— The New “Third Place” Created by URL x IRL — The relationship between URL and IRL is not merely coexistence; they are already deeply intertwined. Digital and real have become entities that shape people’s lives and culture while complementing each other. What is particularly noteworthy is the concept of the “Third Place” pointed out by Kotler.
Traditionally, this referred to physical spaces like cafes and parks, but if we expand this, we can see that digital spaces also function as “places where people connect and interact.”The “Digital Third Place” for Generation Z For Generation Z, a third place is not necessarily limited to real spaces.
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Messenger apps (LINE, WhatsApp, etc.)
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Social Media (Instagram, TikTok, X, etc.)
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Online Games (Fortnite, Roblox, etc.)
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Video Streaming Services (Twitch, YouTube Live, etc.)
These are all places to converse with friends, share experiences, and foster communities. In fact, according to surveys, about 65% of Gen Z answered that “online friendships are just as important as real-life ones,” showing that digital spaces function as “another reality.” 🎮📱
The Interaction Between URL and IRL Given this situation, URL and IRL are no longer separate domains but can be said to have a mutually complementary relationship.
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URL → Digital connections and information diffusion
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IRL → Actual experiences and memory retention through the five senses
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The fusion of both → Creation of new experiential value and community building
Take live music events, for example. Ticket purchases are made via a URL, but the experience of actually going to the venue and bathing your body in the music can only be obtained in IRL. Afterward, the URL functions again through social media posts and video streaming, sharing and expanding the experience in the digital space.
Implications for Marketing That is precisely why, in future marketing, what’s important is not “URL or IRL,” but “how to design URL x IRL.”
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Convey brand value through URLs (information broadcasting, diffusion, convenience)
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Provide experiences through IRL (engraving them as sensations, emotions, and memories)
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Create mechanisms to go back and forth between both (experiences are diffused, and diffusion calls for more experiences)
Brands that can design this cycle are the ones that will gain strong trust and empathy in the coming era. 😊
Summary The URL is the entrance; the IRL is the stage. By multiplying these two, marketing evolves beyond mere promotional activities into something that adds richness and meaning to people’s lives. Digital and real. How to utilize both wheels is a major theme we must tackle from now on. As we have seen throughout this series, the answer is not “one or the other,” but rather that “URL x IRL” is the key to creating the marketing of the future. (The End) 🌱✨
From the Marketing Seed Series: You might also want to read a past article → Can Designers Really Do It All? (Part 4) ~ Seeds of Marketing 49
Related Article: deloitte “2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey”