Future+ Fridays | Issue30

1. Snapchat's 2024 updates: new AR glasses, AI features, and marketing opportunities

What's happening: Earlier this week, at its 2024 Partner Summit, Snapchat unveiled a series of updates, including new features for its app, the next generation of Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, and tools designed to boost engagement and brand partnerships. These developments aim to solidify Snapchat’s position within the social media and AR spaces. With a current user base of around 800 million monthly users, Snapchat continues to prove its value to marketers and brands alike. Here are some of the highlights.

TLDR:

• A redesigned app interface simplifies engagement, with more AI-powered recommendations to boost user interaction and for creators to reach a wider audience.

• Young creators can now create public profiles while keeping a private one, and access improved tools, like ‘Snap Star Collab Studio’, for brand partnerships and better audience engagement.

• Snap's updated the Lens Studio with new AR creation tools including ‘Easy Lens,’ allowing users to create AR content through text prompts, democratising AR and VR content creation to a wider audience.

• The ‘My AI chatbot’ gets new object recognition and translation features for more practical use cases.

• Fifth-generation Spectacles have a more immersive display, but as of now, they are only available to AR creators, who needs to apply for it, for $99/month through a rental program, aimed at inspiring more development in the AR space and pushing creators to develop the ‘future’.

• Following Snap’s focus on long-term AR growth, Meta is pursuing a similar trajectory having just extended its partnership with Ray-Ban for the AR glasses..

Why it matters: Snapchat's updates enhance the user experience while also positioning the platform as a key player in marketing and AR innovation. The new AI features, public profiles, and creator tools could attract younger users and creators, while helping brands expand their reach through influencer partnerships. Meanwhile, the next-gen Spectacles, though limited to select creators, highlight Snap’s commitment to AR technology and its efforts to foster a community of developers who will shape the platform’s future. Although it may take years for these AR glasses to go mainstream, Snapchat is laying the foundation to lead in immersive social experiences.

2. Nike’s .SWOOSH shifts focus from NFTs to gaming

What’s happening: Nike’s .SWOOSH platform is shifting focus from NFTs to gaming, emphasising in-game wearables and partnerships with gaming companies. Starting today, .SWOOSH owners can transfer tokens as Nike will no longer release new NFT collections.

TLDR:

• Nike has announced it would end its NFT collection releases (at least for now), shifting .SWOOSH towards gaming,

• Over 370K .SWOOSH IDs have originally been minted since the start of the platform in November 2022.

• Back in January, it announced the token could transferred for .SWOOSH owners from now on to their self custodial wallet.

• New experiences and products will focus on in-game wearables, starting with a TEKKEN 8 tournament in Atlanta.

• Existing .SWOOSH owners will still have special access to experiences and products in 2025.

• Social media comments have shown widespread disappointment from some .SWOOSH users over this new direction.

Why it matters: Nike’s decision to pivot from NFTs to gaming marks a strategic shift, focusing on the rising influence of gaming in the digital fashion space. With gaming increasingly becoming a hub for digital engagement—where millions of players buy in-game outfits and care about avatar customisation—Nike is aiming to strengthen its presence in this space. This change reflects a broader industry trend where brands are exploring how to deepen their impact in gaming, rather than relying solely on NFTs, to keep pace with evolving consumer interests.

3. Charles & Keith Partners with DRESSX for exclusive digital fashion collection on Roblox

What's happening: The Singaporean fashion label, Charles & Keith has teamed up with the digital fashion company, DRESSX to release a digital summer fashion collection on Roblox, featuring virtual footwear and accessories.

TLDR:

• Charles & Keith has launched its ‘Summer’s Calling’ collection on Roblox in collaboration with DRESSX - purchase and preview here.

• The collection includes 5 digital pairs of shoes and 5 handbags, all designed to reflect the brand's summer aesthetic.

• The items from the collection are crafted to suit a wide range of virtual outfits, offering users more flexibility in styling their avatars.

