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April 13, 2022 by Mack Collier

Beyond Bored Apes; How Businesses Can Use NFTs as Digital Membership Cards

While more businesses are experimenting with using NFTs, the majority of the use cases remain centered on the digital collectibles/art angle. As brands begin to gain a better understanding of the underlying functionality made possible with NFTs, we will see more robust and dare I say relevant business examples.

Case in point: NFTs can be used by brands as digital membership cards. Not just digital membership cards, but dynamic ones at that, membership cards that evolve and change based on the member’s participation and activity within the program.

Why Use NFTs as Digital Membership Cards?

It’s a valid question, I mean whether you are using membership cards for your organization or as part of a brand ambassador or loyalty program, these members already have a card they carry in their wallet, right?  Or maybe they even have a digital membership card on an app.  Why is it better to use an NFT as a digital membership card?

There’s a few reasons:

1 – Eliminates the need to mail out physical membership cards. They are easy to lose, hard to track who has one and who doesn’t.  Plus the associated printing and mailing costs.

2 – Physical cards are more likely to be stolen or used fraudulently. A digital membership card helps alleviate this concern.

3 – Digital membership cards are more dynamic, and can more easily foster a connection with the brand. With a physical card, the connection is more to the card itself, and any discounts or features it entails. A digital membership card makes it easier to facilitate real-time communication with the brand and receive relevant updates.

 

But why use an NFT as a digital membership card instead of an existing one? 

Many of us already have our membership tied to a digital membership card on our phone in a wallet or maybe in an app. For instance, I have the Chick-fil-a app on my phone. It has all my rewards program integrated into it.  I can see how many rewards points I have, what those points can be spent on, etc. This is a natural evolution of the membership card as associated digital technologies have matured.  If this program was around 30 years ago, there would be no app, any tracking done would have to be on the physical card itself. This is why punch cards were so popular for so many years, and are still used to this day.

But as digital technologies evolved, then we could track activity associated with a membership card digitally via an app, for instance. This makes it easier for the brand and customer to see and track activity, and make adjustments on the fly. For instance, the local Chick-fil-a store manager can send me a reward at any time, straight to my app. In a pre-internet world this could be done, but via mail or an in-person visit.

With NFTs, we have the next evolution of memberships. NFTs take many of the conveniences we have with existing digital membership cards (portability in an app, ease of use and ability to add points and offers) and expands on it.

 

digital membership cards

Your NFT is Your Identity

One of the key aspects of a successful brand ambassador or loyalty program is to make the members feel special.  Because they are. I wrote about this recently, but one of the key drivers of customer loyalty is if the brand treats the customer like a VIP. The NFT can store not only your membership level and privileges, but also your identity and standing within the program. If you were one of the first 10 members to an ambassador program that now has 100,000 members, that’s part of the digital DNA of your NFT.  That’s recorded, along with the benefits that you have as a result.  If you attend brand events, the NFT can not only act as your ticket, but it can also verify your attendance and involvement.

Additionally, the NFT can be a collectible. Unlike a digital membership card that’s incorporated into your photo app, an NFT serving as your membership card can be collected and traded.

Let’s go back to the previous example of being one of the first 10 members of an ambassador program that now has over 100,000 members. That not only entitles you (if the brand is smart) to much better perks and utility than newer members, but it gives you a lot of clout within the community itself. You are an OG, and that’s recorded in your NFT.  So it means that within that 100,000 member community, your NFT has value.  Maybe you want to sell that NFT to another member of the community.  You could do that, and pass along the benefits (and clout) that comes with the NFT.

The value that the NFT has amassed reflects the work that the member has put into helping grow the community and program. So it’s a way for the member to monetize the time and effort they have put into the program. Or if the member wants to help onto their NFT, they could receive tokens associated with their work and length of time in the program. This is another form of compensation which is easier to facilitate via an NFT vs existing digital technologies.

 

Is your business ready to create its first NFT? This article tells you how to get started.

