Furlough Weekly - 🚀 Space Coke

SPACE COKE ❄️ NOT WHAT YOU THINK...

Coca-Cola expands their marketing further into the metaverse with a limited-edition product called Starlight, described as “space Coke” and imagines what outer space might taste like. The classic Coke taste we all know and love, with a new cooling sensation, and packaging inspired by the cosmos.

Starlight is the first arm of a new marketing approach which includes a series of limited-edition flavors, collaborations, and experiences that walk the line between the physical and digital worlds.

Last year, Coca Cola premiered in the metaverse with their first NFT, a partnership with Decentraland, and a party on top of the Coke can. Coca Cola will continue on its path of innovative and immersive digital experiences by providing consumers with Starlight augmented reality filters on social media channels and immersive audio ASMR experiences. Scanning the new Starlight cans or bottles will transport the consumer to an AR concert with Ava Max.

Coca-Cola is focusing on experiential marketing and the company has been quoted as aiming to provide an “ecosystem of experiences”. What do you think of Coke’s innovative marketing model? Will you try “space Coke”?

IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION:

• What if the sky wasn't the limit?
• What happened at All Star Weekend?
• How to write copy that sells.
• The Furlough guarantee.
• Last week's best bits.

WHAT HAPPENED AT ALL STAR WEEKEND?

Would you like to know what it’s like to build a community from scratch?

It’s definitely not an easy task (we should know)...

If you ever go down this route, then you’ve probably heard of building your own server.

A server is just a hub for communication for the members of that community.

But what if you could do all these things without spending lots of $$$?

And what if you could gamify it?

That’s why there was so much hype for last week's startup booster session.

We sat down with Jordan, the founder of Server Owner Tycoon (a unique experience that allows players to build & manage their own gaming server).

The idea for SOT came about a few years ago when Jordan was looking to build a Minecraft server.

He quickly realized that if you were to turn that business model into a scalable machine, you would have to invest hundreds if not thousands of $$$.

So he decided to build his own version.

He wanted to build something that would allow almost anyone to learn the logistics of running an actual server.

From hiring qualified staff to manage the day-to-day tasks like customer support, to building plug-ins that offer your users even more customization.

The sky is really the limit within this virtual sandbox.

There are plenty of different directions that Jordan can take his new server experience but there are also several things he needs to address.

From a business perspective:

• They need to finish development on the final version of the game (as well as an MVP to give to early access users)
• They need to start looking at building out a proper team to handle different aspects of the game
• The need to establish multiple areas for monetization (ex. in-game purchases/upgrades)

From a marketing perspective

• They need to go all-in on their target market to grow their community (teens + young adults
• They need to establish strategic partnerships with other communities to build hype for the game’s launch date.
• They need to launch a lite version of their product to get valuable feedback from early adopters (will also help in building hype for the official release)

It’s always super exciting to help startups in different industries with different backgrounds.

Not only does it pose a challenge, but it also brings up different perspectives and talent from the community.

That’s why we keep pushing GROWTH THROUGH COLLABORATION.

It really is a powerful force when you’re able to use it for the right reasons.

Tune in this week as we're going to be diving into ReviewBolt (A data analytics startup that helps you find revenue, traffic & ad data on any website).*

Join us in the #Furlounge this Tuesday @ 2 pm for some high-level marketing insights!

If you're a founder looking to get your startup boosted, then send a message to one of the community managers in the Furlough discord to join the waitlist (Spots are LIMITED).

WHAT HAPPENED AT ALL STAR WEEKEND?

"Just like NFTs, web3 and metaverse platforms are the next natural progression in how we interact, relate, and communicate with each other," Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg

Furlough will be entering the Web 3.0 space with time. Right now, our efforts are about educating others about Web 3.0 and how it can help them. Web 3.0 gives us the ability to create a decentralized internet with tokens. The tokens allow anyone to participate in creating, governing, or improving peer-to-peer networks.

Furlough new tag line will be going from "Growth through Collaboration" to "Collaboration 3.0!"

This week’s highlights:

The Mastermind is a time for community members to come together to learn while also partaking in Furlough’s evolution. This week we discussed Joe and Ophir’s trip to NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland and how it shapes the Furlough community.

Here is what they learned:

• Joe and Ophir connected and created relationships with hosts and expanded the Furlough brand while teaching others about the Furlough community.
• There is an ability for Furlough to become a thought leader in the NFT space. The sector is very new and not many people are knowledgeable about NFTs. So there’s still time to become an expert and early adopter in the NFT sector.
• Joe, Ophir and other community members will be attending Miami NFT Week in April! It is a 3 day event with speakers from the NFT community and time to discuss DeFi, Blockchain technology, and more.
• There is an opportunity for Furlough to dominate Web 3.0. People are still generally ignorant of what Web 3.0 is and how it can benefit them.
• Ultimately, we will all want to convert Web 2.0 companies over to Web 3.0. Figuring out a way to easily explain the dimensions of Web 3.0 will be helpful.

