The NFT area could also be down considerably from all-time highs, however manufacturers and loyalty applications wanting to attain followers in new methods can nonetheless discover worth, stated Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the e-book “The Everything Token” and community lead for Starbucks Odyssey.
“Brand anchors” to gated areas like reward applications are one thing that firms will develop upon in 2024, he stated. “I think this year we’re going to see a lot of community-based brand building,” he shared on Ztoog’s Chain Reaction podcast.
Starbucks launched Starbucks Odyssey in 2022 as its preliminary foray into the web3 world. The expertise mixed the firm’s Starbucks Reward loyalty program with NFTs to improve buyer experiences, Ztoog beforehand reported.
“We’re able to help people find their tribe,” Kaczynski stated. “I’ve seen that people who live in California in the Starbucks Odyssey community are really good friends with people in Chicago and they have met up in real life at times. This never would have happened if not for web3.”
The loyalty program has a five-tiered system with over 58,000 energetic individuals no less than on degree one, Kaczynski stated. “I can promise you those aren’t mostly or all web3 native people … it’s not just web3 people who are participating.”
Those who hit tier 5 of the program purchased a “decent amount” off the secondary marketplaces, Kaczynski stated. In December, for instance, Starbucks introduced that it’s sending the high 20 individuals to Costa Rica to go to the espresso big’s farms the place beans are produced.
There are different “third-party utilities” to be developed via NFTs, not simply by huge firms like Starbucks or Nike however by native companies that need to spin up loyalty applications or use tickets as an asset they will anchor and incentivize.
Kaczynski introduced up this instance: Let’s say Hot Pockets, the meals brand, put out a promotion the place it might give a 20% low cost to players in the event that they purchased the brand’s Fortnite pores and skin and linked it to a crypto pockets. “The purchaser is happy, the eater is happy and they get a discount and they’re in the ecosystem,” he stated. “This person isn’t just a gamer, they’re an active gamer who’s participating and willing to spend disposable income on third-party things.”
When individuals consider NFTs, they usually consider simply costly monkey photos on the web — and to be truthful, that’s one a part of it with Bored Ape Yacht Club — however there’s extra worth to be held in proudly owning NFTs, Kaczynski says.
“Imagine you go into a museum and you see a beautiful painting on the wall, you can take a picture of that painting but it’s not worth any money. The picture on the wall is worth money because the museum owns it, it’s the original and they can prove both of those things,” Kaczynski stated. “Up until recently you couldn’t do that with digital items” till NFTs got here out.
Brands and firms having the skill to purchase and promote and “truly own your loyalty is a new concept that makes it less one-way,” Kaczynski stated. “While not all the community members engage in buying and selling … I think for a lot of people, having that optionality is so important.”
This story was impressed by an episode of Ztoog’s podcast Chain Reaction. Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to hear extra tales and ideas from the entrepreneurs constructing right now’s most progressive firms.
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