President of ISA & Web3 Expert, Featured in MG Magazine

Jacqueline Rosales shares her insights on crypto and cannabis in leading cannabis industry publication

ISA’s company president, Jacqueline Rosales, has been featured in MG Magazine, a monthly publication covering the adult use and medical cannabis industry. Rosales talks about the intersection of cannabis, crypto, and Web3 and how these industries share similar hurdles.

“Cannabis, Crypto, and Web3 have a lot of the same barriers and problems, like finance, marketing, and operations,” stated Rosales. “When you combine these industries together, they have the potential to solve one another’s problems.”

Rosales addresses the fraud happening in the crypto space by groups who “rug pull” investors. “There has been a lot of fraud. This typically looks like groups raising money for a project that isn’t real and then the people taking off with it,” she explained. She suggests companies who seek funding in the space embrace transparency to build trust with prospective investors. Read more of the article here.

ISA recently emerged as an early leader in primary research for Web3. In March 2022, they announced the official launch of their Web3 division. Since that time, the team has rapidly expanded with the onboarding of a team of Web3 experts to support clients’ growing need for insights and data related to the $25 billion industry. Jacqueline has partnered with clients on projects in entertainment and gaming, bringing her passion for technological innovation and sharing her vision for the possibilities of Web3. To support the expansion of ISA’s Web3 division, three experts: Garry Liu, Garrett Hand, and Craig Wilson have joined the team.

We continue to dive into Web3 and cannabis by hosting events. These events act as a meeting ground for newcomers and enthusiasts to speak to industry experts to learn more about the space and gain insight. We invite knowledgeable speakers that have been making a mark in their industry to come and share their experience and expertise. Our Web3 series is hosted on Twitter Spaces every Tuesday and our cannabis show, CANNAfact Friday Live is on LinkedIn Live.

Find more G2M Web3 strategy information here.

You can learn more ways to gain cannabis insights here.

 

About Jacqueline Rosales

Jacqueline Rosales is a 25+ year veteran of the Insights, Consumer Behavior and Market Research industries and currently serves as the President of ISA, an insights firm based in Los Angeles, CA. She launched the cannabis research division within ISA in 2018 and built the world’s first cannabis research community, The Green Time. Jacqueline has partnered with multiple Fortune 500 companies to help them navigate their go-to-market (G2M) strategy for Web3. She is the resident Subject Matter Expert on all engagements related to Web3 across Material (ISA’s parent company). In addition, Jacqueline is a G2M strategist for GRIPNR (a Web3 tech company), where she leads GRIPNR’s community initiatives and advises on organizational direction and strategic partnerships.

 

About ISA

ISA has emerged as an early leader in Web3 insights, having already partnered with multiple Fortune 500 brands to provide data, insights, and strategic consultation, allowing clients to achieve rapid and sustained growth in Web3. The ISA Group is among the first research firms, if not the first, to pay incentives to respondents in cryptocurrency, as well as among the first to conduct focus groups on Clubhouse.

SampleCon Speech

During May of 2022, the latest edition of Samplecon was held in Pasadena, Ca. With attendees from 16 different countries and 240 guests, it was the biggest yet. Jacqueline Rosales, the President of ISA initiated the convention 9 years ago. She returned to the Samplecon stage to, once again, disrupt the consumer market research spaxw. This time her mission was to educate her colleagues about the future of the world wide web; Web 3 and how it’s ecosystem will change the world, let alone the marketing research industry. She brought to stage Craig Obligacion Wilson who is a Metaverse and NFT expert that worked for Unigrid, a decentralized cloud service. They shared their thoughts on how Web3, in particular NFTs will change the world.

Below are some of the top quotes and facts from the interview.

“Adidas…the first NFT collection 24 hours sold out. How much money did Adidas make on that collection $23 million.”

“And now in web three, it's the ownership economy. It is anybody can contribute. Anybody can own the data."

– Jacqueline Rosales, President, ISA

“I think the one thing that's gonna blow some heads in here…is that the consumers own the information, that the consumers have the right to sell it to you, versus you pay them for it. It's a little bit of a different strategy. It's very bottom up or as I like to call it, C2B instead of B2C. And that C could either be consumer, customer or community. It is the community that's making the decision… for Web3.”

“So, Blockchain is a digital ledger. I also like to think of it as like a digital timeline, where all the information is encrypted, so it can't be changed. It can't be accessed. It's always there. It's also like a moment in history. It's always there can't be changed. And then it's peer to peer. So, all this information gets spread, everywhere, anybody can access it.”

