NFTs Need To Take a Backseat

TL;DR

• The Doodles ​NFT​ project is partnering with Camp (an 'IRL experiences' brand), to put on a 'shop and play' experience in Chicago next month.

• Without first owning a Doodles NFT, we struggle to get excited about a Doodles branded experience.

• Our bet is that this is a hurdle all NFT-first brands are going to have to face sooner or later.

• Because if consumers need to spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on a .jpg to first start caring about a brand - the businesses built around them will struggle.

• Here's our armchair analysis of how to solve this problem: build a product that outshines your jpegs.

Full Story

So the Doodles ​NFT​ project is partnering with Camp (an 'IRL experiences' brand), to put on a 'shop and play' experience in Chicago next month.

Apparently it will be:

“Part toy store, part party venue, [and] part immersive theater space.”

And...we...we...we can't bring ourselves to care about it.

(We tried, we swear!)

Objectively, we can see the appeal.

If you own a Doodles NFT, you're probably really excited about anything the project is doing.

Hell, Pharrell Williams is the chief brand officer at Doodles - who was also just named the men's creative director at Louis Vuitton. That's a big deal!

No doubt some folks will want to see his influence on Doodles, in action.

The sticking point for us is this:

Without first owning a Doodles NFT, we struggle to get excited about a Doodles branded experience.

And that ain't a dig at Doodles! (As much as it might sound like it).

In fact, our bet is that this is a hurdle all NFT-first brands are going to have to face sooner or later.

Because if consumers need to spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on a .jpg to first start caring about a brand - the businesses built around them will struggle to scale beyond the core collector base.

Here's our armchair analysis of how to solve this problem:

If you're trying to build a brand off the back of NFTs - the NFTs need to take a backseat.

Better yet: you need to build a product that outshines your jpegs.

E.g. Bored Ape Yacht Club's Otherside ​metaverse​/game.

Do we like the BAYC art? Honestly - no, not at all (but that's just us).

Would we play games in an interconnected digital universe that featured that art? Sure!

Because the scope and scale of the experience is bigger than any NFT/art style.