The marketing industry, as society moves to web3 from web2, faces one of the biggest creative moments in history, but the opportunity won’t last long.
“We are at the precipice of new technology, and innovation is only limited by your imagination,” said Ridley Plummer, Metaverse and NFT project manager, Tennis Australia, at AdNews Sydney L!VE.
“We're not living in a physical world anymore.”
Similar to the Metaverse and NFTs, the introduction of credit cards was a clunky experience and difficult to get.
Eventually, over 20 years we got new technology that saw credit card tech go into our phones and then into our watches.
But since NFTs are digital the tech improvements are predicted to happen in 20 months.
“So educating yourself and moving forward with that creativity is really important right now because you'll wake up tomorrow, and the tech will completely change again,” said Plummer.
“The journey is going to happen really quickly, and if you don't start moving in this space now, you'll fall behind.
“Collaboration is absolutely key - find out who's done this before, what mistakes they made, what they would do differently, and don't be afraid to reach out to anyone in the community.
“The web3 community is incredibly giving - it's also incredibly refreshing in the sense that everybody wants everyone else to succeed - so don't be afraid to ask people and innovate.
“And don't necessarily put profit first in this space.”
Financial sustainability is the biggest hurdle to NFT marketing
Just like marketing campaigns, financial sustainability is really important to NFTs because web3 projects cost a lot to keep running, and as a result most “NFT projects right now are not financially sustainable,” Plummer said.
“There is a huge spike in revenues when you sell the NFT initially, and then it dwindles away until all that revenue is gone and the buckets are empty.
“There's retainers, salaries, security costs, developers cost a lot of money these days, and everyone wants more [pay] in this space as well.
“While we [AO’s Art Ball NFTs] remain financially stable, or attempt to remain financially stable in this position, it was never about profit for us - [instead] it’s about innovation and remaining sustainable.”
How is Tennis Australia going to innovate?
Working with over 100 local and international artists, the AO’s 6,776 Art Ball NFT collection is made of generative art, the algorithmic combination of different colour schemes, patterns and textures, ensuring each AO Art Ball is unique.
“How are we going to use technology to move this product [AO’s Art Ball NFTs] forward while generating revenue without necessarily focusing on profit?” said Plummer, who led the Australian Open’s (AO) Metaverse strategy and oversaw the development of the Art Ball NFTs.
“Innovation is really important - we've got a couple of projects in the bank right now that I'm confident no one's ever done before.
“And we've probably got a window of two to three months to get those out to market before someone else comes up with a similar concept, making us no longer a leader in that space.
“NFT.NYC is coming up in two weeks which will see 15,000 people in New York all talking about web3, NFTs and everything in between, 1500 speakers over seven tracks and 16 models.
“So that'll be huge for us - we'll bring the community together, we'll add utility and benefit to those local communities of which we know is about 20% of holders and visitors into our Decentraland Metaverse.
Tennis Australia is also looking to bridge the online virtual NFT experience to an offline real-life event.
“What we saw a few years ago with augmented reality and Pokemon Go, for example - we will probably create something around that.
“That’s where web3 collectability and blockchain can collectively start to bridge the digital and physical for consumers with collections and wearables made available at a live event.
“But we don’t want to necessarily alienate people that are exploring online by giving in event opportunities that they can’t access.”
The Sydney L!VE event is powered by supporting partners Dentsu, LiSTNR, Pubmatic, Foxcatcher and Boomtown as well as associate partners Piano, Amobee and Resolution Digital.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.