportunity. to spend any

6:01

time culturally there. Nowadays, I

6:03

will wrap a trip with my daughter, with

6:05

a partner, with friends, anything I can to

6:07

spend a couple of extra days and to

6:09

celebrate the fact that you get the experience

6:11

of seeing these parts of the world that

6:13

so many people don't get. So I think

6:15

I love hearing that, that's really wonderful. It

6:17

was really nice, and I actually saw a lot of CMOs and

6:21

high powered execs sharing that on social media and

6:23

on LinkedIn especially, which I think is really nice.

6:25

Shout out to Carla Hassan, the chief marketing officer

6:27

JB Morgan Chase for explaining that, you know, she

6:29

brought her daughter and it's not a goon dongle.

6:31

And she's like, but I'm there for a week

6:33

in the summer and she wants to come and

6:35

learn. And this is a great way to do

6:37

that. And I think she, you know, did a

6:39

little intern type of thing as well during that

6:42

week. But, you know, when you see those people

6:44

in positions of like influence and authority who are

6:46

like, yes, I made this decision and

6:48

here's why. It then enables other

6:50

people who aren't that senior or aren't in that position

6:52

in their lives to be like, actually, I'm gonna bring

6:55

my toddler with me because I wanna get

6:57

some time with them too. So I thought that

6:59

was really nice, but Matt Groh, AI was talking

7:01

to talent, social's being taken seriously and talent was,

7:04

I mean, it was everywhere. I

7:06

love that. Speaking of talent, Avery, the next story

7:08

I wanna talk to you about is we continue

7:11

to see this sort of concept

7:13

of like scene or celebrity tokens coming out.

7:15

You know, I think we talked about the

7:17

Iggy Azalea mother token. This past

7:20

week, Jason Derulo launched a token, which

7:22

was also really interesting. Yeah, exactly.

7:24

So it was the Jason token and then he

7:27

claims, oh, like this is for my audience and

7:29

I'm never gonna sell. And then like the on-chain

7:31

data showed that he sold thousands of dollars worth.

7:34

We still see a ton of interest in

7:37

these like what are called polyfi

7:39

tokens, like Trump tokens, Trump token,

7:41

Bowdoin token for Joe Biden. There

7:43

is still this real thirst for

7:46

monetization of culture. What's

7:48

interesting to me is virtually every one of these

7:50

comes out and then goes underwater. And

7:52

I just keep wondering why the D-Gens continue to

7:54

think that this is something to buy. But I

7:57

also think that is it, it

7:59

doesn't feel like a great. brand opportunity. You talked

8:01

about the amount of creators coming in to some

8:03

place like like hand, the idea that they would

8:05

then create a purchasable asset that

8:07

people could do to in

8:09

essence, show support, but then trade on their

8:11

own celebrity and in such a quick way.

8:13

It just feels like a race to the

8:15

bottom for that aspect of both

8:18

the talent and the sort of cultural conversation.

8:20

Like, do you think there is any long

8:22

term value of the idea of tokenizing your

8:25

name, your culture in a way that these folks should

8:27

be thinking about or brand should be thinking about it?

8:30

I think there is if you actually really understand what

8:32

you're doing. I think the challenge that we're seeing with

8:34

a lot of these celebrities is they're just doing it

8:36

as a way to make a quick buck and they're

8:38

like, okay, I'll do this and I'll move on to

8:41

the next thing. I want my celebrity and a tea.

8:43

I'm going to want my celebrity token and then I'll

8:45

move on to the next thing. I think that if

8:47

you are someone who deeply understands this, you're like, I'm

8:49

an emerging artist. I'm someone who really believes in this.

8:52

This gives you a buy into my future and this

8:54

will be somehow embedded in other methods of monetization I'm

8:56

going to have down the line. That would be super

8:58

smart. Doing that right now is not very feasible with

9:01

the way that talent is compensated today because

9:03

they're typically not compensated in altcoins,

9:05

right? Like they're compensated in US

9:07

dollars. So I think

9:10

that the theory has potential, the execution,

9:12

I have not yet seen anything that

9:14

I would say like, yes, I, by

9:16

the way, not financial advice, but I would

9:19

personally not, I don't think we've seen an

9:21

execution that has been really completely thoughtful today

9:23

in the celebrity token realm. It's,

9:26

I'm getting cringe vibes, honestly. No, there's

9:28

definitely cringe vibes there. I also

9:30

think there is not a thoughtful

9:32

sort of strategy of long-term value, right? I think that,

9:34

that we've seen a couple of platforms and I think

9:36

this is actually my favorite use case is the idea

9:38

that an artist you love, you can help support their

9:40

career now and then down the road you get a

9:43

certain amount of access. That doesn't have to be financial

9:45

reward, by the way. That can also just be access

9:47

and exclusives and the ability to meet

9:49

and greet and all the things that people love about

9:51

celebrity culture. We just haven't seen it done well. We,

9:53

you know, we spoke to Natalie Brass at Range and

9:56

Myth who were trying to do that kind of thing.

