VeeFriends and Gary Vee on what your Web3 strategy should be in 2023

Gary Vee is no stranger to Web3. After launching VeeFriends, one of the most successful NFT tokens in early 2021, the project later grew to nearly 60,000 ETH in trading volume and has spawned several follow-up and collaborative collections, including VeeFriends Series 2 and VeeFriends Mini Drops. Over the past six years, VaynerX, Vee’s holding company – which focuses on modern media and communication projects – has grown significantly, and now includes subdivisions such as Vayner3. Formerly VaynerNFT, Vayner3 is a Web3 consulting firm that helped major brands such as Stella Artois, PepsiCo and JP Morgan Chase & Co. with developing strategies to build a bridge to the Web3 area profitably.

But Vee and the company are, as always, focused on the long-term future. To get a better understanding of how the entrepreneur and his many Web3-focused entities view the Web3 landscape — as well as how they’re positioning themselves for the rapidly approaching 2023, nft caught up with VeeFriends president Andy Krainak; the president of Vayner3, Avery Akkineni; and Gary Vee himself at Vayner X’s Art Basel activation, at Scope Beach, Miami, last week. Here’s what they had to say.

Andy Krainak on Web3 Lessons Learned in 2022

The NFT and crypto space continues to deal with the tangible and emotional fallout from the scandal surrounding the fall of FTX. Here to the Web3 space came when NFT projects and brands were already struggling to find ways to stay relevant and justify their own floor prices, even in the short term.

For this reason, VeeFriends President Andy Krainak advises enthusiasts and projects in the space to take the time to seriously reflect on what such landmark events taught the industry, and whether the strategies that marked the 2021 NFT bull run will ever be relevant or profitable again. .

“[In 2022,] everyone learned what it means to have moments in time, Krainak said while speaking to nft now, referring to right and wrong times for actions in Web3. “It is a moment in time to start a project. And now may or may not be the time to start a project and really maximize the opportunities [in Web3]. You couldn’t have a worse scenario [with FTX]. That’s the truth of it. But I feel confident that in two or three years more and more adoption will happen and the latest FTX fiasco will be like a good movie that everyone saw. The terms we use today are not going to be the terms we have used for years. I don’t think we’re going to say ‘NFT’ anymore.”

Given the lack of trust that permeated the space in recent weeks and months, Krainak emphasized the importance of community building and openness for NFT brands looking to have even the tiniest bit of longevity. Over-communication, he said, will always be the core foundation of any project’s success in both good times and bad. For Krainak, one of the best ways to foster this trust is to ensure you have a physical presence in your community members’ IRL lives, which can be achieved through community activations on both a large and small scale.

“[Doing events] is a very important and practical strategy, because it is a value you can experience,” continued Krainak. “And I think it’s really important to bring the digital into the physical with events. It can be a big event with 10,000 people, but you can still create opportunities for small networks through different activations.” Krainak gave a small hint about VeeFriend’s next move in the NFT space, echoing Vee’s comments from the previous day: that deflationary dynamics could play a role in creating a scenario where “tokens disappear.”

“We have so much time and it’s so much fun to be able to play creatively with technology as a function of storytelling, deflation mechanics and co-op fall in parallel paths with what is the singular focus of VeeFriends, which is to create the IP of the characters », Krainak elaborated.

Avery Akkineni on Web3 success and strategy

The president of Vayner3 knows what she’s doing when it comes to helping brands branch out into the Web3 world. The consultancy has helped companies such as Johnnie Walker and Stella Artois develop strategies to engage meaningfully (and profitably) with the space while avoiding scaring away parts of the existing consumer base wary of the crypto world. Non-Web3 native brands are not deaf to the potential of the blockchain in this regard. But since NFTs and crypto are still nascent and relatively volatile, these companies are hesitant to dive in without proper guidance. That’s where Vayner3 comes in.

“We do not convince [brands] about Web3, we’re proving what we’re doing and we’re showing them the use case,” Akkineni explained while talking to nft now. “What we’re doing here today at Scope, for example, is really designed to help demonstrate the power of token tickets and the power of what you can do by leveraging all the amazing technology of Web3 to connect loyalty through VeeFriends .”

