Marc Mathieu, Salesforce: “Web3 is a new source of data to include in your CRM approach

Marc Mathieu, co-founder of the Web3 Studio of Salesforce, during NFT Paris 2023 – © RoyalsBlue.com

In 2023, Salesforce pursues the pilot of NFT Cloudhis first foray into the Web3with the ambition to involve more and morecompanies in this revolutionas explained by Marc Mathieuco-founder of the American firm’s Web3 studio, in RoyalsBlue.com in a exclusive interview.

Former marketing director of Danone and Samsung and vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola and Unilever, Marc Mathieu co-founded in January 2022 the Web3 Studio from Salesforcethe world leader in CRM (Customer Relationship Management), with the ambition to explore the potential of the Web3 in terms of marketing. A strategy that came to fruition in June 2022 with the launch of NFT Cloud, a feature that allows companies to create NFTto market them and then activate their owner, directly via the platform Salesforce Customer 360.

With the reduction of third-party data, and today’s focus on first and zero party, it’s important to analyze data from the blockchain to find new ways to interact with their customers. NFTs allow you to connect with them without having to know their identity, their email address or their phone number,” tells Coins.co.uk the co-founder of Salesforce’s Web3 Studio.

NFT Cloud remains to this day at the stage of pilot confides to us Marc Mathieu in the margin of his intervention at the NFT Paris exhibition, but the Web3 remains at the heart of the company’s innovation strategy Salesforce needs to get on board, because we don’t think it’s just a matter of launching a Web3-dedicated CRM, but of anticipating the future of CRM,” says Marc Mathieu, who has seen the development of many solutions dedicated to Web3 marketingsome of which were present at the event, but few of which are still “capable of accompanying companies on large-scale developments, by linking Web3 to their existing ecosystem of tools”.

A support that Salesforce refines by collaborating with brands from various sectors, both in the watchmaking industry with H.Moser & Cieand in fashion with Scotch & Sodaor the toy with Mattel.

The Web3, a cultural revolution?

Engaging new generations, offering gamified experiences, turning loyal customers into ambassadors and innovating with them in co-creation communities… If the Web3 technologies are popular with the professionals of the marketingis that they allow to answer many current problems of the sector.

“The reappropriation of their data by customers paves the way for a more horizontal relationship between customers and brands. For this relationship to be healthy, it must be reciprocal. The NFT are a good way for the brand to rewarding its customers the most loyal customers and unite them by giving them access to products, services or experiences that can strengthen this bond. The customer is no longer just a consumer, but also a contributor to and beneficiary of the brand,” says the executive, who cites the way Web3 projects address intellectual property as the main revolution.

Bored Ape Yacht Club has permanently changed the way a brand is conceived, which in this case belongs to all the owners of the NFT collection, who work collectively to develop the brand. We are entering a new marketing era, where the brand supports the aspirations of its community, and the community supports the brand.”

An approach that resonates particularly with technophiles and younger people according to him.

“Beyond the technical aspect of blockchain, we must take into consideration its cultural impact We are entering a decentralized era, where intermediaries are being bypassed in order to give power back to the end users. This is what the new generations are looking for, but also those who, like me, want to see the founding ideals of the Web revived,” says Marc Mathieu.

An enthusiasm he shares with the members of the Web Advisory Board3 set up by Salesforce, and which brings together, among others, Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, Ian Rogers, Chief Experience Officer of Ledger, or Aaron Rajan, Vice President Digital Technologies of Unilever: “We didn’t want to have a board to steer our roadmap, but also to bring together a number of players, experts in blockchain, brands or new societal and environmental expectations in order to think together about how to develop Web3 for the benefit of the greatest number of people,” he says.

The bear market, ideal for innovation

A mass adoption which is still far from being effective, but which paradoxically benefits from the bear market “In times of speculation, those who build the foundations of this new ecosystem have their work parasitized by those who are only there to make a short term move. The current situation is a necessary step, and the low prices and relative calm of the market is conducive to experimentation. We are at a pivotal point in adoption, which was evident at the last SuperBowl : this year, no one was trying to create buzz like in 2022, but several brands subtly integrated NFTs into their device. Speculation is not the added value of Web3. Moreover, we see free collections multiplying today, because the true value lies in the utility. I’m watching with interest as Starbucks rolls out Odyssey, its new blockchain-based loyalty program, because it has the potential to bring millions of people into the Web3.”

GenZ will account for nearly 40% of consumer power in a few years, so brands need to master Web3, but also generative AI, AR and VR, and all these new things that are natural to these new generations if they want to engage them!” the veteran concluded.

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