Brands on Web3 — March 22 Edition

Crypto and NFTs are gaining the attention of large businesses and nimble small businesses alike to experiment and find the right formula to engage with their customers or grow businesses from scratch. As we start to see more and more fascinating examples of brands on Web3, I thought it could be helpful to gather fascinating executions together and share with everyone considering taking their brand onto Web3 or starting one.

The Web3 brand examples I will be collecting on this space will be those that provide real-world utility to buyers or community members, design a model or framework of business operation, or showcase a beautifully crafted experience that can match the delivery of the more mature Web2. I will not be collecting brands that merely sell NFTs to get into the space.

While we can expect an influx of brands entering the Web3 space, we cannot estimate how often (and how many) good examples we can see. Hence, I would love to collect and share regularly, but I cannot determine the frequency of these sharings for now.

For the first edition, let us explore a few brand examples and models, including well-known international brands and brand new companies started on Web3:

BlockBar ties NFTs with actual rare liquor direct from distilleries

BlockBar is an NFT platform that partners with existing alcohol distilleries to tie NFTs to actual rare bottles stored in a vault. NFT holders can track ownership to the distillery itself and burn the NFT to redeem the physical bottle. They can also trade the rare bottles via NFTs more easily on the marketplace, taking away the hassle of physical shipment, trading, and storage. The unique model makes BlockBar an enabler for distilleries, and a marketplace and storage bank for liquor traders, smoothening the rare liquor trading process, which solves a real-world problem.

Martha Stewart’s Fresh Mint

Martha Stewart is a television personality and businesswoman known for her magazine and TV program named after herself — “Martha Stewart Living.” Entering the Web3 world in a tastefully executed fashion, Martha launched the Fresh Mint site to sell her photographs in NFT form. While the NFT product itself is nothing new, the execution of her site stood out from other NFT projects we have seen that are natively born in the Web3 world. Fresh Mint takes the best of Web2 DTC e-commerce user experience to explain how NFT works. It is an excellent entry for customers new to NFTs, which may be the bulk of Martha Stewart’s followers. This website is a great example to follow as we need to get Web3 projects to cross the chasm beyond early adopters.

Bored Breakfast Club

Bored Breakfast Club is an NFT project that leverages the popularity and scale of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s branding to create a coffee subscription service, hence providing a real-world utility to NFT holders. By owning the Bored Breakfast Club NFT, holders can redeem bags of fresh coffee roasted by Yes Plz.

The NFT project’s model takes profits from NFT, coffee beans, and merchandize sales into its community coffee wallet to allow redemption of coffee beans. It’s a pretty cool concept; however, the sustainability of this model can be questionable as its reliant on velocity to keep going. Buying specialty coffee beans is becoming more accessible than ever. I can’t help but wonder what real-world problem Bored Breakfast Club solves — it seems to complicate rather than simplify.

Taco Bell & Burger King NFTs

In the early half of 2021, Taco Bell tweeted that they are selling taco-themed GIFs and images on Rarible. The NFTs came with a real-world benefit in the form of a $500 electronic Taco Bell gift card, reserved only for the original owner of the NFT. Good try and experiment to bring in a real-world benefit with the collectible; however, the NFT may cost way more than $500 fiat. Good deal for the original owner who minted the NFT, though.

Burger King attempted as well with its NFTs where holders can have a chance to unlock prizes ranging from whopper sandwiches for a year (wow!), autographed goods, or even a “once in a lifetime call with one of the campaign’s celebrities.” In my opinion, this is a better angle compared to Taco Bell’s, but it still lacks smaller carrots to keep holders invested.

Coachella Collectible NFTs

The legendary festival brand Coachella is also adding a digital pillar to its mid-long term strategy with NFTs. Coachella Collectible NFTs allow holders to win lifetime festival passes unlock unique on-site experiences, physical items, and digital collectibles. While in the short-term, demand may be lower as events are still hard to execute due to COVID19, Coachella may see long-term wins if they are invested enough to keep this going, which I think they are. Unfortunately, the NFTs are only available on their own marketplace or FTX US, not popular NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. While this decision can help keep control, it lowers the value of the NFTs. I hope that Coachella is serious about incorporating NFTs as part of their live event passes and access operations, rather than making quick money through “investable” NFTs.

----------------------------

This edition shows early examples of companies and brands attempting to create real-world value with NFTs. The models they embrace may not be perfect, but they are inevitable for innovation.

----------------------------

If you enjoyed this article and would love to read more, please visit my page on Medium.