– Craig Obligacion Wilson, SME, ISA

Crypto winter is the time to build

You’ve probably heard the term “crypto winter” thrown around about a million times at this point. Should our clients be nervous to invest in Web3 research? Should we stop pushing the issue? The simple answer is no!

Venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz (known as “a16z”) has just closed on its latest crypto fund – totaling $4.5 billion. This doubles the size of their last crypto fund and shows that the firm has no interest in taking their foot off the Web3 gas pedal.

Antoni Martin, enterprise lead at Polygon told Protocol that although the crypto crash has decreased interest in crypto, it is the time to differentiate between speculation and build saying “I think it’s time to build up, and with time the market will differentiate.”

“The blockchain solves counterparty interaction, eliminating the need for a middleman. This technology allows you to push payments without any intermediaries and provides a system of real-time auditability. Traditional banking requires protocols to prevent money laundering and to keep funds secure. Blockchain technology alleviates the need for these protocols by making each transaction transparent.”

-Eric Benz, CannaDAO

You know who is taking advantage of this time to build – Emerald Road. Emerald Road is a group of Californian cannabis farmers, led by legacy farmer and entrepreneur, Justin Calvino. Emerald road is an exclusive digital cannabis community. The platform is designed to connect farmers directly with their customers using community-building experiences. There is also the ability to purchase and market and provide content and education for consumers – all powered by blockchain technology. This virtual bazaar will give consumers the opportunity to gain experience, visit and purchase directly from farms, without ever leaving their home.

“The crypto blockchain space can really help the cannabis industry with everything from securing payments to seed to sale tracking and supply chain management. The fact that both crypto and cannabis are both new, emerging industries creates a great opportunity for them to help each other grow.”

– Laura Albers, Oasis Intelligence

Do you think your clients can benefit from Web3 strategy plan? We do! Don’t let the hype of “crypto winter” keep your clients from getting the full potential out of a Web3 plan. Remember, we’re not early, we’re late.

Business on blockchain

We know you’ve heard about what blockchain is, but what can it do?

 

The value of blockchain technology lies within the efficiency of it’s security measures. It can diminish the cost of doing business by providing data security that protects underlying data by making permanent, immutable records of exchanges. Blockchains are a new opportunity to reduce costs, streamline processes, improve data tracking and security, mitigate fraud and improve security.

“I continue to learn and develop more of an understanding of the power of blockchain technology. We are seeing a multitude of different and diverse uses and I believe that we are not even close to the pinnacle of what this technology can do. It is explosive and enabling businesses to become more efficient and successful.”

– Jacqueline Rosales

We’ve seen a real-life example of using a blockchain to track data with London-based company, Everledger, who are using a blockchain tracker to help eradicate the mining and trading of “blood diamonds,” which are mined using child labo0r and drug money. The startup has built a platform that tracks origin and ownership changes along the supply chain – recently securing $20 million in funding.

We are seeing a trend in opportunities for business development on these new platforms. Blockchains are bringing a new way to track and securely store data, giving transparency and more trust to business transactions. Large corporations, like Beijing Mercedes Benz, have partnered with blockchain based used car company, PlatOn, to understand and measure depreciation of their vehicles over time.

“I think a lot of these projects are being built on platforms where community will have the best experience. It comes down to user experience. It is important to provide value back to users on the network.”

– Hugh Benjamin

Blockchain technology allows for opportunity for greater productivity and trust between companies and clients. We are seeing blockchain platforms gain the interest of financial institutes like RBC, JP Morgan, Citibank, American Express, Visa and MasterCard. These enterprises can use the technology for building trust within the industry, financial inclusion and payment efficiency. Business developers can use those same principles in their work to gain business by providing an immutable and transparent ledger, receiving access to a secure place to track and store data, and reduce costs of conducting business, resulting in a higher margin.

In order to stay ahead of the Web3 curve, we need to make sure we are staying up to date on news. Make sure to take time to do your own research and learn about the space.

NFT News Nugget:

Check out this video of some billion dollar companies that use blockchain!

 

NFT News Game Environment

“Every person I’ve ever met is a gamer.
Some people just haven’t found their game yet.”

– Stephen Radney-MacFarland

The Metaverse is an endless sea filled to the brim with untapped potential. These virtual worlds are extremely accessible and contain enormous communities of ethnically diverse individuals from all demographics. Networking in the metaverse is as simple as pushing a button to type or talk, creating opportunities for interactions that were impossible in traditional communication channels.  One real-life example of an opportunity is airdropping coupons in the metaverse to circumvent the legal restrictions associated with advertising certain products.