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Filed Under: Brand Ambassador Programs, NFTs

April 11, 2022 by Mack Collier

Monday’s Marketing Minute: Elon/Twitter Drama, NFTs Coming to Facebook, Traditional TV is Dead

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you have a fantabulous and productive week! Here’s some marketing and business stories that caught my eye recently that I wanted to share:

 

In a bizarre statement explaining a surprising move, late last night Twitter’s CEO said Elon Musk will NOT be joining Twitter’s Board of Directors. A couple of things seemed odd about the statement; first Agrawel said Twitter was excited to bring Elon on the Board, but then said it was for the best that he didn’t join. Huh?  Also, I found it interesting that Agrawal made a point to say that there were ‘risks’ involved with letting Elon have a seat on the board, and the clarification that Elon could only be accepted to the Board after passing a background check.  It almost sounds like Agrawal is trying to give the impression that Twitter’s background check found something and Elon bailed before Twitter announced they couldn’t accept him on the Board as a result.

But there’s an interesting legal point to all this: If Elon had taken a role on the Board, his agreement with Twitter would hold that his stake in Twitter would be capped at 14.9%.Meaning, he couldn’t increase his current position owning 9.2% of the company to more than 14.9%. This, coupled with a tweet from my brilliant friend Carol Roth, makes me suspect that Twitter might be engaging in some smoke and mirrors here. Either way, this remains a very interesting story to follow!

Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022

 

Facebook/Meta is exploring adding NFTs to its ecosystem. Facebook is set to start a pilot program for introducing NFTs in mid-May, and according to this article. What I found very interesting, are claims that Facebook will soon after start rolling out the ability to have Facebook Groups tie membership to owning a particular NFT. I will be writing about this more this week, but NFTs are going to become the Digital Membership Card for business programs and organizations.  If you have the NFT, you can access the group/program, and its associated perks. This move by Facebook will also be a shot in the arm for mainstream business adoption of NFTs. Facebook embracing the technology will give a lot of businesses the courage to explore NFTs as well.

Facebook's reportedly looking to test NFT features from next month https://t.co/iBUvgGC7jG

— Social Media Today (@socialmedia2day) April 11, 2022

 

In a sign of the times, less than half of US households are forecast to have traditional pay TV in 2023.  Most of the losses will be customers migrating to ‘virtual multichannel video programming distributors’ (vMVPDs) such as Hulu TV and YouTube TV. I suspect streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max are eating into that number as well.

 

Forecast: Fewer Than Half of US Households to Have Traditional Pay-TV Next Year https://t.co/9NEtLltrwU @marketingcharts @eMarketer

— marketingcharts (@marketingcharts) April 5, 2022

 

So that’s it for this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute! I hope you have a wonderful week, and if you want to share your thoughts on these stories, feel free to leave a comment below! I have to admit, Twitter’s response to Elon not joining its Board suddenly has me a lot more interested in this story.  What do you think about it?

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Filed Under: Facebook, NFTs, Twitter

March 21, 2022 by Mack Collier

Monday’s Marketing Minute: BAYC Launches $APE, Magazine/Book NFTs Are Here, Your Grandparents Are Mobile Gamers

Happy Monday, y’all! Welcome to another edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute! Every Monday I bring you 3 news stories that caught my eye, covering business, marketing and web3.  Let’s dive in:

 

Bored Ape Yacht Club, the wildly successful NFT collection, launched its $APE coin last week.  The token will help fund community initiatives as well as reward current BAYC members.  The coin debuted at a dollar and quickly shot up to over $37 before settling down and is currently trading in the $10-14 dollar range. This will likely be the first of many such token offerings associated with NFT collections that we will see this year.