9:58

I think there's a great appetite for it. but

10:00

there is a ton of adoption that we have

10:02

to think through in order to get people there.

10:04

So I agree. I think it's not

10:06

yet there, but I keep seeing people trying to get rich

10:08

from it, and both on the celebrity side

10:10

and on the trader side. And I think this idea of the

10:13

online casino, that really is... To

10:15

the MTV, because MTV is basically taking

10:17

the opposite approach. They're like, not licensing it.

10:20

They're basically closing it. So I think you're

10:22

bringing up a really good point of like,

10:24

are you, as a publisher, are you giving

10:26

away your secret sauce and saying thank you?

10:30

Right. That's a

10:32

real concern. And I think as

10:35

a parallel, I see the same thing happening in

10:37

retail media with CPG. They're basically like, I'm going

10:39

to suck your lifeblood. And right now I'm going to

10:41

say thank you. I know you're going to

10:43

come bite you in the ass big time. I think

10:45

that... So one, I had a really interesting talk

10:48

with Mark from Time, who's the chief

10:50

operating officer along with Melody Ellerbrand from

10:52

Fox. And we talked a little bit

10:54

about this idea of authenticating content through

10:56

the Fox verify tool. So they're all

10:58

in on that. They're trying this with open AI.

11:01

I think they're trying to find ways that

11:03

this hundred year old publisher, more than a

11:05

hundred year old publisher can remain relevant and

11:07

remain in the zeitgeist. Time actually doesn't have

11:09

a paywall, which is unusual with a

11:11

competitive set. So they're finding different methods

11:14

of monetization. Whether this is the right

11:16

or wrong move, I'm not sure yet,

11:18

but I like what they're doing with

11:21

testing new formats and new methods of

11:23

monetization, verification, scaling out what they have,

11:25

and also brand building. Time's also in

11:27

a really interesting place because they're owned

11:30

by the Benioffs, right? And that's almost

11:32

like a philanthropic kind of an ownership

11:34

in some ways from my outsider's POV,

11:36

Mark and his wife really believing in

11:39

independent journalism and wanting to support that.

11:41

Not every publisher has that luxury. So

11:43

time will tell, but I am watching

11:46

what they're doing with both verify and what

11:48

they're doing with open AI is almost like, they're

11:51

hedging from my POV. And you bring

11:53

up a really great analogy. So

11:55

for anyone who doesn't know MTV basically took all

11:57

of their archive offline. So you can't find an

12:00

any of it anymore, which to me is really

12:02

interesting because it's like MTV charted the rise of

12:04

Guns N' Roses or Eminem, all of these amazing

12:06

stars, and they have so much footage of them

12:08

early in their career that feels like it could

12:10

be valuable for 20 different ways.

12:13

And by taking it away, maybe that actually

12:15

creates more perceptual value. Or is

12:18

it paramount just saying we can't put any more

12:20

resources into this and even hosting it is too

12:22

much for us, like having the website live. But

12:24

it's going to just, you know, be lost probably.

12:26

I mean, who knows, maybe in 10 years, it will be

12:28

refound, it will be discovery, and maybe there's like more

12:31

energy behind it because now it's not just like

12:33

available for anyone to see. But I think those

12:35

are two very different approaches. Well, and I think

12:38

what you hit it is on right

12:40

there is in 10 years, that archive may

12:42

actually become even more valuable because it hasn't been

12:45

seen in this amount of time. And so

12:47

anyone who wants to create the ultimate music catalog

12:49

of video right now might go in and

12:51

actually buy it or license it at

12:53

a price point that might be make it worthwhile

12:55

to hold it and not put it out

12:58

for one to digest. They're doing that, you know,

13:00

their equivalent of like cold storage, like, you know, like

13:02

our friend Jeff Carvalho says, just go put it in

13:04

storage unit, come back in 10 years, maybe that's what

13:06

they're doing. So time will

13:08

tell time will tell time.com.

