So far, 2023 has been suffering from a sort of crypto crisis hangover following the crash of FTX and the chaotic falls of other crypto companies. This hangover essentially slowed down momentum of the emerging Web3 marketing landscape, where business leaders were eager to figure out how Bored Ape NFTs could translate to new channels to reach consumers.
The main appeal of Web3 is decentralisation as the tech allows people to own their data and digital assets, opening up possibilities for distributing purchase options in new and surprising places across the internet.
A huge issue preventing the widespread use of Web3 is its marketing as tech for tech’s sake which isolates audiences who aren’t fluent in tech. Instead, Web3 providers need to speak to the business problems that CMOs and their brands are facing.
According to Matt Moorut, director, analyst at Gartner, activewear and some luxury brands are among the most advanced with Web3. “Nike and Adidas in particular were two of the earliest ones to build blockchain technologies into loyalty programs and build communities around that,” he told Insider.
These brands have been clever in using Web3 beyond NFT promotion and instead focusing on how Web3 forms part of their customer experience strategy. Nike rolled out its .Swoosh community in November 2022, with options for members to participate in activations online and in the real world, engage with Nike athletes and creatives, and use virtual Nike gear in games.
In April 2023, Nike launched its first virtual collection, called Our Force 1, which was co-created by its community. Big brand moments like this aside, consumer engagement with Web3 activations is still on the low side, and it skews towards the young, affluent, male demographic.
Regarding the potential isolation of audiences in marketing Web3 as part of your brand, Moorut makes a good point; “The number of consumers out there that have used an NFT or have a crypto wallet is really low if you look at the total population,” Moorut says. “Until there’s a big sea change in the consumer adoption, it’s going to be kind of an edge case for a marketer, versus the core of most retailers’ business.”
Dispatch, which works with brands like Lacoste, Ledger, and Marie Laffont, offers a frictionless way for shoppers to buy from brands wherever they are on the internet, whether in a game like Roblox, on social media, or on a marketing platform. Rather than clicking on an ad that then navigates the user away from the original site, the transaction takes place through the asset.