Here we go. ☠️🦍⛵https://t.co/zAqK24XCr4

— Bored Ape Yacht Club 🍌 (@BoredApeYC) March 16, 2022

 

In January, I wrote about 3 NFT categories primed for growth in 2022; Music, photography, and books.  We are beginning to see some publishers begin to dabble with books and media, as Time has offered a recent edition of its magazine as an NFT for the first time:

This marks the first time any digital or print publication has released an entire issue as an NFT on the blockchain. @TIME @timepieces pic.twitter.com/sAmBzULMN5

— nft now (@nftnow) March 18, 2022

https://twitter.com/MarkEglinton/status/1504106432316297222

 

I knew which age group was going to be the leaders in mobile gaming before I read the article. The age group that plays mobile games the most in the US and Canada?  The age group 45 years and older. This age group accounts for 32% of all mobile gamers.  Now to be fair, 45+ is a LARGE range.  But you would be surprised how many people over the age of 40 are playing mobile games.  I’ve been actively playing them for the last few years and the majority of the players are consistently over 40 years old.  Many are over 50.  Often, these games have chat functionality, and for older gamers, they may have limited mobility, and the friends they make while playing mobile games could be a significant part of their social circle.

Who Plays Mobile Games in the US and Canada? https://t.co/sTEs81QnGH @marketingcharts @npdgroup

— marketingcharts (@marketingcharts) March 18, 2022

 

So that’s it for this week, I hope all of you have a wonderful week and enjoy the Spring weather!

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Filed Under: Cryptocurrency, Mobile Marketing, NFTs, Web 3.0, Web3

March 14, 2022 by Mack Collier

Monday’s Marketing Minute: Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks, Massive NIL Deal, Social Media Engagement Rates By Platform

Happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful week as we (hopefully) begin to tip-toe into Spring like weather over the coming weeks! Here’s a few business and marketing stories I read over the last few days that I wanted to share:

 

Yuga Labs, which previously acquired the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club brands, has now acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits. As you can see from the tweet, and article here, Yuga will be granting the same commercial rights to the NFT owners as BAYC and MAYC owners enjoy. I want to do some more digging into this ownership issue, because it almost seems like we have a licensor/licensee arrangement happening here. Which isn’t true ownership, and a bit contrary to the intended web3 ethos. But still very cool move by Yuga Labs, regardless! Either way, it will be interesting to see what develops commercially from this, either with individual NFT owners, or as a collective.

Some big news to share today: Yuga has acquired the CryptoPunks and Meebits collections from @LarvaLabs, and the first thing we’re doing is giving full commercial rights to the NFT holders. Just like we did for BAYC and MAYC owners. pic.twitter.com/lAIKKvoEDj

— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) March 11, 2022

 

So last Summer, I wrote a post on NIL laws going into affect in multiple states. When it happened, I immediately knew this was the story of the year, because of the huge impact it would have on the business, sports, and branding worlds in the future. Well now the future has arrived. As my friend Kristi writes, there is an offer on the table to an unnamed Class of 2023 football recruit that would pay him $8 Million for the exclusive rights to his Name, Image and Likeness for 4 years.

Read those numbers again: A high school junior football player is being offered $8 Million dollars over 4 years.  Not to play football, but to post on social media, make public appearances, etc. Kristi talked to the NCAA about this deal and it would likely be a violation of its rules on pay to play. Still, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before similar deals become commonplace, and if that happens, the worlds of collegiate and amateur athletics will effectively be over.

Updated my analysis of the reported $8M+ NIL deal for a high school junior with comments from former NCAA Assistant Director of Enforcement @vicd55, who was nice enough to chat with me about the situation. https://t.co/fRbMEHPv3r

— Kristi Dosh (@SportsBizMiss) March 12, 2022

 

Marketing Charts has a very interesting analysis of engagement rates for content posted to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Before reading, which platform do you think has the highest engagement rates?  Instagram, and it’s not even close. Visual content drives engagement, it’s just a fact of digital life. But what industry on Instagram drives the most engagement? Would you believe Higher Education? I found that very surprising. The 3 percent engagement rate for content about higher ed was almost double the engagement for the 2nd place industry: Sports teams.

Brand Post Engagement Rate Benchmarks for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter https://t.co/McooJ7JM9H @marketingcharts @RivalIQ

— marketingcharts (@marketingcharts) March 10, 2022

 

So that’s all I have for this week, hope all of you have a wonderful and productive week, and I will see you here next Monday!