13:10

All right. So we have a great

13:12

session for you today that we're going

13:14

to show you. This is our friend,

13:16

Lori Keith from ad council. She

13:18

was at consensus with us. She brought

13:21

together Roblox, Niantic, and Walmart to talk

13:23

about the idea of utilizing them, the

13:25

metaverse for social good. So it was

13:28

a really fascinating conversation that brought some

13:30

great business leaders together to sort of

13:32

talk about the idea of utilizing future

13:35

emerging technologies in order to create more good in

13:37

the world, which is really one of the missions

13:40

of the ad council. So after the

13:42

break, we'll come back with the session

13:44

from consensus on doing social good in

13:46

the metaverse. And you bring

13:48

up a really great analogy. So for

13:50

anyone who doesn't know MTV basically took all

13:52

of their archive offline. So

13:54

you can't find it any of it anymore, which to me

13:57

is really interesting because it's like MTV charted

13:59

the rise of guns and Roses or Eminem, all of

14:01

these amazing stars. And they have so much

14:03

footage of them early in their career, that

14:05

feels like it could be valuable for, you

14:07

know, 20 different ways. And by

14:10

taking it away, maybe that actually creates more

14:12

perceptual value. Or is it

14:14

paramount just saying we can't put any more resources

14:16

into this and even hosting it is too much

14:18

for us like having the website live. But

14:20

it's gonna just, you know, be lost probably. I

14:23

mean, who knows, maybe in 10 years, it will

14:25

be refound, it'll be discovery. And maybe there's like

14:27

more, more energy behind it because now it's not

14:29

just like available for anyone to see. But I

14:31

think those are two very different approaches. Well,

14:34

and I think what you hit it is

14:36

on right there is in

14:38

10 years, that archive may actually become even

14:41

more valuable because it hasn't been seen in

14:43

this amount of time. And so anyone who

14:45

wants to create the ultimate music catalog of

14:47

video right now might go in and actually

14:49

buy it or license it at a

14:51

price point that might be make it worthwhile to hold it

14:53

and not put it out for everyone

14:56

to digest. They're doing that, you know, their equivalent of

14:58

like cold storage, like, you know, like our friend Jeff

15:00

Carvalho says, just go put it in storage unit, come

15:02

back in 10 years, maybe that's what they're doing. So

15:05

time will tell. Time

15:07

will tell time.com. All right. So

15:09

we have a great session for

15:11

you today that we're going to

15:13

show you. This is our friend, Lori Keith from ad council.

15:16

She was at consensus with us.

15:18

She brought together roblox, Niantic and

15:20

Walmart to talk about the idea

15:22

of utilizing them the metaverse for

15:25

social good. So it's a really

15:27

fascinating. So it was a really

15:29

fascinating conversation that brought some great business

15:31

leaders together to sort of talk about

15:33

the idea of utilizing future

15:35

emerging technologies in order to create more good

15:37

in the world, which is really one of

15:39

the missions of the ad council.

15:41

So after the break, we will come

15:44

back with the session from consensus on

15:46

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Visit safe.global. All right. So

16:12

we have a few great

16:14

sessions coming up for you. The

16:17

next one is going to focus

16:19

on the idea of brands using

16:21

the metaverse for social good. As

16:24

we go into this spatial world

16:26

we're in, the 3.2 billion gamers

16:29

that are playing games every day all

16:32

across our different social channels, it's

16:35

important that we ensure that we are also

16:37

being good humans while we do it and

16:40

utilizing these emerging spaces to help

16:43

people also connect with each other and

16:45

develop the things that they need from community.

16:49

So we have some amazing folks here.

16:51

We have Walmart, Roblox, Niantic,

16:54

all pioneers in their art, and

16:57

we will be joined by Lori Keith from

16:59

the Ad Council, wonderful partner of ours. So

17:02

welcome, guys. Thank

17:05

you so much for joining us. It's wonderful

17:07

to see everyone. This is my first consensus,

17:09

and it's just I'm

17:11

learning so much. There's so much to see, there's

17:14

so much to learn, and hopefully you walk away

17:16

with some new knowledge after this panel today. For

17:19

those of you that don't know me, Lori Keith,

17:21

I lead emerging media and technology

17:23

at the Ad Council, and if

17:25

you're not familiar with the Ad

17:27

Council, we're a leading nonprofit, nonpartisan

17:29

organization that has been creating social

17:31

impact campaigns in the U.S. for

17:33

80 years. Shout

17:36

out to Smokey Bear, that's our oldest campaign, you've probably

17:38

heard of that one. We

17:40

convene the best storytellers and

17:42

leaders across media, marketing, advertising,

17:44

and technology communities to create

17:47

impactful campaigns that educate, unite,

17:49

and uplift. Because of

17:51

our longstanding and trusting history, we've been able to

17:53

convene a network of partners

17:55

from government agencies to nonprofit

17:57

partners, the creative sector. to

18:00

create innovative, life-changing campaigns that

18:02

remain relevant, authentic, and impactful.

18:06

Our goal, since

18:08

we were founded in 1942, has

18:11

always been to address the most

18:13

pressing issues in our society. Today,

18:15

we're focused on gun violence

18:18

prevention, the overdose crisis, mental

18:20

health, hate and bias, and

18:22

many more. My

18:24

role within the org is to

18:26

grow ad counsels, brand reach, relevance,

18:28

and credibility within the emerging

18:30

media and tech sectors. Our

18:32

focus areas are artificial intelligence,

18:34

of course, immersive experiences, and

18:37

Web 3, which is

18:39

why myself and the ad council have such

18:41

a vested interest in being here today and

18:44

very excited about our conversation. So

18:47

I am joined by a distinguished panel

18:49

of visionaries and pioneers as it relates

18:51

to the world of immersive technology and

18:53

how this technology can be harnessed as

18:55

a force for good. We

18:58

have Winnie Burke, who's joined Remote,

19:01

the Global Group Director, Fashion and Retail

19:03

at Roblox. We have Adam

19:05

Schlechter, the Head of Marketing at Niantic,

19:08

and Justin Brayton, the Director of

19:10

Brand Experiences and Strategic Partnerships at

19:12

Walmart. So a very distinguished panel.