“A question that people have when they get involved in any kind of project is “what is the value for that customer?”. With gaming there’s always an opportunity to receive something by playing and engaging with a project – whether it’s information, data or analytics. When you look at what’s happened during COVID over the last two and a half years, there’s been this suppression of people interacting with each other. The NFT gaming space not only allows for data collection, but a safe space to interact – merging the social aspect with the monetary aspect.” – Hugh Benjamin

The metaverse isn’t only a place to socialize and build a network but also serves as an international meeting place for business development where there are no physical limitations. While a traditional shopping mall must accommodate the laws of physics, a shopping center in the metaverse can contain an impossible number of click and mortar stores. Entire neighborhoods of real estate can be toured quickly without the need for a guide. Workplaces in the metaverse could provide new opportunities for human resource development as the popularity of remote work continues to rise. Finally, the metaverse could also act as a customer support portal, creating new opportunities for feedback loops and increased customer retention. The possibilities are endless, and if your clients aren’t ready, let’s help them get there!

NFT News Nugget:

Check out this clip from Devin Nash talking about why NFTs can be beneficial to gamers and game companies.

Join ISA on Twitter Spaces every Tuesday!

NFT Game Blockchain

Tuesday, June 14, 2022
5PM (PST) / 8PM (EST)

Missed a Twitter Spaces Session? Check those out here.

Download our Web3 Glossary

Web3 Glossary PDF

If you have any questions regarding Web3, contact the team at Web3@isacorp.com

Is the future of gaming Play to Earn?

 Is the future of gaming Play to Earn?

Society’s perception of gaming has evolved from a mindless pastime, to potentially the largest global sport in recent history. The world of competitive gaming and eSports has seen incredible success over the past decade, growing to 465.1 million eSports enthusiasts/viewers at the end of 2021. The eSports market was valued at $1.08 billion last year and is forecasted to grow to $1.62 billion by 2024 (Statista). The enormous growth in the eSports market has caught the attention of major global corporations and brands, who invested over $640 million in sponsorships with gaming organizations last year, and now these brands have shifted their attention to the new kid on the block, Web3 gaming.

Web3 gaming integrates blockchain technology to establish a digital economy, powered by digital currencies that can be exchanged for fiat currency (USD, Euro, RMB, etc.) called cryptocurrencies. Using blockchain technology, gaming companies can also create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that serve as representations of ownership over a specific digital asset that can be attained in-game. Ownership over these digital assets can then be traded, sold, or purchased on secondary markets where cryptocurrencies are accepted as forms of payment.

With the establishment of these virtual economies, digital assets, and the creation of secondary markets that allow for global 24/7 trading that is not limited to a single game or platform, a new method of incentivizing players to play these games arose. This method is known as a “Play to Earn” model and is sometimes referred to as “Play and Earn”. Nevertheless, the purpose of a Play to Earn game is to allow players to earn cryptocurrencies while playing the game, which in turn can be exchanged for fiat currencies like USD.

This model, in conjunction with the establishment of community-driven virtual economies and secondary markets, allows players to experience gaming with more freedom, ownership, and authority than ever before. In addition to the ability to earn real money from playing a Web3 game, there are some games like Duskbreakers which allow community members who are holding NFTs to actively take part in decision making processes, establishing a community led governance model that is rarely seen outside of small indie projects in today’s gaming space.

Play to Earn gaming took a giant popularity leap in the second half of 2021 with the rise of Axie Infinity, a Web3 game similar to Pokémon where players can breed Axies with unique traits that can be traded on secondary markets. Axie Infinity has reported 2,225,346 active players DAILY, just in the last 30 days. It is reported that there are people in the Philippines and other low-income communities that are making more money playing Axie Infinity than working an office job in their area.

Play to Earn gaming has also been a topic of much pushback from traditional gamers who believe that this model influences players to focus more on monetary gain rather than enjoying the game. Although the future of Play to Earn gaming is uncertain, there is now a new model of Play and Earn gaming which places more emphasis on the quality of gameplay and in-game experiences rather than methods for earning revenue from playing the game. This Play and Earn model serve the purpose of repositioning Web3 gaming brands as more gameplay-focused in the hopes of attracting more traditional gamers, bridging the gap between traditional gaming and Web3 gaming.

NFT NEWS NUGGET:
Check out this video explaining blockchain gaming!