Brands, like Disney and Nike, became global juggernauts by turning simple ideas into meaningful identities. To understand the Nouns brand, and their DAO, is to witness a reversal of this premise: meaningful identities constructed via open-source experiential participation where the playbook isn’t top-down control but bottoms-up creative autonomy.

This model, by classic standards, is a radical one.

Nouns operates under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, meaning anyone can use and adapt its assets for free. From coffee to clothing, Nouns enables its community to take its brand wherever they want, all while remaining self-funded mainly through a unique daily auction model. The model sounds idealistic, but it’s not just a lofty one—it’s real: 1,299 Nouns have sold, with $11m in assets in its community wallet having historically distributed over 33,150 ETH ($80m+) with hundreds of projects. 

So, what can Nouns teach us about turning brand building upside down?

The Genesis of Nouns: Scarcity and Community at Play

At its core, Nouns is a project that rethinks the traditional lifecycle of a brand. Through its unique daily auction system, Nouns introduces scarcity that feels intentional rather than manufactured. This gradual release allows the community to evolve organically, adding new dimensions to the brand with each Noun—a slow build that forges an engaged community that values each asset not just as art or investment, but as a stake in a collective future. Each holder, in fact, has a direct vote in Nouns DAO, meaning the entire direction of the brand is decentralized by design.

In this dynamic structure, governance replaces traditional IP monopolization. The classic corporate model hoards ideas within proprietary walls, but Nouns’ open-source approach fosters creativity across the globe. Anyone can build with Nouns’ assets, spurring an explosion of projects that add layers to the ecosphere: Noundles (gaming), Nounstown (festival), Nouns.gg (esports), Nouns Movies like “The Rise of Blus” (former Pixar, Netflix and Marvel animators) and an assortment of short films plus animations (Nouns Fest). Each feeding back to the source via community aggregation and brand proliferation as well as drawing on it for attention, engagement and personality. Here, the brand itself doesn’t dictate; it collaborates with the community, fostering a sense of shared ownership that’s rare and powerful.

Radical Cultural Autonomy: the Art of “Forking” (by design)

In Nouns DAO, every member has an opportunity to reshape and reconstrue the organization through a feature known as forking, which lets Noun holders create independent governance structures that transfer a portion of the treasury to a newly formed DAO. This is revolutionary both onchain and offchain.

"Forks, also known as Hard Forks, are when you create a complete copy and instance of an existing thing. That fork can have its own new changes and improvements. But in some cases it’s the exact same thing. With an important difference, the people and community who are a part of it are different—usually because of fundamental disagreement...In crypto, forks are much more prevalent because protocols and networks are completely public....with higher stakes....because they tend to have token ownership, governance, and tradable value at stake." Jacob Horne, Nounsbuilder & Zora

From an onchain perspective the intentionality of the nouns forking architecture, frictionlessly enabled by tools like NounsBuilder (nouns.build) is not only an elegant public goods solution to governance disputes, but also a revolutionary tool for decentralized brand evolution. From an offchain perspective, this forking mechanism is a stark contrast to traditional businesses, where disagreements can often lead to hostile takeovers or boardroom battles.

Here, the forking process (by design) is organic, allowing brand extensions that diverge from the original mission while still upholding the broader “Nounish” ethos. With this system, Nouns isn’t just building a brand; it’s establishing a protocol that could reshape DAO governance models at large. By enabling multiple, adaptive paths within one framework, Nouns has created an environment where creativity and autonomy are constantly at play, allowing for both collaboration and healthy competition within the brand.

(it was) a highly controversial fork between two warring factions: the “meme value camp” (the proliferators) and the “book value camp” (Nouners focused on driving treasury value per Noun). Unfortunately, the fork mechanism is less idealistic than envisioned, since it all supports the ability to fully exit by withdrawing one's pro rata share of the funds. This was exploited by arbitrageurs who had won auctions at prices below the book value of Nouns. They could cash out immediately following the fork effectively helping drain half the treasury. Unfortunately that wasn't the end. The fork permanently altered the Nouns “metagame” and apparently most auctions are still won by arbitrageurs who are quietly accumulating numbers to keep mounting forks to extract book value. Peteris Erins, Reinventing Nouns

Building Brand Value through Public Goods

Nouns channels resources into projects that may not directly generate revenue but expand its cultural footprint & goodwill. Initiatives like CC0-lib.wtf, 3dnouns.com, rounds.wtf & archives.wtf serve as public goods, contributing to Nouns’ reputation as a community-first brand. By investing in shared tools & assets like these, Nouns attracts builders and creators who use the brand as fertile ground for innovation.

Its open source ethos enables anyone to use, remix, or monetize its assets. In this sense, Nouns functions more like a public resource than a private entity. The community-backed tooling, such as Nouns World and Nouns Center, has turned Nouns into a collaborative platform with each tool adding to the brand’s identity via public good. It has proven able to sustainably monetise the attentional, reputational and intangible benefits of these brand assets on a global basis with thriving brand hubs and activations e.g. in Taipei, Istanbul, Singapore, Malaysia, Kenya and Brazil (amongst many others).

Brand as a Meme: From Traditional IP to Collective Cultural Assets

Traditional conceptions of intellectual property as the foundation of brand value are inverted here as Nouns takes the opposite approach: positioning its brand as a “meme” that anyone can use. A meme is fluid, evolving, and it spreads through culture organically. This cultural fluidity has fueled an ecosystem of Noun-inspired projects—from Nouns Coffee to Nouns Comics—each expanding the brand’s reach without requiring central approval.