 

SPONSORED: If you’ve noticed, the content here over the past several months has moved more to covering the emerging web3 space and technologies. A big reason why is the emerging opportunities these technologies will create for content creators to build engagement and monetization opportunities around their content. My friend Joe Pulizzi has been one of the content marketing and creation leaders for well over a decade. He’s teamed up with Brian Clark (of CopyBlogger fame) to create an event just for content creators, CEX. CEX is the Creator Economy Expo. If you are a content creator who is looking to build engagement, a larger platform and maybe even an INCOME from your content, then CEX is your tribe. The event will be held in May in Phoenix, and features a who’s-who list of content speakers, including Joe and Brian, along with Ann Handley, Dan Pink, Jeremiah Oywang, Pam Slim and many more!

If you want to build a business around your content, CEX is where you need to be! You can register here, and when you do, use code Collier to get a $200 discount! And please note that the Early Bird rate ends on April 1st. Hope to see you there!

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Filed Under: Instagram, Name Image Likeness, NFTs

March 7, 2022 by Mack Collier

Monday’s Marketing Minute: Learfield’s Huge Splash Into NFTs, Spotify Passes Apple For Podcasts, Surprising Email Stats

Happy Monday! Let’s talk about 3 stories that I noticed from the marketing, business and web3 worlds over the last week:

 

This is a big deal, and a story that’s continuing to develop, so you can get up to speed as it happens. Learfield, which partners with many of the top colleges and universities on athletic broadcasts, will be partnering with Recur Forever to launch a portal/marketplace for NFTs focused on college athletes. The portal, NFTU.com, will launch on March 14th, one week from today.  You can learn more about the portal and sponsorship here. There’s so many potential in this deal, it will be fun to see how this partnership evolves and NFTU.com could quickly grow into a competitor to OpenSea and LooksRare in the NFT marketplace space.

This is how the next 50 million will come into NFTs…@RecurForever has struck a deal across the whole US college system to create NFT experiences for EVERY SPORT AND ATHLETE. Massive congratulations on this milestone Recur! https://t.co/MPkLcNqNyf

— OhhShiny (@ohhshiny) February 28, 2022

 

In 2021, Spotify passed Apple to be the top destination for podcast listeners. I think this is a sign of the growing popularity of Spotify and it’s move into hosting podcasts. Also, Apple podcast locks you into using Apple products whereas Spotify can be used across competing devices from Google and Samsung, among others.

Spotify overtook Apple Podcasts as the biggest US podcast platform in 2021, when the Swedish company drew 28.3 million monthly US podcast listeners, about 200,000 more than its rival did. https://t.co/KTGMAGr4cJ#podcasts #spotify pic.twitter.com/VJCWYArw9z

— Chart of the Day (@ChartoftheDay_) March 1, 2022

 

I thought this was interesting, Marketing Charts reports that email marketing converts at a similar rate on both desktop and mobile devices.  This is where I think it gets interesting; Even though the conversion rates are the same for desktop and mobile, marketers surveyed said open rates and click rates were actually better on mobile! Yet when it comes to converting, desktop matched mobile users.

What does that mean? I think it suggests that we are more likely to read and click on an email on our phone because we are more likely to use our phone for email.  We are out and about, we have our phones with us at all times.  It’s the convenience factor. But a conversion usually requires a bit more attention and time, and that’s where the desktop usage comes into play.  I suspect in many cases users are opening and reading on their phones, then saving to investigate later on their desktops, and that’s when the conversion is happening.  Good stats to keep in mind as you are planning your next email marketing campaign!

Marketers Report Similar Email Conversion Rates on Mobile as on Desktop https://t.co/cIo2E3oPYh @marketingcharts @ANAmarketers

— marketingcharts (@marketingcharts) March 2, 2022

 

So that’s it for this week’s Monday’s Marketing Minute. I hope you have a chance this week to get out and enjoy some of the Spring weather that is starting to pop up across the country!

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Filed Under: Email marketing, NFTs, Podcasting

March 2, 2022 by Mack Collier

Music NFTs Are Evolving, Now Grant Fans Song Ownership

In January. I wrote this post talking about where we could expect to see NFT growth in the coming year.  I focused on music primarily because I saw the enormous potential of leveraging NFTs as a way to give fans ownership. In their relationship with the artist, in how they promote the artist, or even in the music itself.