• This marks Charles & Keith’s first venture into the digital fashion space, further expanding its brand reach.

• DRESSX, a leader in digital fashion, sees this as a key moment in its mission to blend fashion with technology.

• The collection is available on Roblox for a limited time, giving users a unique opportunity to purchase and style their avatars with exclusive virtual fashion items.

Why it matters: As the lines between physical and digital worlds continue to blur, collaborations keep demonstrating the growing influence virtual spaces in everyday life. For brands, digital fashion offers innovative ways to engage with audiences, particularly younger consumers who are active in spaces like Roblox. It also opens up new revenue streams for traditional fashion brands while pushing the boundaries of creativity by allowing users to experiment with styles in virtual environments.

4. Coach and Poshmark partner to enable Instant resale using digital IDs

What's happening: Coach has partnered with secondhand online marketplace, Poshmark to offer instant resale for Coachtopia products using digital identities powered by EON.

TLDR:

• Coachtopia items (leather goods, clothing, shoes) can now be automatically uploaded to Poshmark with product details, images, and descriptions for resale.

• EON’s technology powers these digital IDs, integrating resale platforms like Vestiaire Collective, The RealReal, and now Poshmark, making resale easier for customers.

• Since 2023, Coachtopia products include Digital Product Passports (DPP) via an EON NFC chip that links to product history, ownership, and details for easier resale and authentication.

• Once a Coachtopia item is sold on Poshmark, the digital ID transfers ownership to the new buyer, deregistering the previous owner’s profile.

• This tech offers brands data on consumer behaviour and resale patterns, helping Coach understand the secondary market.

• Coach plans to expand this ‘instant resale’ feature to all its products, aligning with EU regulations that will require all fashion items to have DPPs by 2027.

• EON is not the only leading company in the DPP space. Aura Blockchain Consortium and Arianee are also prominent players, with Aura recently reaching a significant milestone of 50 million products using DPP technology.

Why it matters: Coach's embrace of digital identities and instant resale is a major step towards a more sustainable luxury fashion industry. By simplifying the resale process and providing authentications, Coach is not only empowering customers but also fostering trust in the secondhand market. This technology offers valuable insights into consumer behaviour, attracting new users to secondhand platforms. As digital product passports become a European standard in the coming years, we anticipate these innovations will significantly reshape the future of fashion retail, promoting a circular economy and reducing waste.

5. YouTube introduces AI-Powered video generation with DeepMind’s Veo for shorts

What's happening: YouTube announced on Wednesday that it is integrating Google DeepMind’s AI video generation model, Veo, into YouTube Shorts, offering creators new tools to generate six-second clips and high-quality backgrounds.

TLDR:

• YouTube is integrating Google DeepMind’s Veo model into YouTube Shorts for enhanced video generation.

• Creators can now generate both high-quality backgrounds and standalone six-second clips using AI.

• Veo improves YouTube’s Dream Screen feature (launched in 2023) by allowing remixing and editing of previously generated footage.

• Creations will be watermarked with DeepMind’s SynthID to indicate AI-generated content.

• YouTube is rolling out new interactive features for creators, including "Jewels" and "Gifts" during live streams, similar to TikTok’s Gifts (first kicking off in the US).

• It is also expanding the automatic dubbing tool to support French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

• YouTube is also adding AI tools to help creators brainstorm ideas and be a ‘brainstorming buddy’, generate AI-powered thumbnails, and assist with responding to comments within YouTube Studio.

Why it matters: The integration of Veo into YouTube Shorts enhances creators' ability to produce professional-looking content with minimal effort. The addition of remixable six-second clips will improve video creativity and storytelling, while AI-assisted features make content production more accessible to a wider range of creators. With SynthID watermarks, YouTube ensures transparency in AI-generated content, which addresses growing concerns about authenticity. The platform’s new interactive tools, along with expanded language dubbing, aim to increase global engagement and keep up with competitors like TikTok.