Starbucks Releases Non-Fungible Frappuccinos
Image credit: Starbucks
Odyssey demo
Starbucks knows loyalty better than most. The Starbucks Rewards program boasts 50 million customers and $15 billion in annual revenue, and the new Starbucks Odyssey NFT experience is the company’s first effort to use web3 to reward loyalty. We got a demo, and let us tell you: this is not your standard NFT drop.
“The experience allows members to participate in a series of entertaining, interactive activities called ‘Journeys'. Once a Journey is complete, members will earn collectible ‘Journey Stamps’ (NFTs) and Odyssey Points that will open access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences that they cannot get anywhere else.”
We got a demo, and let us tell you: this is not your standard NFT drop.
Key features:
- Friendly terminology: As we said in our 2023 web3 predictions post, Starbucks avoids the term ‘NFT’ and uses ‘digital collectibles’ instead. They believe this is more descriptive, and won’t alienate people turned off by NFTs and crypto.
- Non-speculative: NFTs are tradeable assets, even if they also carry other utilities. Starbucks says the NFTs are ownable perks for their gamified loyalty program, and not meant to be high-value speculative assets. But already there have been unexpected multiple 5-figure sales from this collection.
- Web 2.5 for crypto newbies: Starbucks Odyssey users can purchase Stamps directly with a credit card, no crypto or self-custody wallet required. While the NFTs are onchain, Starbucks is using Nifty Gateway’s custodial wallet to ease UX friction.
Our 0.02ETH 🍃
We're excited to see how this will play out. Starbucks may generate some unexpected cash from the Stamps secondary market, but Stamps therefore may not have the kind of impact on loyalty they had intended.It will be interesting to see whether their userbase will always be okay with custodial wallets especially in low-risk situations like Starbucks NFTs, and if so, how web3 interoperability will be unlocked for brands and users alike.
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Mojito Brought the Toledo Museum of Art’s Debut Web3 Collection to Market with 10,000 NFTs — and Zero Code
Learn how we helped the museum tell an essential cultural story through the power of digital art and community.
Mojito's technology breathes life into dynamic web3 experiences for brands. We simplify the complex backend, allowing the front end to effortlessly focus on the fun stuff – including sticky consumer engagement.
Our recent collaboration with the forward-thinking museum turned this vision into reality. Mojito worked with Toledo's team to orchestrate a digital art experience by Osinachi & Yusuf Lateef. Our community engagement portal enabled Toledo to provide a smooth minting process, hassle-free claims, turnkey community management and reporting for the museum. The result? A powerful drop of 10,000 NFTs.
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The Web3-ification of Credit Card Loyalty Programs
Visa's new web3 loyalty program is no accident.
Swipe (or nowadays, tap) your credit card, and earn points. A process that’s now commonplace has a lengthy history that can teach us more than a few things about customer loyalty — and its journey through technology. Let’s start at the beginning.
From paper to plastic 💳
While the history of credit cards dates back thousands of years, things turned from stone to metal — and later paper and plastic — about halfway through the 20th century with the arrival of the modern credit card in 1950. Reportedly invented following a case of a forgotten wallet, The Diner’s Club Card (initially owned by Discover Financial Services before its acquisition by BMO in 2009) was the first multipurpose charge card credit card intended primarily for dining and travel expenses.
The Diner’s Club was also the first to pair the concept of charging credit with fueling consumer loyalty through the inception of points. Through partnering with dining, entertainment, and later, travel entities (i.e., airlines, rental cars, and hotels), Diners Club cardholders paid a tiered annual fee to gain special perks based on how much money they spent. The greater the yearly fee, the greater the perks.
About eight years following Diner’s Club in 1958, American Express entered the credit card industry with the world’s first international charge card, which initially had an annual fee of $6 (one dollar more than Diner’s Club). Shortly after, Bank of America and Mastercard followed suit. During this initial period, most credit cards focused on offering customers just that — credit — with loyalty and reward yet to take off.
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The 10 brands that won web3 in 2023 🏆
Our fingernails are officially onchain.
2023 was a year of building in web3 — and no shortage of brands got in on the action.
Across luxury fashion, institutions like Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Maison Margiela reimagined the roadmap for retaining customers through captivating yet accessible content that turned buying products into something more: an enduring digital connection. Others, like beauty platform KIKI World, pushed the limits of blockchain — and fingernails — via web3 communities focused on co-creation and customization. Across the sports field, Manchester United, Red Bull Racing, and the Tampa Bay Rays-owned Rowdies, won through fan programs and sticky experiences that incentivized fan engagement and boosted sales. The list goes on.
Below are 10 brands who did it right in 2023 — and, in the process, won web3.
