29/07/2021 NFTs 2.0: What's Next?

The downsides and areas of possibilities for the future of the virtual assets

 

By Jason Velliquette

Has the hype died off? Is the fad over? With Google Trends reporting an 80% drop in search interest for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) since its peak in late March, do NFTs have a future in the digital marketing ecosystem?

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Early adopters have started to settle down and the flashiness of the latest shiny object looks like it’s starting to fade. However, the topic of NFTs still looms in headlines, suggesting curiosity hasn’t entirely dissipated.

Marketers would be smart to keep an eye on the NFT industry as it matures and becomes mainstream. The potential is not in what has already happened; it’s in the ideas of what copyright, production and ownership mean in a digital world.

The cost of getting involved

Though brands as diverse as Gucci, Taco Bell and the NBA have benefited from the NFT PR wave, there are a few issues that will need to be resolved before more marketers innovate with the concept:

The price of selling NFTs

The cost of selling NFTs is a double-edged sword. The high price reduces mediocre products on auction blocks but also prohibits brands from entering the market. Other costs associated with selling NFTs, include:

  • Minting Fees: To generate a certificate of authenticity
  • Listing Fees: The auction listing fee
  • Commission Fees: Depending on the platform and auction type used
  • Transaction Fees: The amount you pay for getting the money out of escrow and transferring it into your digital wallet

Uncertain ROI

For example, working with the blockchain company, Dapper Labs, the NBA has set up its own marketplace called NBA Top Shot, where fans can buy and sell their favorite NBA highlight clips or “moments.” Sales peaked in February ($231.6 million) and March ($230.4 million) but have since dropped off sharply (an approximate 60% decline) despite being one of the industries (i.e., sports collectibles) most likely to develop a sustainable NFT revenue stream. With such high associated costs and low guarantees of return, marketers are hesitant to experiment in this space. 

Legal challenges

Not only is the NBA Top Shot a pioneer in NFT minting and selling, but it is also the lucky recipients of the first NFT lawsuit. In short, the plaintiff accuses Dapper Labs of selling securities when also selling NFTs on its platform, causing a conflict of interest. With any new ventures involving emerging tech and money, there is sure to be conflict and risks most marketers can’t afford to take.

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Environmental impact

Despite being a virtual asset, the process of minting, recording and selling/buying NFTs has real-world implications. Blockchain transactions consume an immense amount of electricity, which produces a fair amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the monetary costs, those seeking to play in the world of NFTs must also bear the burden of the carbon footprints they’re creating as well, which may conflict with a brand’s sustainability values.

What to expect with NFTs 2.0

The downsides must be addressed if NFTs are set to evolve and be part of digital and content marketing. Here are some things we expect to see in the near future:

Arts

https://www.adweek.com/media/nfts-2-0-whats-next/

Interesting NFTs
The Harvest
An anthropomorphic figure stands, wide eyed, staring at the viewer; its body masculine, muscular, and humanoid. Its “mind” dissociates into a conglomerate of structures resembling feathers, grain, teeth–as well as a radial flower “node”, casting linear rays throughout the composition. To his left, a vat of bodies gesture and writhe in a kind of amniotic soup, attended by a video game robot. The bot's red display reads “uWu”. Behind the robot and filling the left side of the composition is an archaic figure composed of a variety of vintage objects and symbols. Among them are a hardbound book with ancient cuneiform scripts, indicating barley, beer, bread, ox, house, and sky, behind which is a grimacing, salivating jagged toothed maw; and an old Commodore floppy drive. The figure’s head tilts toward an illuminated crescent moon, suggesting the Egyptian Sacred Bull. The archaic figure is composed of a variety of mutating cells, which shift in color, and pattern; eventually breaking free into an ephemeral broadcast of bubbles which move across the background. The work came into being against a psychological introspection, which included associations to pop culture such as alien abduction and pod people, as well as quite a bit of reflection on grains as a symbol of civilization, agriculture, sustenance, life, and imbibing (mainly whiskies).
#87445
By OthersideDeployer
Metarift
∾ 2160 x 2160 px, Video (46.5 MB)
#Chartreux#PEACH
Aloha! I'm #Chartreux#PEACH. I've never told anyone this, but I once loved a dog. My friends describe me as "seductive." It's... accurate. I can't wait to wake you up at 4am for seemingly no reason.
Alex in Wonderland
A figure, Alex, stands mostly naked in the midst of a physical and psychological maelstrom. He is clad only in nostalgic 80’s era socks, on a tenuous island between active waters and a variety of shark denizens. Sharks on the right side of the image are all beached, including a shark with a quartz crystal snout, an orange shark wrapped in a life buoy, and a shark further in the distance wearing an 80’s style shirt with the number “88”. On the left side is the largest shark, wearing bright glossy red lipstick and brandishing prominent teeth with braces. She is cordoned off from the figure by a roped float divider, and within her thought bubble is a warning symbol. Behind the figure, hovering in the air, are Grey aliens emerging from the distance, out of a series of elliptical UFO shaped interdimensional membranes. The Greys take on the visual form of spermazoa ostensibly impregnating the interdimensional thresholds. As is typical, these Greys inhabit a zone just behind the unconscious topology of Alex’s dissociative mind. Though Alex’s bottom half is representative, his top half mutates into a psychological cornucopia. In a manner akin to “Auto-Erotic Sphinx”, a predecessor work, the figure has self suctioned—an act of sensual infatuation, enjoyment, and exploration. Upward exists the figure’s primary conscious eye, adorned with a revolutionary beret emblazoned with a Bitcoin badge. The figure’s summit features the nose of a fighter jet facing off against video game Bullet Bills, one of whom is marked by a communist North Korean star. A cropped section of a UFO observes the contest. Alex’s mind branches both left and right. To the left is more singular embodied consciousness, manifesting two eyes and a Ganesh trunk grasping crayons. The right branch dissociates upward diagonally, emerging into an array of eyes, faces, teeth, tail, a unicorn horn, and much more—all of which participate in expressing his unconscious being; a democracy of psychic factions representing thought impressions and associations. All illumination and darkness– fernal, infernal, high consciousness and corporeal underbelly–reside in this realm. In the distance are relatively languid, light clouds, and against the firmament hovers a colossal distant eye peering over the scene and far beyond. This painting possesses underlying genetic traits with previous works such as “Auto-Erotic Sphinx with Toys”, “Dionysus”, and “Fuku-Shiva”. The work serves also as a nod to an earlier period of art inspiration during late teens and early twenties— born out of the nakedness, vulnerability, curiosity, and wonder inherent to coming of age and all subsequent psychedelic revelation.