19:15

Let's dive in. So to

19:18

set the stage, I wanted to start with

19:20

a question for all of you, because I

19:22

think you all will have a unique, maybe

19:25

similar, maybe a lot different

19:27

response to this question, but when

19:30

you think about immersive technologies, especially

19:33

as you think about social impact,

19:36

delivering real world impact that's

19:39

creating a positive society, how

19:42

do you feel like your company,

19:44

and specifically to your role within

19:46

your company, is viewing immersive technology

19:48

as a force for good? Whoever

19:51

wants to take that first. Sure.

19:56

So at Niantic, our mission

19:59

literally is... to get people outside

20:01

exploring the world together. And

20:04

using technology as a way of doing that. So

20:07

if you've ever played a game called Pokemon

20:09

Go, you know that? Yeah,

20:11

okay, just check. So everyone knows Pokemon

20:13

Go, everyone knows Niantic. That was our

20:15

number one biggest hit from

20:17

about eight years ago at this point. It

20:20

gets millions and millions of people every

20:22

single day outside exploring their neighborhoods, exploring

20:24

their communities, connecting with people, connecting with

20:26

the world around them, and

20:28

not just playing a game, but walking. Physical

20:31

movement, social connectivity, mental

20:34

exercise. We have people spending

20:37

billions of minutes walking billions of

20:39

kilometers, and we found

20:41

that it's been a great force for

20:43

social good through the connections that people

20:46

make. So if we can

20:48

use technology and immersive media to help

20:50

build and foster community, but also help

20:52

people discover new things, that

20:56

alone could be a force of change in the

20:58

world. It's like getting people outside, which is

21:00

not always the first thing you think of, what

21:02

do you think of technology? No, but we would

21:04

like to think it should be. What

21:07

about you, Justin? Yeah, thank you

21:09

for having me, first and foremost. Excited to

21:11

be here. You know, I think we're using

21:13

emerging platforms and new technologies. You said community,

21:16

and that is such an important theme

21:19

in how we approach emerging platforms and

21:21

leveraging new technologies to engage with our

21:23

customers. We last year launched

21:25

an experience on Spatial called the Cultureverse,

21:28

where we used it to actually

21:30

give people of color the opportunity

21:32

to actually express themselves and showcase

21:34

their creative expertise in

21:36

a medium that is new and

21:38

is of a time where we

21:41

can actually encourage inclusivity. And so

21:43

it was a great experience in

21:45

terms of giving this community a

21:47

platform to share their expertise, showcase

21:50

their artistic capabilities, and we learned a

21:52

lot through that. And so really the community angle

21:54

is one that we lean into heavily with

21:56

all that we do, be it the Cultureverse

21:58

on Spatial, Walmart discovered on Roblox. which will be

22:00

a great segue for Winnie to answer next, or

22:03

with Walmart Realm, which is an immersive commerce experience

22:05

be launched this week. Yes, congrats on

22:07

that. I want you to talk more about that. Winnie

22:10

would love, as one of the biggest

22:13

immersive platforms right now, would love to

22:15

hear your answer to that question. Yeah,

22:17

thank you. Well,

22:19

generally speaking, the premise of Roblox

22:21

is really around building technology that

22:24

enables these immersive 3D content creation

22:27

and connection among users. So I

22:29

think like the social currency is

22:31

something that is really important. This

22:33

is not singular gameplay and singular

22:35

experience enjoyment, but it really is

22:37

about connecting with your peers and

22:39

these really immersive environments. And

22:41

our community, including brands, are creating

22:43

everything from traditional games to social

22:46

role-playing experiences and anything that is

22:48

really important to them. And this

22:50

obviously includes social causes. So

22:52

this expansion of content recruiters can

22:54

create anything around what's

22:57

important to them and anything that's resonating to them or

22:59

anything that they want to talk more about. As

23:01

an open ecosystem that allows anyone to

23:04

be a creator, I think

23:06

the introduction of AI is really

23:08

going to help creators accelerate their

23:10

process and also bring more parity to

23:12

creators around the world, regardless

23:15

of their socioeconomic status

23:17