That’s right, NFTs are now being leveraged as a way to let fans OWN the music from their favorite artists.

let's make contracts visual and clear to understand.

here is the contract that lives in the metadata of the NFTs that I listed today.

this is an evolution of the first music contract I designed. pic.twitter.com/fAHS0Pf3sr

— Lyrah (@lyrah) March 1, 2022

Isn’t that amazing? This is leveraging NFTs as a way to not only support your favorite artists directly, but for the fan, it’s a way to literally OWN the music of their favorite artists.

Taking this concept a step further, Royal facilitates fractional ownership of the music:

ROYAL

• @join_royal was founded by web3 music legend @3LAU

• If you buy an NFT, you get to share the artist royalties.

• This is a game changer. Now you can invest in artists and share their success.

Artists: @Verite, 3LAU and Nas. pic.twitter.com/jgnd2QEmtb

— musicben.eth 🎧 (@musicben_eth) February 28, 2022

I see this evolving as a way for emerging artists to fundraise their careers via selling NFTs and fractional ownership of their music. Then, as they become more successful, they can downscale or eliminate any fractional ownership offerings, and focus strictly on fan experience and connection.

The economies of scale are drastically changing for artists thanks to web3. More monetization opportunities means artists can focus on deeper connections with fewer fans. Those fewer fans have the ability to directly support and connect with their favorite artists. And as fans see they have a greater ability to affect positive change for the artists they love, that gives them more incentive to do just that.

How could this work for other products?

In theory, a fractional ownership model such as the above could work for any physical or digital product. Startups could use it to replace seed funding or even a Series A funding round. More established brands could use it reward ambassadors as part of an organized program to further incentivize participation.

What I’ve always said about web3 holds; These are early days, and it’s still a very messy place. But with all the mess-making comes knowledge and experience. We are all learning on the fly, and there is a massive talent drain from web2 to web3 happening right now. Some of the most talented people in all career fields are flocking to web3 because they see the potential.

The next 10-20 years minimum belongs to the web3 technologies that are emerging today. Music is one of these early areas where hype, business utility and customer experience are all colliding at once.

It’s exciting to see.

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Filed Under: NFTs

January 25, 2022 by Mack Collier

How LooksRare Used Guerilla Marketing Tactics at Launch at Instantly Compete With OpenSea

OpenSea was the 800 pound gorilla in the NFT marketplace space. On Jan 4th, the company announced a $300M funding round at a $13 Billion plus valuation. All the momentum was with OpenSea and it was poised to get a strangehold on the exploding NFT marketplace space.

But all that changed over the course of 24 hours.

Two weeks into January, OpenSea had already received over 2 billion in Ethereum from its sales and was on pace for another record sales month.

On January 10th, NFT marketplace competitor LooksRare launched. Along with the website launch, LooksRare also launched its LOOKS token.  The token would be given to users of the website to incentivize certain activities, such as buying and selling NFTs.

But LooksRare decided to do something else with the LOOKS token.  LooksRare decided to give away 120 Million of the LOOKS tokens to current OpenSea users.  LooksRare targeted OpenSea users who had bought and sold at least 3 ETH worth of NFTs from June-December on OpenSea.  That’s roughly $8,000 worth of activity as of this writing.

The more activity on OpenSea, the more LOOKS tokens you received, in a range of at least 125 tokens, all the way up to 10,000 for the biggest OpenSea users. As of this writing, the LOOKS token is trading for roughly $4 a token.  So the airdropped LOOKS tokens to OpenSea users had a value of between $500-$40,000.

Yikes!

$LOOKS Day 10 trading rewards have been distributed.

Active LOOKS stakers earn WETH every block (every 15 secs or so)

The trading rewards calculation period for day 11 is live.

