In peak COVID 2021, Web3 and NFTs started taking over many of our newsfeeds. Mass media quickly labeled them as speculative assets that 16-year-old degen kids were getting rich on overnight. Yet we, as a marketing consultancy, immediately felt that something more powerful was behind these images flooding Twitter. Just as we’ve seen subcultures of sneakers, art, watches, or trading cards go mainstream, something was forming within the NFT space that led us to believe they were more than just a fad.

We pride ourselves on being in the eye of the cultural storm, and it was clear that Web3 was the next wave we needed to explore. We saw it as a revolutionary new way of storytelling, which is what we believe great marketing is for brands. We wanted to study how the best projects were building their brands, how other projects were failing to resonate, and the differences and similarities of how Web2 and Web3 brands operate.

As of today, here’s what we know:

• Web3 is the wild wild west.

• We are far from being experts—because nobody is.

• The rules change every single day.

So the question is, what can Web2 and Web3 brands learn from each other?

If you’re here, you probably have some understanding of and curiosity about crypto, Web3, NFTs, and the power of decentralization. Web3 is the antithesis of Web2 brands and their centralized approach.

For most Web2 companies, the direction of the brand typically lies with the board members and high-level executives. A select few define what the brand stands for, what products are being released, and what the marketing stories are.

The best Web2 brands, such as Nike, are unwaveringly sharp in who they are and how they behave. Since 1964, Nike has believed: “If you have a body, you’re an Athlete.” With Just Do It as the outward-facing brand tagline, they’ve spent decades reinforcing who they are and rallying a passionate community around that belief. It’s a classic case of what centralization looks like, and that strong point of view has catapulted the brand to the top of the sports apparel and footwear industry.

Conversely, Web3 operates in the opposite sense; we see members of communities such as the Bored Apes Yacht Club launching their own pop-up restaurants, or Women and Weapons owners creating their own beverage lines, and we’re waiting to see what other NFT communities can dream up next. Things can happen faster, grow stronger, and scale bigger than traditional brands could ever pull off. In these cases, decentralization has proved extremely powerful. At the same time, this sort of flexibility can cause some NFT projects to lose focus of who they truly are.

https://twitter.com/whitneyreid33/status/1513563402215387138

Three questions we’d ask marketers

Question #1: If you are a marketer at a traditional brand and are curious about Web3, would you ever let your community dictate the stories and behaviors that your brand produces?

The strongest brands, regardless of whether they are Web2 or Web3, are the ones that are authentic to their narrative and foster like-minded individuals to rally together. In Web3, NFT collectors and investors are joining projects that represent a narrative that they connect with. They believe in the founders of these projects, whether they be apes or cats or play-to-earn metaverse games, and the vision they lay out. They’re investing themselves into NFT communities that give them opportunities to influence the growth of the brand.

But, like all great brands in Web2 or Web3, is it clear who your project is for and what makes your story unique? Take the Azuki NFT project, a brand established as the “skaters of Web3.” Everything they do reinforces this cultural connection. Like Nike, they know exactly who they are and have established their own rules on how they plan to behave. The common theme between Nike and Azuki is their unique positioning and their ability to stay consistent in reinforcing their story day after day.

We’ve all heard the question, “Why are you buying JPEGs when they’re free?!?” And all of us in Web3 give that comment the side eye or meme it on Twitter.

Here’s the simple truth: NFTs are access passes to your brand. It could be access to the creative art you’re offering. It could be access to an exclusive line of product.

It could be access to your play-to-earn game. It could be access to IRL events you throw. It could be access to ownership royalties from your favorite artists’ new track.

NFTs are membership passes that bring like-minded people together. The best brands in the world have always treated their members as part of the company by listening to them and rewarding them. Web3 communities often live on Twitter and Discord, as they constantly discuss their everyday happenings and ideate creative ideas for their NFTs. And just like with traditional brands, communities ultimately serve as the biggest evangelists of your story.

The warning for Web2 brands is that you shouldn’t enter Web3 if you’re looking to latch onto the current NFT “trend.” This isn’t a one-off brand stunt where you launch a limited-edition product through NFTs and go away. Consider how Lego inspires never-ending creative imagination among kids or how Marvel is constantly feeding its community new superheroes. Brands that understand how to world-build and grow with their communities tend to rise to the top.

The number of Web2 brands currently jumping into Web3 reminds us of what happened in 2008 when every brand rushed to develop its own app. These are the questions we would have asked those companies: Is there true utility and value in your app? Are you programming it with new stories to keep people engaged? Are you listening to and involving your members to shape what happens next? Web3 is like the app era, but on steroids.

Takeaways:

• If you are a Web3 project founder, develop a strong narrative or point of view for your brand that carves out its own space in the culture.

• Web2 brands entering Web3 need to provide their communities with the opportunity to have a voice in shaping the brand’s stories.

• Web3 brands need to focus on establishing a clear marketing narrative and reinforce it day after day.

Question #2: For marketers curious about entering Web3, are you ready to take on the responsibility of investing in your community, or are you just trying to grab headlines?

Traditional brands have a tendency to buy their way into the latest trends. We saw it in the .com era, we saw it happen in social media, and now we’re seeing it with NFTs. Yes, it’s easy to get press, but are you putting careful thought and consideration into what you’re offering up to potential members? Have you done your research and connected with the right people pioneering this space?