and also access to any education that they may

23:19

or may not be receiving. So AI is going

23:21

to really help accelerate that, which I think is

23:23

really important to us because you don't

23:26

have to necessarily have the background and the education,

23:28

but if you have access and you will be

23:30

able to kind of create whatever is on your

23:32

mind and topical for you

23:34

and enjoy that with your friends around the world. And

23:37

on that topic of branded experiences, because

23:39

I think that's why

23:42

we're all here. And I think a lot of us

23:44

represent brands in the room. Can

23:46

you talk through, you oversee fashion and

23:48

retail. And when you think about virtual

23:51

experiences, it does feel like that sector

23:53

has really transformed with virtual

23:55

experiences and platforms like Roblox. Can

23:58

you maybe share an example? talk

24:00

through how fashion brands are

24:03

building experiences on roblox, not only

24:05

to benefit their brand, and of

24:07

course there's the e-commerce angle, how

24:10

are they creating a positive society? How are they

24:12

creating positive communities for the people that are visiting

24:14

those experiences? Yeah, that's,

24:17

it's a great question. I think it's probably

24:19

more prevalent than many

24:21

people imagine because the

24:23

ethos of a brand

24:26

and what's important to them is in the physical

24:28

world, as important to them as it is in

24:30

the digital world. And so they want to portray

24:32

themselves authentically and what

24:34

they stand for. With

24:36

our audience, we have 77 million, almost

24:39

78 million daily active users on our

24:41

platform, a lot of them squarely

24:43

in Gen Z. So it's a really impressionable age group

24:45

that a lot of marketers are trying

24:47

to reach. Sustainability

24:49

is a massive

24:51

issue and topic in the

24:53

industry, in the fashion space.

24:56

And we've had a number of brands kind

24:58

of tap into that. H&M has an experience

25:01

on roblox called Lutopia, which is about promoting

25:03

fashion circularities, so bringing attention to reducing

25:05

waste in the fashion design process and maximizing

25:07

the lifespan of clothing and textiles. So

25:09

I think that's a really great example of

25:11

like them bringing to the forefront of

25:13

something that they stand for in the physical

25:16

world. And they wanted to make sure that

25:18

that was communicated and transcended into their digital

25:20

experience. Another one of my

25:22

favorite experiences, which has been on the platform

25:24

for many years, is the Aloe Sanctuary,

25:27

which is from Aloe Yoga. It's

25:30

a beautiful and really peaceful space. So

25:32

as you're enjoying your experiences on roblox,

25:34

if you want to take a

25:37

minute and kind of have like a zen moment, you

25:39

can go into the Aloe Sanctuary and you can actually

25:41

do a yoga session led by one of their yogis

25:44

or do a meditation session. And

25:46

we've had a lot of first time

25:49

meditators that have been experiencing the Aloe

25:51

Sanctuary meditation session. So this is like

25:53

one of those examples where it's not

25:55

just about commerce and about transaction, but

25:57

really about helping and trying to make

25:59

a difference. with the target

26:01

customer. I love that. And

26:03

that really speaks to me at the Ad Council

26:05

because we know that youth in America are struggling

26:07

with their mental health. So the fact

26:09

that Aloe was able to create a sanctuary, a

26:11

space for people to go, and that you're seeing

26:13

people meditate for the first time, that's just music

26:16

to my ears. I love that. So

26:19

switching gears to augmented reality, because I

26:21

think a lot of people think augmented

26:23

reality when they think of Niantic and

26:25

8th Wall, which is owned by

26:27

Niantic. We actually

26:30

at the Ad Council just launched

26:32

our first web-based augmented reality experience

26:34

for Feeding America, which

26:36

essentially took our marketing campaign that's

26:38

live in the market, brought it

26:40

to life through an immersive experience.

26:43

Users can kind of tap through different items in

26:45

a fridge to learn about the complex issue of

26:47

hunger. And the goal for us is that, through

26:50

this immersive experience, they're gonna spend more time,

26:52

they're gonna engage more with the issue. And

26:55

for us, it's an additional lever to

26:57

our overall marketing mix. And we used

26:59

Niantic to do it. And

27:01

for us, it's the interoperability, it

27:04

can be experienced across any device.