Some news and upcoming events you don’t want to miss:

• If you haven’t noticed, some members are using their NFT art as their profile picture! You will notice dark blue avatars in member profiles which are representative of how the actual community members look. The artist is slowly rolling out the artwork of community members.
• Furlough is refining it’s elevator pitch! If you or anyone you know has a concise summary of the Furlough community and what we do, please send your writing samples to Joe for Furlough’s about us page!
• The improved Furlough website is headed towards completion. We anticipate the new website being rolled out within a month.
• You will be able to sign up for startup boosters through the website, learn how to connect to VC’s and funding, enhance your marketing efforts, and more!
• There’s a new weekly session that will be hosted by community member Mason Kuhr. The session will be about mindset, motivation, and habit building. It will be a life changing workshop to get involved in!

HOW TO WRITE COPY THAT SELLS

Whatever you sell, it must have a crystal clear USP:

Ask yourself, why should they buy from you? How will this eliminate pain for the prospects? In what way will it enhance their life compared to another, similar product?

Consider your unique brand voice:

Your copywriting should reflect the unique values and target customers of the brand you're writing for. Take Cunard Cruises for example, you wouldn't use Gen Z slang to address their customer base, an older, affluent and traditional crowd.

Write like a musician:

Words have rhythm. Read your copy aloud and you will begin to notice. Keep your copy engaging by varying your sentence structure and length.

Make your reader the centre of attention:

Who do people care about?

That's right. Themselves.

Write as if you're speaking to one person. You can push these efforts further, especially in email marketing by pulling in dynamic variables such as their name, birthday, address etc.

Bonus: Remember to use the word "you" throughout your copy.

Don't Start from scratch:

Speed up your workflow by using some of the tried and tested copywriting formulas. For example:

• The Four Cs (Clear, Concise, Compelling, Credible),
• AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
• PAS (Problem, Agitation, Solution)

If you found this useful check out our copywriting channel on Discord.

THE FURLOUGH GUARANTEE

If you’ve been a part of this community for some time now…

You’ve definitely come across one of our remarkable Brand Audit sessions.

So you know exactly what goes on & the amount of value that we’re able to deliver on a consistent basis.

But last week we decided to take a step back and re-evaluate.

In classic Furlough fashion, we thought to ourselves;

“How can we add even MORE value to these brands that come through this session?”

With the help of the community (of course),

We’ve come up with a few different strategies that not only positively impact the brands/founders that come through this session…

But also the members of this community.

So we decided to make our own Action Plan.

Not only can we give these to brands after they’ve gone through the “trenches” of the Brand Audit session…

But we can also share them with members of this community so they can understand the nuances between the different services (and how they directly impact the brand's performance).

This Action Plan will be a way for these companies to fully understand what needs to be done to move the needle in their business.

And from what we’ve experienced, there’s really nothing like getting the full Furlough treatment.

In addition to the Action Plan, we’ve also begun development on our very own Marketplace.

The Marketplace will be a hub for finding vetted talent to place on new projects that come through our pipeline.

The days of using outdated freelance networks are almost over.

Soon you’ll be able to find the professional talent that you need to grow your business (without the hassle).

It all starts with the independent community of talented individuals within the Furlough network.

If you haven’t joined the server yet, don’t worry.

There’s still time to head on over to the #introduce-yourself channel, and really put your skills to the test.

Not only will you have the chance to become an authority within your respective field of expertise,

But you’ll be able to find like-minded professionals that can complement your weak points.

And that, ladies & gentlemen is a FURLOUGH guarantee.

So the choice is yours…

If you've got any suggestions in terms of effective strategies to strengthen our Brand Audit sessions, let us know in the #feedback channel we would love to hear them!

Until then, come check out this week's Brand Audit session this Thursday @ 2 pm for some high-level marketing insights!

If you're a brand looking to get your 2022 action plan, then send a message to one of the community managers in the Furlough discord to join the waitlist (Spots are LIMITED).

ROUND UP

Get ready to experience this weeks best bits from our community:

MEME OF THE WEEK:

CONTENT-MARKETING: How to make B2C sales through blog content marketing.

EMAIL-MARKETING: How to find new leads when you’ve already exhausted your previous list of leads

ANALYTICS: How to combine sources in Google Analytics.