“Outsider” NFTs Aren’t Working, Yet
Their Time Will Come … Just HODL
An “Outsider” NFT was brought to my attention by an “insider” crypto influencer on Twitter who goes by the Twitter handle @cryptocobain (follow him, he’ll make you laugh).
He was replying to a tweet about VeVe, an NFT company who is swallowing up IP rights (Marvel, DC, Sony, LVMH, etc) and he made a comment that rings true; “Interesting but zero “outsider” NFTs have done well so far”
If he meant that “outsider” NFTs are NFTs not core to the crypto community, then he’s right. With some wordplay, he is pointing to the fact that these big brands that jumped into the space as a money grab are not doing nearly as well as expected.
Brands and IP like Mattel were led down the wrong rabbit hole. For example, Mattel only managed 14 total bids for three Hot Wheel NFTs with a total haul of only 8.77 Eth. Imagine a billion dollar brand like Hot Wheels generating 8.77 Eth with only 15 wallets bidding (worse, some of those bids were insiders) — It’s a joke, the revenue didn’t even pay for the legal contracts if the data is correct.
I’ve been approached by IP providers with an NFT strategy and I’m having a tough time managing “outsider brands” expectations that’s going to mirror a consumer facing NFT collection that makes sense for pop culture collectors other than a model where brands goes beyond their potential comfort zone and put out a risque collection.
What’s flooding the NFT marketplace are “rare” collections of obscure, almost juvenile, works of art that follow the 10,000 model. They create 10,000 unique designs created by insider crypto artists, nothing really amazing, just core to the community:
Take Fluf World:
FLUF World NFTs were sold 6226 times in the first 48 hours. The total sales volume for FLUF World was $20.68M and the average price of one FLUF World NFT was $3.3k.
Fluf World is not Baby Yoda, a creation by DC Comics, or even an established brand… It’s home to 10,000 unique 3D animated rabbits living as NFTs on the blockchain. According to their website, they love “dope beats!” and come with their own dance and soundtrack.
Here’s the trick, the site also says they also “serve as your ticket to a world of exclusive content from music and events, to metaverse avatars, we have bundles of awesome features in the pipeline which we can’t wait to share with you”
So, they are selling the promise as crypto tastemakers that the NFT is going to open real world adventures as well as “metaverse” gamification.
Here’s a list of some more projects;
Axie
Bored Ape Yacht Club
Meebits
Bored Ape Kennel Club
Mooncats
and, of course, Sup Ducks…
On their site, their FAQs states the following, which sums up everything:
What can my Sup Duck do? It grants you legendary status, what else do you need? and so on…
Over the August 7/8 weekend of 2021, 10 of these “sub” culture launches occurred, all generating great revenue — 10,000 x .05 eth = 1.5MM on the low end and up to 20MM on the high end.
If you haven’t heard of any of these projects, wake up, these are the brands of the future.
There is a point where today’s big brands are going to grow bored if growth isn’t achieved, and fast. “Outsider” brands need to focus on NFTs with a blend of traditional marketing and promotions and get out of the technology trap of trying to teach people how to use blockchain, eth, crypto, Metamask, Layer2 sidechains, and third party token schemes.
We are in the first inning of the NFT craze and by the third inning, technology won’t be a “blocker” as it will be buried behind new UI/UX that will enable any human in the world to buy, sell, collect and trade NFTs without worrying about who’s token they need to use, what blockchain they have to be on and what other crypto hoop they need to jump through.
By Jonas Hudson, Co-Founder, The GFT™ Exchange.
About The GFT™ Exchange: The GFT™ Exchange enables IP partners, brands, distribution partners and marketplaces to mint, distribute and reconcile trusted, individually identifiable digital assets to customers. Through a private/public blockchain hybrid approach and an IP alliance (called the GFT™ Alliance), the GFT™ Exchange enables protection for IP owners and consumers when it comes to provenance, asset security, and secure financial reconciliations.