27:06

So I would love you, Adam,

27:08

if you can share Niantic's vision

27:10

for making this accessible to

27:13

not only nonprofits, but

27:16

just like everyday creators that wanna come

27:18

and create for augmented reality. Yeah,

27:20

I mean, it started

27:23

probably about seven years ago where we had people

27:25

coming to us because of the success of

27:27

Pokemon Go to find a way

27:29

to leverage the technology to create their own games or

27:32

their own interactive experiences. And

27:35

while we are not in the business of

27:37

producing third-party games, we found

27:39

a way to both productize a lot of

27:41

the core technology and create a

27:43

platform that we can license out to the world. At

27:46

first, game developers and hardcore

27:49

Unity developers, but through the acquisition and

27:51

integration of 8th wall, which is a

27:53

web-based platform, not an app-based platform, it

27:56

sort of democratize the ability and

27:58

opportunity for people to create. much

28:00

more easily with less

28:03

coding, with more visual

28:05

editing, better tooling, and

28:07

accessibility to literally billions

28:09

of connected devices around the world. So you

28:11

don't need to download an app. All you

28:13

need to do is scan a QR code,

28:15

scan an image target, be

28:18

in proximity to a certain location

28:20

or a certain instance that could open up a

28:22

portal of information, of entertainment,

28:25

of interactivity, to really immerse yourself

28:28

in the story or

28:30

message or ethos of a brand, of

28:33

a store, of an event, of an

28:35

artist. So the more that we can

28:37

make that stuff accessible,

28:40

make it real, make it easy to use, and

28:43

frankly, make it scaled in every

28:45

market, the more that people can not

28:47

just experience these things, but they can create them on

28:50

their own. We think that's the big unlock

28:52

for what AR represents looking ahead.

28:55

It does feel like this next-gen consumer

28:58

that I think I was reading prepping for this panel.

29:00

It's like 2 billion people by the end of 2024

29:03

will have experience with a mobile

29:05

AR activation. So

29:08

for me, it's like brands and

29:11

nonprofits and anyone that has a

29:13

consumer base, think about augmented reality

29:15

as just an additional layer to

29:18

create an engaging experience for your audience.

29:20

I mean, we like to think about it as

29:22

augmented marketing. Yes. Every canvas

29:25

is available to you to bring

29:27

to life in a new and more immersive way and

29:31

unlock a whole new layer of creativity. So why

29:33

not? Yes. Justin, I just

29:35

wait for every LinkedIn post because

29:37

you're just leading the industry with

29:40

innovation. And you just

29:42

launched Walmart Realm. Congratulations. You've

29:45

had your Walmart discovered world on

29:47

Roblox. You just mentioned the Cultureverse

29:49

partnership. You

29:51

all are doing a lot in the immersive technology

29:54

space and really leading the pack. Would

29:56

love for you to talk about

29:58

Walmart's approach, strategy, why are you

30:01

investing so many resources here? I

30:03

think that would be great to learn. Yeah, of course. Yeah, we

30:05

kind of talk about it in two lanes. One

30:10

is like, how do you meet customers where they

30:12

are online? And one of those platforms

30:14

where they are online is Roblox. And

30:16

so we created a utility. So

30:18

we kind of like did

30:20

it a little bit differently, took a risk

30:22

with that risk paid off. We created the

30:24

first ever brand-based utility on the platform that's

30:27

all about discovery. So the same way

30:29

that Walmart, be it the physical store

30:31

in your neighborhood, or walmart.com or the

30:33

Walmart app has everything, we also have

30:35

your thing. And that is how

30:37

we manifested Walmart on the Roblox platform. So

30:40

Walmart discovered on Roblox has your

30:42

thing for that community. So it's all

30:44

about finding your thing. So you come

30:46

into Walmart discovered, and you find UGC

30:48

or virtual items that are trending or

30:50

new, or you find up and coming

30:52

experiences that are indie and trending. And

30:54

really, it's all about creating an experience

30:56

for people that they want to come

30:58

back to. That feels as though

31:01

they're being a part of a community-based

31:03

experience. You talked about community and that first

31:06

question that you had asked me about. And so

31:08

meeting customers they are online is very much,

31:10

I think, a big piece of our

31:12

strategy. But another piece of our strategy

31:14

is creating an owned and operated experience

31:16

that teases out this idea of immersive

31:18

commerce that goes beyond what's possible in

31:20

the real world. And so we launched

31:22

Walmart Realm a week ago, which

31:24

you can all go to at walmartrealm.com. I

31:26

will, of course, do a shameless plug so

31:29

you can all experience it later today. But

31:32

it's an immersive commerce experience that

31:34

brings to life social trends, that

31:36

is curated by creators. So really

31:38

leaning into this notion of shortening

31:41

the distance between inspiration and commerce.

31:43

And so you've got meeting them where they are

31:46

online, and then you've got using this lens of

31:48

inspiration to drive commerce. And so it's

31:50

two paths forward, but both get us

31:53

closer to getting the community

31:55

to be a part of what we're building and feeling as

31:57

though they're the ones that are helping tell that story.

32:00

by and for the community with Walmart Realm

32:02

curated by creators. And it's just

32:04

two different ways in, but collectively feel like they're

32:06

helping us test and learn as

32:08

we go and embrace again emerging platforms and

32:10

new technologies. I love that,

32:13

you know, going back to the social good angle of

32:15

that, it's like instead of Walmart

32:17

as a brand saying this is what we

32:19

want you to buy or this is what

32:22

we want you to experience, you're tapping creators.

32:24

You're shining a light on what's

32:26

really important to them. And for me I feel

32:28

like, you know, I don't know, I don't know

32:30

if all brands are thinking that way and I

32:32

think that that's really a special way to tap

32:34

your community. I mean if we

32:37

spark inspiration with other brands I think it's a win.

