Outside Interactive launches the ‘Outerverse’ as the ‘anti-metaverse’
Outside Interactive – the parent company of Outside Magazine – recently launched the ‘Outerverse,’ a campaign aimed at leveraging web3 to inspire people to spend more time outdoors and away from screens.
Outside has launched a new web3 project to get people more engaged with the ‘real world’ / Business Wire
Web3, with its emphasis on virtual worlds, is often perceived as being the antithesis of the ‘real world.’ But according to Outside chief marketer Dmitri Siegel, this suite of emerging technologies can also do the opposite by enabling people to get outside and build deeper connections with that plane of existence that some in the web3 community have dubbed the ‘meatspace.’
Siegel is well aware that such a vision for web3 is completely anathema to that which is being proffered by the likes of Meta. In fact, that’s the whole point. “The Outerverse, as a concept, is the anti-metaverse. That’s what it’s all about,” he says.
“Meta wants to lock you into a digital alternative reality. And we want to get you back to this crazy Outerverse that has a billion nodes, is infinitely complex, always evolving, and completely distributed. And guess what? It’s right outside your door ... That’s all the Outerverse is: the outside. And we’re trying to get people to connect to how amazing that is.”
Like most web3 campaigns, the Outerverse will have multiple components. Earlier this month, the brand launched Outside.io, a branded NFT marketplace where “all of the projects have a connection to the outdoors, either inspirational or utility-oriented.” The Outerverse will also incentivize users to get outside and get moving by offering rewards for reaching a certain altitude, say, or getting to the top of a particular chairlift. Siegel often says that passport or non-fungible token (NFT) holders may also gain access to in-person fitness events such as running clubs or bike rides with famous athletes.
“OpenSea and the other platforms are not really connecting to the outdoor community,” says Siegel. “The outdoor culture kind of gets lost in the mix of everything that’s happening there. Outside – through the thousands of creators that we work with, the dozens of magazines that we work with – can really create a network effect and a place that’s the destination for NFTs that are related to outdoor culture and this idea of getting outside.”
Outside is building its new activation on Solana, one of the more eco-friendly blockchain platforms, thus positioning itself as one of the more environmentally-conscious newcomers to the web3 space. The brand will also be donating 20% of its revenues from the project to nonprofits.
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