Iāve been excited to write about this for a while š
Also, this oneās fun because I do not have an Azuki so I really am on the outside looking in. And IMO what Iāve looked at is impressive.
Donāt just take my word for it, let the floor do the talking. One of these anime-style profile pics costs a cool $75,000 (25 ETH). More metrics here.
Letās start off with NFTās in general.
Close your eyes. Youāre scrolling Discord and Twitter late at night browsing projects. You click on a projectās website and what do you see?
Probably something like this right?
Sorry SpaceCats Metaverse Club, Iām just using your site as an example. I hope your project is successful :) (floor is 0.007 or $24).
Then you come across a A..zuki? Doesnāt that mean āred beanā in Japanese? (this is an important detail to remember) Is this another dumb anime project?
They even have an embedded music player, groovy!
Woah, this website makes youā¦feel something. Thereās a vibe.
Is thisā¦a brand? Well whaddaya knowā¦
Check out the website for yourself.
Whoās the team? Oh some anons that have experience in..oh snap.
Defi, Big Tech, Y-Combinator 2x, Google, Y-Combinator again, Facebook, Blizzard, Street Fighter, Esports, and Google again.
These mfāers arenāt your average anon.
Btw, they modified the minting process that the Ethereum NFT space on has adopted. (TLDR: They innovated and open-sourced the innovation.)
Soā¦cool website ā , intriguing mission ā , experienced team ā , good vibes/music ā
How does that make me feel? A lot of things, but going over the site for the nth time with the music bumpinā gave me chills down my spine. How many brands make you feel that way?
And if Azuki doesnāt make you feel those feels, thatās ok. Iāll still have takeaways for you dear reader.
And as the joke in the space goes: The art looks better the more expensive it is ;)
Jk I didnāt trademark TPan Dive, looks nice though!
Iām going to break this down into a chronological play-by-play so we can follow this more effectively.
NFT LA is one of a series of conferences for the NFT space, similar to other industry conferences. Speakers, networking, expo halls, and of courseā¦parties.
And Azukiās party was on March 30th. People were excited to say the least...
And party they did! The team brought in Tokimonsta and Wiz Khalifa to perform. No biggie, typical for any 3 month old project.
Oh and in the middle of the night, they interrupted the crowd telling them to ācheck their walletsā.
This is an āairdropā. Yes, what some people like to call āfree moneyā. Each holder of an Azuki got a little surprise. If they had 10 Azukis they got 10 surprises.
Wait a secondā¦is this a version ofā¦the legendary āYOU GET A CARā moment?!
Woah. Ya, it is. But Azukiās was 10x harder to implement. Why?
Oprahās stunt was revolutionary, but operationally easier to execute. Oprah had several assistants come in and hand each audience member a wrapped box. When ready, she told everyone to open it at the same time, and then, cue the ecstatic chaos as they got the keys to their new cars.
To show you why Azukiās stunt was 10x harder, letās go through the same timeline, but from a different angle.
Not everyone who was eligible to attend the Azuki party (held an Azuki) could attend. Work, school, other obligations caused a lot of FOMO.
People who were able to attend snuck in livestreams of the party, or posted videos on Twitter. Holders and non-holders alike, we were all foaming at the mouths to see and hear about what was going on.
And then suddenly, this happened in one of the Discord servers I am a part of.
Wtf is this gibberish? Itās the making of a multi-billion dollar brand, thatās what it is.
From a technical standpoint, the Azuki contract woke from its slumber and executed the airdrop to its thousands of holders. Flawlessly.
Oprah conducted her surprise in a physical/physical environment.
Azuki conducted their airdrop in a physical/digital environment. Or āphygitalā as they call it (ew, if you know a better name for the term, please let me know lol).
Thatās 10x harder.
What if thereās a bug? What if the deployer craps out halfway through the airdrop? What if the airdrop took longer than expected?
Oprah effect, gone.
So Azuki just crushed an phygital experiential campaign in LA while all holders had a āYOU GET A CARā moment, no matter where they were.
Couldnāt get into the party? Halfway around the world? Sleeping? It was f*ckinā Christmas anyway.