💰 2,866,500 LOOKS ($14.7M USD)
💰 3,577 $ETH ($10M USD)

👀💎https://t.co/xLrd3PKRKX pic.twitter.com/ADR3sReGQ4

— LooksRare (@LooksRare) January 21, 2022

Here’s the brilliant part: In order to ‘activate’ the LOOKS tokens, the OpenSea user has to go to the LooksRare website and list an NFT for sale. So the move not only encourages OpenSea users to check out LooksRare, but it makes receiving the LOOKS tokens dependent on actually listing an NFT on the platform.

As you might expect, listing volume on LooksRare immediately spiked, and after a week LooksRare was realizing trading volume of two to three times what OpenSea was seeing!

Another brilliant move LooksRare made is by taking an actual sale on OpenSea, and then calculating how much money the seller would have made if the same NFT had been listed and sold on LooksRare:

LooksRare vs Opensea – @BoredApeYC

The buyer got $3.5k in trading rewards. On Opensea, they would have gotten none.

The seller saved $1.5k in fees and got $3.5k in trading rewards. That's $5k+ more than they would have gotten on OpenSea.

👀💎https://t.co/66hbVzLSXv#BAYC pic.twitter.com/x07xWPwPno

— LooksRare (@LooksRare) January 15, 2022

To be honest, LooksRare should be doing these comparison tweets every day.  It’s a great way to clearly demonstrate the price difference in selling on LooksRare versus OpenSea.

How would this apply to an ‘average’ business?

Let’s revisit what LooksRare did in airdropping LOOKS tokens to OpenSea users.  What LooksRare did was send LOOKS tokens directly to the wallets that OpenSea users were using.  The buyer history was available on the blockchain, so LooksRare had access to sales history and could easily identify the wallets that had generated the sales that met their criteria.

How could this work in the more mainstream business world? Here’s an example: Your fast food brand decides to launch a mobile app where you connect your digital wallet to the app and pay through the app.  That means the sales history of your wallet (your digital identity) would be trackable on the blockchain.

Let’s say a competitor fast food chain launches their own mobile app, which is also setup as your mobile app is, so you connect your wallet. When someone signs up for your competitor’s app, they receive 10 free FOOD tokens, that can be used to buy food via your app. Think of FOOD tokens as rewards points that many current fast food apps such as Chick Fil A use today.

What your competitor could also do is airdrop FOOD tokens directly into the wallets of YOUR customers who are using YOUR mobile app! And they could set the same qualifications on the FOOD tokens as LooksRare did on its LOOKS tokens; Your customers would have to go to your competitor’s app to redeem the FOOD tokens.  This is also called a ‘vampire attack’, in marketing terms, because the intent is to suck the best users away from your app, and into the competitor’s app.

Be aware of how web3 technologies are impacting marketing

Now is a wonderful time to watch how companies and even individuals are leveraging and experimenting with emerging web3 technologies in their marketing and branding efforts. As these technologies emerge and develop, they will create new and exciting opportunities for companies to market themselves, and deliver better experiences to customers.

 

Note: Thank you to the brilliant Adel de Meyer for giving me assistance explaining the technical aspects of how the web3 technologies in this article would work. Please follow Adel on Twitter, she’s my go-to expert on crypto, NFTs and web3.

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Filed Under: Cryptocurrency, NFTs, Web 3.0, Web3

January 18, 2022 by Mack Collier

Walmart Signals a Move Into Web3, Metaverse

Recent filings from @Walmart, including 7 US trademark applications, indicate a well thought-out strategy to develop and sell virtual goods, #NFTs, and a #cryptocurrency.#web3 #NRF2022 https://t.co/3BokFQGi9T

— Brian Solis (@briansolis) January 17, 2022

So it looks like one of the biggest brands in the world is preparing to dip its toes in the Web3 waters.  Walmart has filed a series of trademarks that seem to signal its desire to create a brand cryptocurrency as well as possibly sell virtual goods:

The big-box retailer filed several new trademarks late last month that indicate its intent to make and sell virtual goods, including electronics, home decorations, toys, sporting goods and personal care products. In a separate filing, Walmart said it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as NFTs.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Walmart filed the applications on Dec. 30.

