Do not talk to me about NFTs and Metaverse

Web3 and all the busy trimming have a reputation problem. And I’m sorry to admit that it’s largely due to my tribe – creative. That’s why I call it nonsense. Just because you are creative in advertising, does not give you the right credentials to be an expert and provide effective solutions.

Before you go on the defensive or sky with your eyes, I would like to give some context. I promise you I did not take this position overnight. Let’s get into that.

New worlds, same people

I have been deep in digital floodwaters for more than 20 years.

I quit my job at a traditional agency after a few months of college and co-founded Code and Theory on September 1, 2001. The world was pressured against unimaginable and radical changes in our collective economic, social and cultural fabric – which began with 9/11 and continues with the eruption of the dotcom bubble. We had our work to ourselves. Overall, there was a lot of reluctance and skepticism to do anything digital, so we were directed to just create some fun flash sites, mostly with cool but useless animations. And only now, as I reflect back, do I realize how transformative these “useless” projects were for not just our business, but the industry as a whole.

I, like many of my other acclaimed creatives, spent most of everything explaining what “digital-first” actually meant and then justifying Why companies should be digital first (now a buzzword). In my opinion, it was hard work, but good work because we were all digital disciples who actively participated in Socratic analysis and discourse about changing values ​​and their impact on the business. Our proselytization had purpose. Fast forward to the rise of web2; once again, the world had to adapt to new standards of engagement when they were forced to adopt digital as a necessity. (Side note: I never quite made everyone fully understand that digital-first is simply digital as a strategy, not just digital as a tactic. Lessons?)

With the maturation of a better technology stack and a seemingly clearer justification for why digital is a requirement – obvious to us NOW-the industry created a new buzzword called digital transformation (no, prioritizing your media consumption to digital is not). There were also a host of creative and other allied professionals, many of whom did not have a targeted definition of digital transformation, and pretended to have solutions for businesses. But these people who do not even have a targeted definition, how can you solve a problem that you do not even understand exists? Out of it came many meaningless ideas sold as digital transformation, but failed to actually deliver on the core opportunity. So much more to say about digital transformation, but I stick to the topic.

So cut to the environment now, and we do not even know what digital transformation actually is, and yet we will start talking about NFTs, metaverse, crypto, decentralized and smart contracts, DAOs, blockchain and dare I say … web3. Even real moments now have a fancy acronym called IRL. Creative get too distracted with novelty and innovation for the sake of innovation. Thus, web3 is positioned as a new marketing opportunity when there is really so much more than that. At its best, web3 is a new creative and business model. When we lift the conversation and see web3 through a creative model lens, the promise of web3 begins to materialize, providing new ways to deliver consumer and business value. As a business model, it provides new markets through new ways to connect with consumers, new revenue streams and the transformation of merchandising, production, design, brand management and marketing. This difference is nuanced, yet profound. The end result is the difference between spreading sounds that sound fancy, exploiting cheap “creative” ad NFT ideas, and a meaningful exploration of value chains across communities and experiences.

Stop being a tourist

So here we are. Web3, crypto, NFT, blockchain … That’s the wild west. And with the pace of innovation happening, it’s pretty easy to know a little about a lot and sound good. We can become tourists and not actual stewards or citizens. Do you own a wallet without storage? Have you ever exchanged different types of cryptocurrencies for decentralized exchanges? Have you ever been on a whitelist? Have you used tokens to actually vote on a proposal in a DAO? If the answer is no, it is probably safe to assume that you have not even bought or sold an NFT. Still, we’re filled with an industry that comes up with and talks about cool “creative” NFT ideas for advertising purposes to get the next cool award or win the next big account.

And on the opposite spectrum, you have the critical discussion that simplifies issues such as energy consumption, difficult to use technology, no value, Discord sucks, blah blah blah …

Now, do you understand the different chains and their energy effect on how it calculates power? Or to that point, the difference between “proof of effort” and “proof of work?” Were you the person who said: “I would never shop online because it was very slow to call my modem and the websites were confusing in the late 90’s?” Were you the person who thought mp3 files were a niche issue as they were limited to sharing over local networks in colleges? Did you like the feel of a print magazine, so you thought digital media had no chance?

I do not want to have these discussions if you have not actually engaged in web3 or are close to being open to new perspectives. I spent two decades having similar arguments as that. And to that point, nothing sounds worse to me than sitting on a panel at the next big event to have a shallow web3 discussion where we say “benefit” 20 times and talk about how DAOs will be the solution to any business challenge.

Now with all that has been said, let me be very clear. I have great faith in web3. I believe it has the potential and likelihood of fundamentally changing the way most industries conduct business. In the same way that I thought digital would change the world back in 2001. I did not know much about anything then, but we were at least filled with technological promises and some creative dreams, which I now have again. It is incredibly exciting and inspiring.

Web3 is a technology and a philosophy that provides new economic constructions for intellectual property. It changes the relationship between creator and fans, or brands and consumers, or consumer and consumers for that matter. It clearly disrupts the way we think about banking through DeFi (decentralized finance). It changes the way we think about online identity. Is it singular, is it multidimensional, is my identity linked to status, is my bank identity? It changes supply chains, it changes the idea of ​​ownership, both the need for physical ownership and the possibility and desire for digital ownership. You have to live under a rock not to realize how it changes gambling or how it can change gambling and sports. How it is likely to change digital services and loyalty programs. How it changes ticket sales and events. It literally threatens old types of business models, while providing space for new opportunities for new businesses. The list may continue.

But here’s the challenge of having these bandwagon-y discussions; these are very technical, very disruptive, very early in our understanding and potentially transforming philosophy and technology. I am not the first to compare with the first days of the internet where understanding was low but the potential was high.

For those who are curious to understand a practical example, look no further than the StockX and Nike controversy. If you spent some time understanding what’s going on and why it’s important to both companies, you can start doing that imagine a world around where there will be pervasive effects of how this technology can transform both of these businesses.

And that’s my point, the far-reaching effect. That is what is both interesting and important. The connections between what web3 and its corresponding buzzwords can achieve and where it will have an impact across a brand. It has the fundamental potential to change so much of a business.

At Code and Theory, we have always maintained a belief that a brand is the sum of all its interactions, not just the herring experiences they are traditionally organized by. It takes rigor and insight to make these connections and identify the pervasive effects, which are often about behavior, technology, digital abilities and of course creative thinking. Or as some like to call it “digital transformation” or how others like to call it “digital-first” or as I like to call it, the way companies need to do business in today’s competitive, connected world.

So … let me know if you want to talk about NFTs and the meta verse. And if part of that discussion happens to be “What should our web3 strategy be?”, I know what at least part of the answer is, and it will NOT be limited to just a web3 “meta-activation.”

Even if it wins the next big prize.

I love these things, just let’s really discuss it and be creative.