Trends | Mid-year trends tune-up
Image credit: Vanessa Bucceri
At the start of 2023 Mojito made some bold predictions for web3 adoption this year. As June is around the corner, let’s see how we are doing...
🍃 The term ‘NFTs’ is replaced with ‘Digital Products’ 🟢 On track
More loyalty-focused programs are gaining traction (e.g. Starbucks Odyssey, Nike .Swoosh), new giants have launched memberships (e.g. Adidas ALTs) and major sporting IP has delivered 1m+ claims (e.g. ‘Inside the NBA' on TNT watch-to-earn program). Almost none of these global initiatives are using the term ‘NFT’s’, but rather things like ‘digital collectible.’
Every single loyalty program in the future will use digital tokens (NFTs) to capture, incentivize, and reward consumer interactions, and we will continue to see focus on loyalty points rather than the NFT tech and terminology behind it.
🍃 The Rise of Physical Asset-Backed Tokens 🟢 On track
A number of brands launch digital twins, NFC chipped products and there's significant growth in builders within tokenization of physical assets. Asset-backed tokens are being 'redeemed' for physical items ('Redeemables') with increasing frequency, from KITH x Invisible Friends campaign, Nike’s Cryptokicks to Avenged Sevenfold ticket access.
🍃‘Connect Wallet’ Across Major Websites 🟢 On track
There’s a shift towards brands offering token-gated accounts as secure user authentication, that's invisible to the customer. Instead of managing different accounts and password, with web3, customers are starting to connect a wallet to verify their membership status and gain access. Customers can get access to subscription-only content (e.g. TIMEPieces for TIME subscriptions) and potentially other future rewards (e.g. Mastercard Music Pass offering AI generated experiences).
🍃 Web3 Goes Web2.5 🟢 On track
Web3-native projects are exploring the transmedia franchise landscape to attract new ‘non crypto’ fans into their universes. e.g. Pudgy Penguins launched Toys on Amazon, and World of Women launched WOWGs Monopoly Game. Metaverse Web2.5 has seen major brand activations to scale traffic and DAUs (e.g. Roblox x Gucci x Vans and Coachella in Fortnite)
🍃EVM Chains Will Dominate Non-EVM Chains 🟠 Too early to call
Brands continue to choose Polygon and Ethereum for their web3 activations and loyalty programs as a clear winner. That being said, with the excitement of ordinals, Asprey Bugatti launched a few weeks ago with a Bitcoin NFT project. EVM chains have faired better in the bear
🍃The End of the 10k PFP Projects And Money Grabs 🟠 Too early to call
It seems to be the end as we know them. Web3-native 10k PFP projects solely focused on floor price and speculation, but yet to deliver tangible utility at scale, have struggled. Large scale NFT launches have been reframed. Nike .Swoosh is a new "community experience" that sold 50,000 on May 24th. Doodles is a "media franchise." Boss Beauties is a "media + entertainment brand." Deadfellaz is a "collection + metaverse brand."
🍃Brand-Hosted Secondary Marketplaces 🟢 On track
Major brands (e.g. Sothebys, Amazon, Mattel) and bluechip NFT projects (e.g. Art Blocks, 9dcc) have launched Direct-to-Consumer marketplaces with enforceable royalties and an elevated user experience.
🍃More NFTs for DAO Membership Management 🔴 Few use cases
DAOs have fallen back in their promise to be the governance model of choice. Notable exceptions include the mighty Nouns DAO that have been funding wide ranging CC0 projects to accelerate the Nouns brand.
If you'd like to explore any of these use cases, contact us
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Who’s hungry for zero-party cookies?
Welcome to the future of personalized consumer data.
Camilla McFarland isn't just a crypto OG who's been making moves onchain since 2013; she's also an advisor and member of Mojito's founding team, who's long been at the forefront of brand innovation in web3.
What better person to wax onchain poetic on the future of brands in web3 at one of the industry's largest global gatherings: EthCC?
Following her talk last year on Big Brands & Web3: NFTs and the consumer brand revolution, Camilla took the stage this week in Brussels to drop some more alpha on brands making moves onchain in a new talk, Zero-Party Cookies: the future of personalized consumer data.
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Use Case: Richie Hawtin & Proof-of-Attendance NFTs
Breaking down a different future for drops.
For techno icon Richie Hawtin, drops are about more than just bass.
As one of the most acclaimed artists in electronic music history, the Ontario, Canada-bred musician has long had an affinity for leveraging futuristic technologies to make processes more efficient and engaging.
“Music and technology have absolutely always been intertwined for me,” Hawtin said in a 2022 interview.
From soundtracking Prada fashion shows with mind-bending audio-visuals to creating his own mixer (and tech-indebted sake brand), Hawtin has always pushed the bar.
Since 2022, his journey as a musical technologist has included a growing affinity for web3 — more specifically, Proof-of-Attendance NFTs.
How to Rewire Your Brain (and Brand Strategy) using Web3
From web3 data to web3 wallets - the only constant is change.
In technology, as in life, this one always hits. Whether it’s AI-powered smart pillows, a fully NFC-chipped wardrobe, or an entire generation spending their allowance on avatars, the future of engaging consumers is no longer about maybe leveraging next-generation technology — it’s a must.
Nonetheless, it’s not always easy to keep up when so much change is in the air. Sometimes, it even requires us to completely rewire our brains to make room for what we must understand to thrive as a brand. Rather than turn this into a game of Operation, let’s continue.