32:40

I think it's definitely a win. So speaking

32:42

of creators, Winnie you touched on this

32:44

a little bit. You

32:46

know, you have a platform that

32:48

it has a thriving, you know,

32:51

commerce economy. You have your

32:53

own digital currency, Robux, allowing

32:56

users to buy, sell, create, you

32:58

know, on the platform. I think it's for a small

33:00

fee, but anyone that

33:03

pays the small fee can do that. How

33:06

are you thinking about kind of the future of commerce

33:08

and you know, obviously

33:10

we're at a Web3 conference and just

33:13

the ethos, it's very similar to the

33:15

ethos of Web3. You know,

33:17

creators really being able to own and

33:19

create their own virtual items. How

33:22

are you thinking about the future of this on the

33:24

Roblox platform? Yeah,

33:27

I think there's some really notable things that

33:29

we're doing currently and I think, you know,

33:31

to Justin's point and really kind of the

33:33

premise of our platform is it really is

33:35

about the creators and about our community. So

33:39

we're really kind of like doing a lot of listening. We

33:41

are always doing a lot of listening. We're a company that's almost

33:43

20 years old and you know, we really

33:46

are creating products that have utility for them. What

33:49

we've heard for years and years from

33:51

our community is that they want more

33:53

access to creation. They really want to

33:55

own the narrative about creating the

33:58

items and the experiences that are meaningful. to

34:00

them. So we're enabling that through the

34:02

creation of the tools and the technology,

34:05

but we're enabling them and opening up

34:07

our marketplace to a broader creator community

34:09

to publish and sell digital items. So

34:12

that means like more opportunity for creators to

34:15

kind of publish and get their items in

34:17

front of our vast community. Ultimately,

34:19

this is starting to become a testing

34:22

ground for e-commerce, where

34:24

our community will have this opportunity kind

34:26

of go full funnel, not just about

34:28

brand awareness, but really about

34:30

getting to the path of purchase. And

34:33

I think this is also really important and kind of

34:36

going back to the sustainability topic, which

34:38

I love Justin, I'm going to paraphrase you, but

34:40

I think it was inspiration

34:42

to creation. When

34:45

you think about, and I might have botched that, but close

34:47

enough maybe, if you think

34:49

about that, like a

34:52

platform like Roblox is an ecosystem

34:54

for R&D, you can

34:56

really kind of cut that process,

34:59

which ultimately is going to lead to a more sustainable future.

35:01

I think that's really important.

35:03

It's important to Gen Z, to this

35:05

sort of audience and this demographic. It's

35:07

important to brands. It's important to the

35:10

community. It's a lot

35:12

less expensive to create a digital item than it

35:14

is to create a physical item. And when you're

35:16

creating stuff that is inspired by the community, by

35:18

the people who you're actually hoping

35:20

to buy for, you can do

35:22

that R&D on Roblox or any

35:24

other immersive platform and ultimately find

35:26

that physical product, but just

35:28

less waste. I love that. So

35:31

they essentially can launch all these

35:33

digital virtual items and the ones that are getting

35:36

the most traction, they can say, hey, let's

35:38

turn this into a physical item. So smart.

35:42

All right. So I want to

35:44

also talk about the future. What are we seeing? This

35:46

term, Metaverse,

35:52

of course, we all know it came

35:54

on the scene a couple years ago and Meta changed their

35:56

name to MedX. But it's a very interesting thing. I think

35:59

it's a very interesting thing. It's been around for

36:01

a really long time, this whole, you know, browsing

36:04

experience where you use your keyboard and mouse to

36:07

kind of move through a space. What

36:09

do you all think is the future of

36:11

this technology? Is it that we're all going

36:13

to be in Vision Pros? Is it going

36:16

to continue to be a 2D experience with

36:18

our computers? What are your, what's your take

36:20

on all this? It's

36:23

not going to be Vision Pro, but it's going to

36:25

be something that looks more like this. It's

36:27

going to be something that connects to

36:29

other peripherals, other wearables, other connected

36:32

devices. And it's going

36:34

to give you information. It's going to give you access.

36:37

It's going to help you unlock experiences,

36:39

maybe not fully immerse you in something.

36:42

You could put on a pair of VR goggles to

36:44

do that, but you can't walk around outside or in

36:46

a Walmart or, you know, even

36:49

access. Well, I guess you can

36:51

access Roblox through VR, but would that

36:53

be how you want to consume that content

36:55

or those experiences? Probably not

36:57

every day and probably not every minute or

37:00

every waking hour of every day. So the

37:02

utility that a lot of these devices are going

37:04

to give is probably going to dictate what the experience

37:06

could or should be. But it

37:08

doesn't mean that it's got to be a constant.

37:10

Like, I don't think this

37:12

became a constant on our wrist for

37:15

quite some time, probably the fifth generation.