But it gets better. This is part 1 :)
Every holder got 2 of these crates. Those 2 crates are worth the same amount as the car Oprah gave to each of the audience members
Azuki dominated the conversation for the rest of week post NFT LA.
Whatās in the box? Is the price worth it? Should I sell mine? Should I buy more? When will they reveal?
And then it was April Foolāsā¦
Half of Crypto/NFT Twitter is April Foolās every day, so I donāt think the space expected much. On my timeline I saw more jokes than usual, no biggie.
But thenā¦
āCheck your walletsā
āRefresh your metadataā
Holy crap, is this NFT performance art?
WHATāS INSIDE THE BOX?!
DIRT?!
The market responded quickly, with some holders fireselling their crates of dirt. For a hot second.
Wow, this is a really good April fools joke. But is it a worthless one?
But when that second cooled down, the cooler heads put two and two together. Ok, so this isnāt a pet companion, accessory, or mini-Azuki. What could it be?
For holders that read into the lore of Azuki, the dirt probably meant something was growing in the dirt. What could it be?
waaazzup mwahaha BEANZ wuz here š
Crate ā> Dirt ā> BEANZ?
BEANZ might not make sense to someone outside looking in, so the important part to remember is that Azuki references beans a lot.
Their website call to action: āTake the Red Bean.ā
Thereās a trait in the collection with the character flicking a red bean.
Oh ya, Azuki means āred beanā! Remember? :)
But wait a second, letās watch that video again.
Why is it a blue bean? Why is this blue bean mischievous and using spray paint?
Wait a second, blue beans are a trait in the collection too.
š¤š¤š¤
Azuki announces BEANZ! Cute and full of personality, these little fellas were initially met with some skepticism.
However, after the initial wave of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), the community started to take over and do what they do best, building upon the introductory lore that Azuki created.
Staring Intensifies @AzukiOfficial
Azuki #3204 with purple bean šš #azuki #beanz #ikz
And the story about BEANZ has only begun. Even though the BEANZ have been introduced, the 20,000 bean pods have not revealed yet.
And from the reveal, the BEANZ universe ā A part of yet, also uniquely separate from Azuki, will truly begin.
By the way, did you notice that 2 out of the 10 silhouettes are revealed? More BEANZ characters incoming!
Is this like Marvel Avengers or what, geez Louise.
Oh ya I forgot, I have to add value in my newsletters š So why did I write an essay about beans?
The bar for excellent experiential marketing has been raised - NFTs have added a whole dimension do what this could look like on the digital side of things. Whether itās the digital augmenting the physical, or extending the experience on digital, itās happening.
I believe what Azuki pulled off wouldāve cost a Fortune 500 company 6 to 7 figures to pull off and weeks if not months of planning. (someone keep my honest if Iām wildly off, I am not an experiential marketer lol).
What were the results of this brilliantly executed campaign? Well letās talk dollars since thatās we really care about, right? ;)
3/29: 1 Azuki = 17 ETH @ $3400 = $58,000
4/21: 1 Azuki = 25 ETH + 2 BEANZ = 10 ETH @ $3000 = $105,000
81% increase in value for a single holder.
Iām not saying that Web2 is screwed. Thereās so much brilliant work being done in the space! However, the game is changing, and these jpgs are coming for a slice of the pie. And theyāre doing it faster, and with less resources.
The stakes will be higher and those that execute to the new standard will be rewarded handsomely.
Make jokes, and follow through with them - Brands seem to be upping their game when it comes to April Foolās and thatās great to see. Iāve been tired of the āfake announcementā April Foolās tactic anyway. *Yawn*
However Azuki still took it one step further. They made April Foolās play into their plan. They didnāt play into April Foolās. The schedule of NFT LA and April Foolās made it that much more perfect, but I would bet that Azuki wouldāve revealed a pile of dirt even if April Foolās wasnāt a thing.
Would any of the brands in the Adweek article done those stunts if April Foolās wasnāt a thing?
Alright folks, thatās a wrap for this Dive. Iām going to get carpal tunnel at this rate.
TPan
