Web3 Breakdowns Ep 62 - Avery Akkineni - Brand Building in Web3
Primer: What’s the marketing world like, for both traditional and Web3 companies? How do agencies react to changes in the market? What is it like to work with Gary Vee? Let’s find out from Avery Akkineni from Vayner in this episode of Web3 Breakdowns.
Background
Spent her entire career in marketing, specifically focused on digital marketing
Did product and brand marketing at Google
When she joined Vayner, she became exposed to far more brand-building campaigns
Brand Building Campaigns
Red Bull spends ~20% of their revenue on marketing. They are strategic in creating an emotional connection between consumers and their products
In the consumer packaged goods/FMCG industry, a lot of the products are similar. What differentiates them is the emotional connection that people feel toward a certain brand
Has worked on Super Bowl and Olympic campaigns
A lot of strategy and research goes on behind the scenes
The creative people coming up with the idea — At first, a concept, then a script, followed by a storyboard
The production people book the talent and make everyone look good on TV
Another team doing the orchestration and amplification on social media
Agencies And Brands
In plenty of cases, agencies and brands work together for many years
Some agency partners are specialist-oriented while others are generalists
Vayner is known for being a social-first agency
Different types of agencies:
Design-focused agencies
Google search-focused agencies
Above-the-line agencies — traditional holding companies/publicly-traded companies with many agencies within them
Marketing has to be ROI positive
Large events like Super Bowl require a large orchestration between many agencies
Reacting To Market Changes
Vayner always has a finger on the pulse and is able to pivot quickly
There are times when they need to plan a year out
Have gone from ideation to live within 2 weeks
Most brands miss out on an emotional connection with consumers because social posts have to be approved 2 months in advance
When the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was postponed, they pivoted and did a virtual live stream
Pivoting From Traditional Marketing To Web3 Marketing
During COVID, she was in Singapore, which had one of the strictest lockdowns
Spent a lot of time on the computer, where she came across virtual gaming platforms and metaverse experiences
Realized that brands and enterprises had the opportunity to build this next iteration of the internet
Was more interested in NFTs because of their visual aspect
This coincided with Gary Vee getting interested in the world of NFTs
Led to the launch of VeeFriends in 2021
Explaining NFTs To CMOs
The earliest use case of NFTs she understood was the idea of digital social signaling
“The same reason I would have a nice watch or a nice bag is to show everybody how cool I am, awesome I am. The same thing is gonna happen with digital items.”
- Avery Akkineni
Started explaining it to the CMOs of their brand partners at Vayner
The CMOs did not care about the tech. They cared about the intersection of tech with cultural relevance and brand engagement
The CMOs who took the time to understand this world are the ones who are coming up with the most thoughtful use cases
To CMOs, this is a career risk — limited upside and a lot of downsides if it turns out wrong
The Approach That Adidas And Gucci Took
Adidas started with a bang with their partnership with Bored Apes, Punks Comics, and GMoney
Gucci had a more staggered approach
There are pros and cons to both
More mainstream brands are looking to integrate Web3 to help drive their brand
The Porsche NFT Drop
They wanted to target Web3 natives
Have a revenue objective — each NFT is priced at 1 ETH. Porsche is also a luxury item
Very challenging to gauge supply and demand
The expectation in Web3 is that it will sell out immediately. It’s not an expectation that marketers are used to having
They had a lot of supply
Think open editions where the market decides the quantity would be better for brands
Learning Points From The VeeFriends Launch
Do not offer a lifetime VIP pass if you are doing an NFT as it is very hard to fulfill
It is a smart idea to give an NFT to people who bought 12 of Gary’s books
Engaging Gary’s community (weekly newsletter, weekly roundup, Gary popping in, token-gated experiences)
Takes a lot of work to run the community
Prioritization of tasks
Working With Gary Vee
Gary has many ideas he has thought about for years
For every idea that’s live, 8 ideas are scrapped
Good ideas at Vayner come from everywhere. Have created a culture where people are celebrated for bringing new ideas
Brands’ Responses To Vayner’s Pitches
The NFT bubble bursting has created a lot of anxiety for brand builders
Defining Web3 more broadly has resonated with their partners better
Have posted a white paper talking about Web3 as the next iteration of connected consumer behavior
Their focus is on the consumer need and the consumer preference
Most Excited To See In The Upcoming Year
Enterprises to really commit to building the space and start designing programs that embrace Web3
Ticketing as a use case
Most Excited To Help Build
Next 6 months: Bridge more traditional companies into Web3
Next 6 years: Launch or take over a brand
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