Recently, I wrote about how brands could leverage NFTs and cryptocurrency to incentivize customers to engage in certain activities. I suspect that many brands will to tie these emerging technologies to existing business processes, as much as possible.

For instance, if Walmart launched its own cryptocurrency, customers could be paid tokens based on activity, and then those tokens could be spent for items the store sells.  For instance, make three visits to Walmart in one week? Get 5 tokens of its cryptocurrency. Maybe spending $100 gets you 10 tokens. This could be very similar to a loyalty program in that Walmart could use its new cryptocurrency to reward customers for engaging in desired activities.

In general, brands testing the Web3 waters will likely gravitate toward using these emerging technologies to solve today’s business problems rather than address tomorrow’s business possibilities. As the space matures and becomes more understood, we will no doubt see more progressive Web3 initiatives launched by brands.

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Filed Under: Cryptocurrency, NFTs

January 13, 2022 by Mack Collier

The Next Big Thing in NFTs Will Be…

Last year saw NFTs explode onto the scene and in a big way. Driven by the popularity of art collections such as BAYC and Crypto Punks, NFT trading volume topped $13 Billion in 2021 alone. NFT marketplace OpenSea is on pace to have over $3 Billion in trading volume in January, so it seems 2022 will be an even bigger year for NFTs on the secondary market at least.

While we will likely to see continued growth from art NFT collections, I think we will see NFTs grow into other spaces and media, and I wanted to give you a sense of where the market momentum is likely headed.

Music NFTs are primed for a huge 2022

@KingsOfLeon think #NFTs are the next big thing as well. We're reading a lot about it lately- https://t.co/8Sx4n7bVKV

— Ariel Hyatt, Ultimate Guide to Music PR (@cyberpr) January 12, 2022

Last year, the Nashville-based band Kings of Leon made waves by being the first band to release its new album as an NFT.  The NFT gave you a digital copy of the album, as well as other items based on three different tiers that were available. One version of the NFT release, the prized Golden Ticket, included massive perks for the owner, including 4 front-row seats to every Kings of Leon concert, for life!

Another aspect to the appeal for the NFTs is that they will have a secondary market that really doesn’t exist for digital music that you buy from iTunes or stream off Spotify. Each NFT’s history of minting and ownership can be verified on the blockchain, and each one has its own unique identity and provenance. This helps establish the uniqueness and scarcity of the piece. Which helps drive interest and value.

So look for more big artists to dip their toes in the NFT water as a new way to distribute music to fans. Long-term, this could cause a massive disruption to the current big label distribution model and could fundamentally change the average artist’s ability to monetize their work and connect with fans.

But that’s how big artists could and are using NFTs. What about smaller artists who are looking to get their careers off the ground?  This is where I think music NFTs could get REALLY interesting:  Give fans ownership of the actual music!

this is what the contract looks like for the NFT

what if all music contracts were this simple and didn't require hiring a lawyer just to understand? pic.twitter.com/sLaAY96NTd

— Lyrah (@lyrah) November 24, 2021

With the above, Lyrah is proposing selling her actual music to fans via an NFT. Each NFT would grant the owner a 25% share of the master recording, and 25% of all streaming royalties.  For life. Can you imagine co-owning your favorite song from your favorite artist WITH your favorite artist? I think you will see a lot of smaller music artists go this route as a way to fundraise for recording even more music. With ideas such as this and the Kings of Leon example above, it’s easy to see a not-so-distant future where artists have far more control over their ability to monetize their music.

Keep an eye on photography NFT projects in 2022

Gary Vee thinks photography NFTs will take off in 2022.

I tend to agree. What I like about these NFT projects and collections, whether it’s art, music or photography, is you have a chance to leverage social media to connect with the creators. You can learn who they are, what their inspiration was for the art they create, and that gives you a greater desire to own their work.

And let’s be honest some of the work these photographers are creating is just jaw-droppingly gorgeous:

Gorgeous work. It’s easy to see why many are expecting photography NFTs to take off in 2022. https://t.co/5zEgZdNgkB

— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 3, 2022

Another element I love is how these artists are supporting each other and pushing each other to succeed and they are promoting each other’s work. They really embody that ‘wagmi’ mentality.