37:18

And even then, you still don't see

37:20

it as ubiquitously as you see phones. And

37:22

phones aren't going anywhere anytime soon. And they

37:24

are probably still the biggest unlock to all

37:26

of these worlds, all these experiences. But eventually

37:29

we'll go from being eyes down to being

37:31

eyes up, and that will allow you

37:33

to be fully immersed in the real world rather

37:36

than just in digital worlds. And I think the

37:38

blending of the two is really what we're hoping

37:41

to see. I like

37:44

that you referenced your watch and

37:47

said like the fifth. We often say

37:49

at Walmart among my team, like nobody

37:51

ever talks about the first iPhone. People

37:53

are always talking about the next iPhone. What

37:55

is the next iPhone's camera going to be? What is

37:57

the next iPhone technology going to be? Or this. if

38:00

you happen to have a Samsung device, we sell both at Walmart,

38:02

so I want to make it very clear that

38:05

we are an equal opportunist of devices. But

38:07

I think you're right. Like, you know, no one's gonna

38:09

be talking about the first Apple Vision Pro in five

38:12

or 10 years. And the fifth

38:14

generation watch probably took longer than the

38:16

fifth generation Apple Vision Pro

38:18

we'll get here. And so as

38:20

we think about emerging platforms and

38:22

new technologies and what we're building

38:24

for the Walmart customer, while our

38:27

intentions are always around accessibility, so

38:29

with Walmart Realm, it is a browser-based

38:31

experience, but it

38:33

is intentionally built so

38:35

that when the adoption rate of wearables

38:38

increases, we have tested and learned for

38:40

not a year, but for two years

38:42

or maybe three years, and

38:44

we've got a destination that people

38:46

can go into that is intentionally

38:48

shortening that distance between inspiration and commerce,

38:50

or inspiration and creation, as many said,

38:53

both work. And so how do we

38:55

just make sure that whatever we're doing

38:58

is thinking about the now, but it's also thinking

39:01

about the future. And so I think that, yeah,

39:03

I think that there's gonna be very

39:05

rapid advancements in devices

39:08

that we're using, some of which we probably don't

39:10

even know about today. You

39:13

know, I think if you think about AI a year ago,

39:15

it's obviously very different than where it is today. And

39:17

so I think it's gonna be fun to

39:20

watch the industry change and evolve. And it's

39:22

awesome to be here with all of you

39:24

today, who I think are some of the

39:27

people that are gonna help lead that change.

39:29

And so, yeah, I'm excited about what's to come,

39:31

because I think it's gonna change. Yeah.

39:35

I love your approach in that you're

39:37

creating it for like today's consumer and

39:39

today's behavior, but you're designing it in

39:41

a way that when, you know,

39:43

you're gonna just continue to innovate and you're already

39:46

testing. So I love that. What

39:48

about you, Winnie? I mean, what

39:50

do you think the next five to 10 years look like

39:52

when it comes to immersive tech? Yeah,

39:55

I mean, it's so interesting. I

39:57

think we're in such an interesting space, but I would

39:59

have... said that five and 10 years

40:01

ago as well. So I think

40:04

we're living the future every day and it's

40:06

not like the future is the future, the

40:08

future is now, but it's also the future.

40:10

I've been with Roblox for

40:12

nine years and a lot of people

40:15

say, well, wow, you must know so

40:17

much. And I really believe that

40:19

I almost know nothing because it doesn't matter what

40:21

happened in the past, it only matters what's happening

40:23

in the future and how well we're preparing for

40:26

that. And some of

40:28

the ways that we're doing that are really, I

40:31

guess, really leaning into the creator community and listening

40:33

to what they want and how they want us

40:35

to evolve the platform and building the

40:38

technology that will support that. Ultimately,

40:41

for it to be a full funnel destination

40:43

where you can do anything on Roblox that

40:45

you can do in the real world, but

40:48

perhaps you can do it better or

40:50

more immersively and with your friends in

40:53

Roblox. So making it

40:55

a more enjoyable experience all around, not to

40:57

replace the real world. We think that's really

40:59

important as well. And going to the Alice

41:01

Sanctuary to get a moment for yourself and

41:03

have a meditation session and when you've had

41:05

too much, but I think it's future looking

41:07

is really anything that you can imagine. And

41:09

we're in the process of

41:12

building all that today, which I can't announce everything,

41:14

but super exciting.

41:16

Yes, I always say

41:18

that when people say they're an expert in

41:20

emerging media and technology. I'm like, I always

41:23

kind of don't really believe

41:25

that because we're all learning. It's happening so

41:27

fast. So well, listen,

41:29

I really appreciate your time today.

41:31

All of you, you know, really

41:33

come from different areas of the

41:35

industry and brought some really fresh

41:37

perspectives. So thank you so much

41:39

for your time. And yeah, hopefully

41:41

you guys learn something.