In contrast to conventionally zealous protection of logos or characters, Nouns unconventionally views brand appropriation as a feature, not a bug. Neither just a product or a logo, but a shared cultural movement that grows by allowing each holder to leave their mark on it.

"Meme is somehat interchangeable with the word brand. Both serve to infuse an idea, product or service with meaning. Brands like Dogecoin, Gamestop or AMC can become self fulfilling prophecies. Their value isn’t derived necessarily by strong fundamentals, technical design or core competencies but rather in our collective belief in their purpose and function." Papa, publish0x

Incentive Alignment: The Challenge of Longevity

Established by projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the 10k pfp model proliferated in 2021, defining NFT collections as 10,000 unique images sold to eager buyers who thought they were purchasing both art and investment assets. Yet, the surge in popularity highlighted a structural weakness: these projects created rapid influxes of participants with wildly divergent motivations, often centred on price speculation rather than artistic or community values. This led to an alignment problem, where immediate profit incentives undermined the long-term sustainability and vision of many collections.

Nouns DAO is a step towards addressing this misalignment. Rather than creating an immediate, oversized community, it issues one new Noun every day through a continuous auction, slowly growing a community of highly aligned members committed to the project’s underlying values. This at its core disrupts the PFP market's rush for quantity over quality and instead cultivates a sustainable, long-term community. Releasing NFTs gradually obviates the dynamics of the 10k standard, creating what’s closer to a "digital Subreddit with a bank account".

Nouns Fest 🍿 ⌐◨-◨

@nounsfest

"Golden Goose" – by Olov Burman
Nouns Fest Season 2

We must be seeing stars or the day has finally come when we get to start sharing the 2nd season of our short films to the world!

@olovburman thanks for going first!

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10:02 PM • Oct 29, 2024

Yet the tragedy of the commons isn't so easily subverted. With so many contributors, each acting in their interest, it’s easy for the brand to suffer from short-sighted decisions or “proposal overload.” Governance and coherence are critical here; preventing the community from diverging too far or spending the treasury irresponsibly. To address this, Nouns relies on a treasury voting model, where each Noun represents one vote as to what happens to the treasury. Therein lies its power, and a key shortcoming simultaneously. It's decentralized structure undoubtedly faces governance challenges that require creative solutions to prevent malicious actors.

• Nouns Folk: builders within the Nouns ecosystem including people who worked on on-chain proposals, prop-house proposals or people who joined Nouncil.

• Nouncil:  a group of Nounish builders and representatives from projects, coming together to participate in Nouns DAO governance. They have 14 Nouns delegated to them (which varies but has trended upwards) by less active community members entrusting them to discuss and vote on Nouns DAO Proposals and Prop House (now sunset) Proposals.

• Nounders: 3.5 artists, 6.5 technologists, the project's founders (‘Nounders’) built and launched NounsDAO in summer 2021 (65 Nouns voting power).

Redefining the Brand-Consumer Relationship

Nouns has blurred the lines between brand and community, challenging traditional perceptions of what it means to be a “customer.” In the Nouns ecosystem, holders are not merely fans or buyers; they are co-creators, stakeholders, and even decision-makers. This co-ownership model fosters a sense of responsibility and pride in the brand’s future, while also empowering individuals to actively shape it.

Imagine if Nike gave every sneakerhead the chance to co-design and launch their sneaker, or if Disney allowed fans to create entire universes using its characters. That’s the world Nouns is pioneering, where the community not only builds the brand but also drives its evolution, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in brand-consumer engagement.

Idealistic Experiment or the Blueprint for Upended Brand Building?

Nouns' model of brand-building is more open, flexible, and community-driven than anything we’ve seen before. While this radical approach to decentralization and IP has already achieved remarkable results, it comes with its own set of risks and challenges—from governance scalability to the risk of brand dilution.

But whether Nouns is a glimpse into the future, or a one-off experiment, it has expanded our understanding of what brands can be. A case study in trusting the collective, an exploration of the limits and possibilities of open-source creativity.

In the end, Nouns challenges us to think beyond the “big brand” playbook, to imagine brands as collaborative projects rather than isolated entities, and to consider what’s possible when we place creativity in the hands of the collective. And, as it succeeds, it paves the way for a new suite of (onchain) brands no longer built from the top down but grown, shared, and enriched by all.

Submitted as part of the "Into the Nouniverse" Nouns x Kiwi writing contest

Papa is an artist, musician and writer.

Connect

• Farcaster @papa — https://warpcast.com/@papa

• Lens @papajams — https://lenster.xyz/u/papajams

• Twitter @papajimjams — https://twitter.com/papajimjams

Read

• Papa — Funding The Future on Farcaster with $Degen

• Papa — Berlin Blockchain Week 2024: Dappcon '24

• ENS  —  A Conversation With The Founder Of NameSpace

• Femgen —  A Conversation With Sarah Ridgley

Glossary

Nouns Builder, a tool that allows anyone to create their own Nounish DAO, providing an array of modular, customizable tools for governance and treasury management.

Builder DAO founded and manages the Nouns Builder tool, dedicated to the creation and development of free and accessible DAO infrastructure as a public good.

Purple DAO the first DAO launched on Nouns Builder. Purple’s goal is to proliferate and expand the Farcaster protocol and ecosystem.

Nouns Archive from proposal 176 by nouncil.eth (noun 68) a one-stop archive center which contain the creativity of NounsDAO's contestants and all the memes proliferations.

3d Nouns a collection of 250 composable characters that turns NounsDAOs' pixel art into dynamic 3D avatars. The first NounsDAO community proposal (#2).

Rounds.wtf a platform that transforms traditional bounty or grant programs into engaging, interactive experiences that involve the entire community. The team previously built Prop House.