One more NFT space to keep an eye on in 2022

So we’ve talked about music and photography NFTs as possibly being big winners in 2022. Here’s another space that might see some gains:  What about book NFTs? We already have ebooks, what if authors started offering their books as an NFT?  The NFT could include the book, along with whatever bonus material the author wanted to include. Or what if book NFTs were a way for authors to ‘self publish’ their book?  Maybe sell a limited run of NFTs of your book that also gives owners a percentage of sales from the book? Think of Lyrah’s example above of selling her music and sharing ownership, you could in theory do something similar with books.

 

In closing, I do think it’s worth noting that many NFT experts feel like we will eventually see a correction in pricing. Many NFT collections have enjoyed massive increases in prices over the last 12-18 months, and it’s driven a lot of speculators into the space. As prices continue to increase, it makes them riskier and many experts feel that eventually many NFT collections will simply reach unsustainable levels. When that happens, we could see a lot of speculators leave the market, and prices could take a big hit. So if you are getting into NFTs as an investment, just be cautious and do your homework.

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Filed Under: NFTs

January 10, 2022 by Mack Collier

Monday’s Marketing Minute: OpenSea’s Big Funding, Where NIL Dollars Are Going, Samsung’s NFT TV

Welcome to 2022! Tomorrow is my birthday, and you’ve already given me the best present, your attention.  Thanks for taking the time to read this edition of Monday’s Marketing Minute. Please share it with your network if you want to give me a 2nd present!

 

NFTs are all the rage, and no one is riding the NFT wave higher than OpenSea. OpenSea is a marketplace for NFTs. Think of it as eBay for NFTs. And it just raised $300M in Series C funding, at a 13.3 Billion valuation. Big numbers! What I find a bit ironic about this news is that OpenSea, being a CENTRALIZED marketplace, is one of the early darlings of the Web3 space, which is supposed to be an era of decentralization. I think it goes to show that whatever Web3 becomes may not be as dramatic of a departure from what we already have, and if it is, it might take a while to arrive.

Announcing Series C! We’re building the friendliest & most trusted NFT marketplace with the best selection across many chains. The funding helps us accelerate product development, improve trust & safety, and invest deeply in the web3 community & ecosystem. https://t.co/OmRPleMCOX

— OpenSea (@opensea) January 5, 2022

 

I wrote last Summer about the huge impact NIL laws would have on marketing and branding. The folks at Opendorse have a breakdown on what types of NIL deals athletes are signing. Licensing, as well as content creation seem to be the most popular structures for deals. 2021 was the first year where we saw NIL deals happen at scale, since several states passed laws allowing athletes to begin to monetize their Name, Image and Likeness. This space and the structure of deals will continue to evolve in the coming years. As will it’s impact on college athletics.

Here's a look at the average compensation for NIL activities within the first 6 months of the NIL era. pic.twitter.com/K7LuApwyHS

— Opendorse (@opendorse) January 6, 2022

 

Samsung has been flirting a bit with NFTs, and now the electronics company is preparing to launch a line of smart TVs which will allow you to view, display and even buy NFTs, right from the TV. Samsung will offer a ‘marketplace aggregator’ and it’s unclear which NFT marketplaces will be made available to owners. This smells like it could be Samsung testing demand for NFTs and possibly launching its own NFT marketplace in the future.

Samsung unveiled a new NFT explorer for its upcoming smart TV lineup. https://t.co/yHfyLZRXrd

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 3, 2022

And one more cause this is awesome:

Which fantastic intern did this for @SlackHQ??

H/t Elfried Samba pic.twitter.com/AE8BQYoat5

— Sarah Du (@_Sarah_Du) January 6, 2022


Well done, Slack, being human wins advocacy!

So that’s it for the first Monday’s Marketing Minute of 2022, thanks for reading! Look for a new post later this week on what two spaces are poised to breakout in the NFT landscape in 2022. Hope you have a great and productive week!

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Filed Under: Name Image Likeness, NFTs

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