How Brands Are Approaching Advertising-Averse Crypto Users

While brands have been ramping up their efforts to harness the new technologies under the Web3 umbrella, big corporations aren't necessarily a natural fit for a cryptocurrency user base that still retains some anti-establishment ethos. At Coindesk's Consensus conference in Austin this weekend, marketing leaders from companies like Mastercard and Pepsi grappled with how to position their brands in a metaverse and cryptocurrency environment that can be wary of advertising efforts by bigger brands. They also discussed what they look for in Web3 partners, long-term opportunities in the space and how they are investing in them for an audience that largely consists of founders, coders and investors heavily immersed in the burgeoning crypto world. Marketers Are Reassessing Their Impact in the Metaverse "We need to be very thoughtful about how and where we show up, not just go quick, but we need to be very calculated at the same time," said Pepsi CMO Todd Kaplan. "We have all sorts of plans and hopes and dreams we want to do, but we've got to pace ourselves." Pepsi dropped its first collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) tied to the brand's longstanding sponsorship of the music industry in late 2021. Themed around microphones and various Pepsi flavors, the Mic Drop collection saw robust sales among crypto buyers despite some worries at the time of brand oversaturation of NFTs. "What [NFTs] afford us is the ability to, for once, have a one-to-one relationship with our consumers and build communities," Kaplan said. A careful balance Marketing leaders attempting to break into this space also face the unique balance of catering to an insular crypto culture with a penchant for esoteric terminology, while also making the concepts accessible to a broader customer base. Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar said that's why the brand has drilled down on trying to make digital token ownership as intuitive as possible for the layperson. "The first time I saw an NFT, I said, 'Which idiot will buy an NFT?' But then when I saw [the] valuation of the crypto markets I said, 'Maybe I'm the idiot,'" Rajamannar said. "So I need to really rethink and reevaluate the whole concept. ... What I've discovered personally, is you need to be a geek or a tech nerd to be able to deal with it." Mastercard partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase earlier this year on a project designed to make it easier for the average consumer to buy NFTs with new payment methods and categorization of the asset as a "digital good." The company expanded that partnership last week through deals with platforms like The Sandbox, Mintable and Spring. The credit card company has also experimented with other technology under the Web3 banner, recently opening a Pride Plaza metaverse experience on the Decentraland platform. Overall, Rajamannar said he's cautiously bullish about Web3 technologies in the long term. "This is an area which is buzzing—not just for buzz's sake, but in a substantial way," he said. "This is going to be a significant play as we see it, and it's going to be much more than a shiny penny or interesting hobby." As NFT Sales Slump, Brands Refocus on Utility and Security Nascent consumer awareness While some of those heavily immersed in cryptocurrencies and NFTs have been skeptical of big brand involvement in the space, awareness and adoption of NFTs and the metaverse remains low among American consumers as a whole. A recent survey from Money magazine and Morning Consult found only around 26% of respondents could identify the correct definition of NFTs. Speaking elsewhere at Consensus, Spencer Gordon, AB-InBev's group vp of consumer connections, said the beer conglomerate mostly sees NFTs as a way to reach a niche, trendy audience for the time being while investing in what could be the future of the internet in the long term. "A lot of conversation started happening because our team is really invested in culture and what are consumers talking about, and you're seeing in social listening and analytics that this conversation [has] momentum and trends that are picking up," Gordon said. "When we were originally thinking about it, we were thinking about it from a financial [revenue-generating] perspective," he added. "But then we realized that's not the right angle in for a corporation like us. We can use this to extend our community, to build our programs, to start to get in touch with different types of consumers." Wieden+Kennedy’s Memorable Moments for Bud Light

Emerging Technologies

How Brands Are Approaching Advertising-Averse Crypto Users

Execs from Pepsi, AB-InBev and Mastercard talk about their efforts to harness Web3

Patrick Kulp

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Patrick Kulp