Digital Meet | the Metaverse for the wine industry

Digital Meet on the Hills| the Metaverse for the wine industry

may 26th 2023

Digital Meet is the largest Italian festival dedicated to digital technologies. We have often collaborated with the company to promote digital culture in our region, and this year we do so as the festival’s technology partner.

In recent times, innovative technologies have exploded, and at Uqido we have been working with them for a long time. We felt it was essential to seize the opportunity to share these technologies with the general public, companies, and investors.

So at the end of May, we went to Pieve di Soligo, in the heart of the Prosecco hills, to suggest to local stakeholders the use of the Metaverse to enhance their territory.

Metaverse | Why It’s Not Just Hype

Despite a year having passed since the launch of Meta – the new Facebook company – there is still a lot of skepticism surrounding the Metaverse. But this skepticism is unwarranted and stems from a partial understanding of the technology and its potential.

The Metaverse – or rather, the Metaverses – is nothing more than a vast 3D website, and as such, it becomes a showcase for anyone who wishes to use it. Also, it plays a fundamental role in the current historical moment since we live in an Experience Economy, where the most consumed product is the experience.

The Metaverse answer to this demand as it is a virtual space where users can have experiences, accessing it from smartphones, computers, or even through virtual reality headsets (in Metaverses that support it).

The Metaverse is nothing more than an additional channel that companies and brands have at their disposal to offer content and activities to their audience, providing them with unique experiences. However, its true power blows up when the virtual and the real interlace, meaning when experiences connect the Metaverse to reality.

The Metaverse for the Wine Industry

At Digital Meet on the Hills, we proposed an example applied to italian Prosecco and wine trade. We moved from this statement: an experience is successful if it makes users engage whit Metaverse, with the promise of obtaining tangible benefits in the real world.

There are several ways to achieve this:

  • Including QR codes on wine bottles, through which consumers can log into the Metaverse and collect their virtual wine cellar in a dedicated area. As a reward, users gain access to exclusive events organized at Vinitaly;
  • Allowing users answer questions in the Metaverse based on information provided at a private physical event, in order to unlock discounts or additional opportunities in the real world.

The Metaverse works when integrated into a circular business strategy that bridges the gap between the real and the virtual world. It is successful when it functions as one of the company’s touchpoints to drive conversion, designed as part of a user experience aligned with its business objectives.