A few topics today. Here. We. Go!
Decentraland (DCL) Events
I got an e-mail from DCL last week.
Now, I’m not a big Metaverse participant outside of my Otherside experience thus far. However, I’m also aware that there is a lot going on in this side of the universe.
I guess white hair is popular in the metaverse?
One of the reasons is even though metaverses are rooted in some crypto/Web3 principles, it also incorporates other emerging areas/industries, such as AR/VR, gaming, and experiential design. Not going to pretend I’m an expert in those fields.
That said, environments like DCL, Sandbox, Horizon Worlds (ehhh), and Otherside will likely be important for Crypto and Web3 as a whole. In way, they’re symbiotic!
Let’s take a quick step back on DCL, what is Decentraland and what are they all about?
3D virtual world platform
You can buy virtual plots of land with MANA (their token) or in ETH. The cheapest 1x1 plot is ~$2,800 currently.
Founded by 2 Argentinians and has been in development since 2015
Launched in 2017 with digital land parcels selling for $20 each and MANA sold for $0.02 (currently $0.85)
Anyway, here’s the e-mail subject line I received
Woah. Those are some big names: another Netflix Web3 play, CBS, and a fancy fashion brand that might have a flavored sparkling water line?
I had to click to read more.
Wait, wait, wait. Have I been living under a metaverse rock or something? These are some big consumer brands purchasing virtual land and hosting events. I don’t know if these brands are publicizing these events broadly (doubt it), but it seems they’re catering to and brand-building for this crypto/metaverse-native audience.
If you go to DCL’s event website, they a looooong list of events. Guess how many events are happening today in DCL? 5? 10? No. 19. You could literally spend our day bouncing around these different events in our white-haired avatars. WTF.
I’m surprised and impressed at the volume of events, the level of brand involvement, and the diversity of events being held in DCL (and I’m assuming in the other metaverses as well). Again, probably because I’m not close to this space.
I’d love to connect with someone at DCL to learn more about what the hell they’re doing on the partnerships/BD /marketing side so I can do a proper Dive on this. I’d love a warm intro if you know someone there!
But for now, I’m going to put myself in the shoes of these brands. Why would I spend considerable time and resources building out a virtual version of whatever my company or product is? Nothing mindblowing here, but:
Channel x Product x Audience fit: (Good) Marketers understand this. If you want to appeal to an audience, you need to meet them where they’re at.
Wait a sec, how big is this metaverse audience anyway?
Ok…so maybe the above reason is not as strong as I thought. I imagine those WAU numbers are even lower in recent weeks considering the bear market.
R&D: Considering the above chart, this would probably make more sense. The teams/brands working on this want to better understand how the metaverse works, what appeals to the audience, and be ready when these platforms go mainstream.
Create unique experiences: I would argue all these experiences are pretty unique, but not popular (for now). This is a new category of activation that brands are going to add to their toolbox, combined with the R&D point above.
Internal pressure to chase the ‘next big thing’: Probably some of this too. Natural especially when businesses need to continue finding the next blue ocean to make a footprint in. IMO experiential marketing is going to be one of the next big waves, and these brands want to ride it, not get drowned by it.
I’ll try to keep a closer eye on metaverse developments, but seems like we’re still in the early innings here. Even with big brand names joining in.
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Bonus: Referral Contest!
Did someone say contest?! Jk, not quite a contest but I would like to ask for a favor. I’ve been writing this blog for 3+ months straight and I’m at a grand total of 12 subscribers. I’d really appreciate it you took 2 minutes out of your day to recommend my newsletter to someone you think would enjoy this or has always been curious about Web3/NFTs. If you’ve chuckled at my dumb memes or learned something new, consider the referral as a ‘thank you’ to me.
Now if I were to do a contest or rewards what would I do? Something like this?
PS: Morning Brew and Hustle were some of the early newsletters that grew a ton through this tactic several years ago. Kudos to their creativity and great content (was an early subscriber to both back in the day).
But I mean, do you really want TPan merch?
I believe what you really want is more great content. And what I want is more people to read great content. And if you think this is great content, I’d appreciate a referral/share. 🤝
Anyway, I have been noodling on how I can reward and interact with my readers and Twitter followers more. So who knows, maybe I’ll do giveaways in the future for NFT merch (the good stuff) since one of my closets has a dedicated NFT merch corner at this point.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
NFT Incubators
CPG (CryptoPackagedGoods) is a NFT project by @chriscantino. Chris is a thought leader in Web3 but also has worked in CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods, love the acronym wordplay he’s done) for a while, including being CMO for a brand that sold to Unilever. So creating CPG is very much in his wheelhouse.
So how does the CPG incubator work?
Incubator will fund NFT and Web3 products between $15 - $50k each
Only Pop NFT Holders (CPG’s NFT collection) can apply
Projects must have ARR of < $250k
Projects should be beneficial to the CPG community and ideally the broader ecosystem over time
Incubator will provide funding, mentorship, networking, promotion, and demo days.
Program cohorts will last 3-6 months depending on the project
The incubator will not take equity in the projects, so this is more like a grant. However, there are expectations of regular updates to the CPG community and being featured in CPG content and promotion.
Why is this incubator interesting?
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a bit, you know that I’m a fan of creative and novel approaches in the Web3 space. This is one of them.
The closest example in NFTs of this off the top of my head is Otherside (Yuga’s metaverse) rewarding active participants more Otherside deeds if they participate in Otherside development, and that’s a poor comp.
For crypto as a whole, these funding models are common with blockchains, protocols, and DAOs to promote a stronger and more engaged ecosystem.
Projects are always looking for more ways to engage their community. This is a great approach to solving that problem, and in a captive way.
This isn’t just for the projects, it’s engaging for the community as well as they may test the product, join the teams, or invest in the project down the road.
Even though the initial incubator ‘grants’ won’t take equity in the project, I would imagine there would be opportunities for CPG to take equity at a later point. Especially if the project has traction. This is a great way for CPG to increase its value as a company/brand, as well diversify potential revenue/investment streams long-term.
Chris is also a partner at Color Capital, so he knows how that game is played
This is something for other NFT projects/brands to take note of. How can they leverage their community to create in partnership with the core team?
I’m excited to see what projects are announced for the initial incubator cohort. I myself have signed up to be a tester and content advocate to support the effort, mostly out of curiosity. Maybe I’ll write about one (or all lol) of the cohort participants! You can sign up to participate as well! (you don’t have to be a CPG holder)
More commercial licensing platforms
A couple weeks ago I wrote about Bored Jobs, a commercial licensing platform for NFT holders of established projects.
Well, there’s more of where that came from.
What’s cool about Feature is there is a live marketplace that doesn’t seem to require a middleman (BoredJobs’ approach, at least for now).
As an example, we see BAYC #4075, Goldmouf available for licensing and their rate card.
Feature was also the platform that facilitated the licensing for Coinbase’s Degen Trilogy film series. Pretty cool.
There’s a simple but pretty comprehensive FAQ section as well that covers various situations. IP rights are entering a brave new world which is exciting, but also somewhat intimidating.
Speaking of Coinbase’s film series, Part 1 just released today! I won’t share my thoughts because I don’t want Coinbase to put a target on my back. The quality of animation and storytelling is top notch though 👀
That’s it for today folks. Again, I’d appreciate a referral for this newsletter. Your support means a lot 😊
See you tomorrow!
