📝#86: Web3 Loyalty Revival
Adidas x Doodles. Cult Gaia's Web3 membership program with TYB. California puts 42M cars onchain. PUBG Mobile x Lamborghini. Türkiye blocks Roblox. Olympic esports heads to Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Hey, it’s Marc ✌️
We know you’re busy. And we want to keep our newsletters short and sweet. This is why we’re switching things up this week and split our weekly update in two:
A weekly briefing on Web3 consumer & gaming (on Fridays)
A weekly briefing on Crypto, Macro & AI (on Tuesdays)
Both editions will be full of cutting edge-insights and trends impacting consumer brands and corporates – as always.
We'd love to know if this new format works for you:
Today we will cover what we missed last Friday:
Consumer: Adidas x Doodles. Cult Gaia's jumping on the Web3 bandwagon with a new membership program. California puts 42M cars onchain.
Gaming: PUBG Mobile reunites up with Lamborghini. Türkiye blocks Roblox. Olympic esports heads to Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Let’s dive in 🦈
⏱️ Read time: 3min
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📚 My Top 5 Reads
The Future of Web3 Gaming with BITKRAFT (video). Link
State of Play: Web3 Fundraising in H1 2024. By Marc Baumann. Link
Memecoins, Hashtags, and the Value of CultureFi. By Decasonic. Link
Career Advice for Crypto Marketers. By Safary. Link
Roblox Earnings (Q2-2024): Takeaways. By Y. Raz-Fridman. Link
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✨ Web3 & Consumer
Web3 loyalty revival? 😲 (maybe)
CULT GAIA, a contemporary fashion brand, recently launched a Web3 membership program in partnership with community rewards platform Try Your Best (TYB).
Cult Gaia is the latest of over 52 brands using TYB including Ouai, Glossier, Rare Beauty (Selena Gomez), The Outset (by Scarlett Johansson), and others.
Why it matters: Web3 loyalty seemingly didn’t work at scale – is it different this time?
Let’s look at the numbers…
By the numbers
Over 100K new users created their first on-chain wallets with Magic in July on TYB, completing 260K challenges and earning 23M brand coins.
TYB members spend 10.2% more and order 26% more frequently than non-members, with $2.7M spent and $60K+ in discounts redeemed in 2024.
Let’s look at Cult Gaia’s example:
The brand has released a digital collectible that resonates with its aesthetic and ethos, unlocking access to a gated online community.
Members can earn coins by completing simple challenges and redeem access to exclusive content, unique pieces, VIP events, and early access to new collections.
The community has already attracted 1.7K+ members.
Where it gets interesting: Cult Gaia has a strong presence on social media and in the influencer community, benefiting them with organic sharing and user-generated content.
The membership program is a strategic move to enhance engagement and build a connection with the audience through rewards and exclusive perks.
Plus, the digital community experience aligns with its core audience, i.e., millennials and Gen Z.
Be smart: TYN offers a seamless user experience for brands to onboard non-web3 native users gamified experiences.
Important: Users can explore all the ongoing loyalty programs or campaigns by brands in one place.
It doesn’t stop there: TYB is capturing a huge chunk of data on consumers and their on-chain engagement with brands. For brands, this additional data can be extremely valuable.
Devils advocate: Brands have struggled to create sustained engagement with web3 enabled loyalty programs.
Will it be different this time?
👉 Read our deep dives:
More Web3 Highlights:
Adidas has teamed up with Ethereum NFT collection Doodles to sell virtual swag packs that could let buyers claim exclusive physical apparel. Link
The Digital Fashion Designer’s Council (DFDC) has launched its “Fashion Week Connect” event series, aiming to integrate digital fashion with traditional fashion through innovative cross-platform programming. This initiative will connect physical brands with digital ecosystems, featuring activations like hologram runways and interactive fashion games. Link
California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) puts 42M car titles on Avalanche blockchain to fight fraud. It also partnered with Oxhead Alpha to create a mobile app for title management. This initiative, driven by Governor Gavin Newsom's push for blockchain adoption, aims to modernize DMV services and enhance security against fraud. Link
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🎮 Brands & Gaming
Tencent x Lamborghini 🚘
PUBG Mobile renews its partnership with Lamborghini, bringing back four iconic models and introducing the limited-edition Invencible model to the game, with exclusive rewards for players.
Why it matters: PUBG mobile is a free-to-play battle royale game with 30M daily active users.
What you need to know:
Speed Drift Event: Running from July 19 to September 9, this event offers players the chance to unlock exclusive items, including the Lamborghini Space Gift and Lamborghini Collaboration Parachute.
Gamers can drive five Lamborghini models: the Aventador SVJ, Estoque, Urus, Centenario, and INVENCIBLE(newly introduced), until September 9.
Stepping back: Tencent's PUBG Mobile partnered with Lamborghini to introduce a range of exclusive in-game Lamborghini vehicles, including the Aventador SVJ, Estoque, and Urus in 2022.
Why it matters: PUBG Mobile began brand collaborations shortly after its launch in 2018. The renewed collaboration with Lamborghini is crucial for elevating its brand image and positioning PUBGM as a premium platform for brands to launch immersive and engaging experiences for players with themed events, challenges, and new game modes.
More Gaming Highlights:
Revolving Games has partnered with Animoca Brands to enhance the RCADE ecosystem with advanced Web3 technology, aiming to create a scalable, gamer-governed economy on ApeCoin DAO’s Arbitrum L3 ApeChain. Link
Türkiye has banned Roblox following concerns over inappropriate content and virtual currency issues, just days after blocking Instagram due to censorship disputes. These actions have intensified debates on digital freedom and content moderation in the country. Link
The IOC will host its first Olympic Esports Games in Saudi Arabia in 2025, marking a new era for the Olympics with a focus on digital sports and youth engagement. Link
⚡️ Amplify Your Growth
Building a Web3 business OR looking to innovate with Web3 tools? FiftyOne Labs is your unfair advantage. Powered by FiftyOne Insights, we combine what and who we know to help you win:
Capturing market & mind share with our 50k+ b2b audience
Full-stack content outsourcing
Developing a go-to-market and growth strategy
Reaching potential partners or clients
🎙️ Our Latest Podcast
Episode: The Future of Web3 Gaming
In our latest podcast episode, we had the pleasure of hosting Carlos G. Pereira, a partner at BITKRAFT Ventures. BITKRAFT is one of the lading VCs in gaming. It has raised $275M for a third fund bringing its total assets under management to over $1B.
Key Takeaways:
BITKRAFT sees gaming as a vast market worth roughly $300B annually, including both content and surrounding businesses. They concentrate heavily on the content side, with a significant portion of their portfolio dedicated to core content deals, such as popular games like "Call of Duty" and "Super Mario” than the broader category of gaming.
Financialization in gaming isn't new, but Web3 makes it more transparent and integrated by enabling open economies and property rights for in-game assets, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
Web3 gaming's slow mainstream adoption is due to the lengthy development cycle of quality games, compounded by evolving Web3 infrastructure and market disruptions, which often misalign with the faster expectations set by early token launches.
Listen to it on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts.
💰 Money Moves
Funding rounds:
That’s all for now, folks.
The next edition on crypto, macro & AI will follow tomorrow. Web3 consumer & gaming on Friday.
Do you like this new format? Reply to this email.
Talk soon,
– Marc
PS: Follow me on LinkedIn and X for shorter insights.
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Top Web3 Marketing Jobs This Week
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thanks Marc!