We’ve seen brands like Nike show its commitment to Web3 by partnering with and investing in RTFKT with a long-term outlook; Adidas with its collaboration with Bored Apes Yacht Club, PUNKS Comic, and gmoney; and Gucci with its alignment with 10KTF, a wearables NFT brand. All have authentically aligned themselves with the true builders and innovators of the space.

On the other hand, consider Papa John’s, which recently released an NFT project with artwork inspired by its pizza delivery bags. Sure, advertising blogs picked up the launch, but with no creativity, no story, no real utility, and no plans to build or engage its community, what was the point? StockX launched its NFT project, starting a service that allows users to trade sneakers without ever taking possession of them. What’s the narrative here that should excite Web3 users beyond a transaction? Why would digitally native individuals invest in an NFT that offers them no value in their online world?

There have been countless traditional brands that have already jumped the gun with mass marketing messages around their NFT projects. Many of them have no plans to treat their projects like living and breathing experiences. Substance is mandatory.

We’ve labored over this numerous times thus far: your community is everything. Taking that a step farther, we also believe that your community is your marketing and they determine whether you’re really going to make it. In observing some of the most well-known Web3 projects to date, we’ve seen how important it is to listen to your biggest advocates, your members. While project founders, their pedigree and accomplishments, and investors are all important, the true impact of a successful project comes from within the community.

You have shining examples of this with projects like MFers. What started as a meme NFT brand with no planned utility and roadmap quickly evolved into a diehard group of members who were empowered to lead their own way. The community started a Discord. The community built their own utility. The community took the spark from its founder, Sartoshi, and fanned it into a flame.

On the contrary, here’s a cautionary tale: Boss Beauties recently teased an announcement featuring a collaboration with Marvel that had members hyped. Then, the official announcement dropped.

https://twitter.com/Marvel/status/1512603710525947906?s=20&t=-XmIo8YtCDP-ZAxQOfToQA

Whether intentional or not, the marketing message from Marvel only highlighted the founder of the project in the copy and had no mention of the Boss Beauties community. Many members of the community felt their voices were not heard, resulting in an overwhelming response of distaste and alienation. So herein lies the danger of Web3 projects operating like traditional brands. Founders must have a solidified vision and point of view for their project, but they shouldn’t be the sole dictators of the narrative. While the Marvel collaboration still has potential, an authentic two-way street has yet to be reflected in its execution.

Takeaways:

• Brands entering Web3 need to treat their communities as members of the brand, creating substance with a long-term story for engagement.

• Web3 brands must listen to their communities and promote their voices as an authentic marketing vehicle.

Question #3: For marketers looking to build in Web3, how are you elevating your marketing to match the innovation and behaviors happening in culture?

As you can tell by now, Web3 is an innovative space. Whether you’re a traditional brand or an NFT project, there is no point in doing the expected. With the lightning speed evolution in Web3, it really is like what Ricky Bobby said: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

Stack Papa John’s NFT launch next to the recent Azuki party at NFT LA: To everyone’s surprise, the onstage emcee dropped the line “check your wallets”; an airdrop had just occurred, and Azuki NFT holders were given two free companion NFTs. This show-stopping moment had all of NFT Twitter buzzing.

https://twitter.com/eugenehu/status/1509438810513297412

Or compare the Yuga Labs announcement of $APE coin. They released the coin 48 hours later, with a picture-perfect rollout in which every major crypto exchange began trading it immediately. Web3 isn’t a space where traditional thinking moves the needle.

A hot trend last year for NFT projects was buying billboards in Times Square as their “marketing.” Certainly, the social posts were nice. But these simple marketing tactics undersell the innovation happening within the NFT projects themselves. And they fall into the traps of many traditional brands, which often lack an emotionally resonant story.

What we learn from the best marketing brands in the world is that they dig deeper into your passions and emotions and bring them to life with creative twists. Nike doesn’t just buy any random billboard; they blast lasers on them to tell you the King is MVP. Supreme doesn’t say shit for months and then drops a lookbook in a Japanese magazine featuring a collaboration with Burberry that releases in two days. Out of nowhere, Wendy’s creates its own “National Roast Day” on Twitter, and now makes it a yearly tradition to take comedic jabs at other brands to dominate the social conversation.

So why are innovative Web3 brands just buying placements on billboards that any brand in the world could? Why not create the unexpected by rethinking billboards as your brand’s TV network that can feature community-created content and give members a stage to shine?

Takeaways:

• For Web3 project leads, think about your marketing as another vehicle that can excite your community just as much as your NFT roadmap.

• Web2 and Web3 brands both need to think outside the box to deliver marketing innovation that meets the standards of what’s happening in Web3.

Web2 and Web3 can be allies

We are far from being experts in the Web3 space. These are just our observations, and we welcome all conversations. We’ve been lucky to create marketing stories for some of the most important brands in culture in the traditional landscape and are excited about the potential of how brands can be built in Web3.

While there are distinct differences between how each space operates, there’s a bridge we hope to build that connects the best of both worlds. And at the center of it is an amazing community of Web3-curious individuals who will shape the future of our lives.

We’d love to connect with you, whether you’re a traditional brand or a Web3 brand, to dream up how we can storytell and brand build in this new space.

Who we are:

We are Good Morning. (Is the name a coincidence? Probably not.) We are a marketing consultancy that was founded in 2018 by Josh Chang and Charles Lee. We’ve spent a combined 30 years building marketing campaigns for some of the biggest, culturally impactful brands in the old Web2 world, including Nike, Adidas, Google, and Apple.

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