Vayner X’s Art Basel activation at Scope Beach featured a party for VeeFriends’ Series 1 Epic and Access NFT holders, allowing them to network, explore art installations and access exclusive performances. The common thread for companies approaching Vayner3 that want to explore Web3 options, Akkineni said, is a kind of cautious curiosity. Less common is when the people who make up these brands’ marketing teams are personally interested and involved in crypto and NFT.

Akkineni distinguishes traditional brands such as Gucci and Nike, both of which have had highly successful forays into the Web3 space in the past year, from others that fail to appeal to crypto-natives. “[Those companies] are really targeting the existing crypto-native communities,” Akkineni explained. “And because they’re looking to do very endemic activations, they’ve done really well and gained a lot of respect in the crypto-native community.”

Gary Vee on the future of VeeFriends and phygital goods

A day after Gary Vee raised concerns about crypto winters at nft now and Mana Commons The Gateway: A Web3 Metropolis in Miami during Art Basel, the entrepreneur revealed that VaynerX would open a permanent office in the city, expanding its presence in Latin and South -America, during a panel discussion at Scope. Speaking to nft now after the event, Vee emphasized that Spanish and Portuguese-speaking character development is a top priority for the VeeFriends team.

“It gives me leverage to be able to expand the intellectual property there,” Vee explained. “I’m not trying to be in a hurry, but I’m on a journey to communicate everywhere in the world. You know, I have 450 employees in APAC Asia, 200 employees in Europe and EMEA. And I travel a lot to the Middle East to set up a shop. I am on a 50-year journey to communicate everywhere in the world.”

It’s no secret that Vee is pushing the VeeFriends IP to new heights, having announced a partnership with Toys “R” Us and Macy’s in October to sell VeeFriends plush collectibles. The founder also explained that he has three to four business development ideas in the pipeline regarding further VeeFriends IP expansion.

“Animation is a big play,” Vee offered by way of preview. “Collectibles are a big show. We want to continue to develop a trading card platform. We want to continue to build on the toy platform with Toys R Us and Macy’s. We must quadruple down on character development. I need to make people fall in love with these characters. We’re going to do it through cartoons, through cartoons. I have to do storytelling. And I will say this: a children’s book.”

NFTs for wine and spirits

Vee, who is known for his love of wine, also spoke about the long-term viability of NFT spirits in the wider Web3 market. The ability for users to keep a token representing ownership of spirits physically located in places where they can be properly stored presents a potent dynamic for project developers and spirits enthusiasts, the businessman said.

“I’m actually very intrigued by the concept of holding NFTs that represent the ownership of wine and spirits,” Vee explained. “Alcohol is incredibly challenging to move around. But the value of alcohol goes up in these limited NFTs. I’d like to issue an NFT and own a Japanese whiskey or a high-end Burgundy, but never take ownership. And so, if I would drink it, I can burn [the token] and bring it to me.”

Vee went on to say that there is a lot of validity to the concept of high-end spirits, given the legal restrictions regarding storage and movement around the world. NFTs present a way of ownership and trading without dealing with such laws. “It’s not very different than the highest art sitting in facilities that are temperature-controlled and fireproof,” Vee said by way of analogy. “And so, I think [spirits NFTs] going to be a thing.”

When asked if Vee’s optimism for phygital products like liquor NFTs extends to other industries, Vee was enthusiastic.

“It’s always ‘and,'” Vee emphasized. “Physical and digital artifacts will be collected in perpetuity from here on out. I love mixing the two. And I think VeeFriends has always been very aggressive with that.”

The Vayner empire’s focus on IP development will undoubtedly be one to watch closely. Vee will face stiff competition from other massively successful NFT brands such as Pudgy Penguins, a project that has also begun to establish a foothold in the family-friendly IP market of physical toys and publications. Regardless, it’s clear that an NFT project that just drops a PFP project and relies on the avatar’s primary and secondary sales to stay afloat and offer value to the community is no longer viable. VeeFriends and others show that success in the NFT realm once again comes from one thing above all else: adaptability.