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Brands certainly got their Web3 feet wet in 2022. From the Alo Sanctuary mindfulness activation in Roblox to designer Rebecca Minkoff’s first-of-its-kind collaboration with Mavion, companies of all sizes are beginning to see the untapped potential of digital ownership as a means to create value for fans and stakeholders. 

We therefore predict that Web3 chatter will become normal office talk this year, whether in the conference room or on Zoom with your asynchronous team. If and when your boss finally does agree to launch that NFT project — will you be prepared? With so much innovation happening in Web3, when’s the right time to bring up DAOs in team meetings, or when should you throw out the idea of a token-gated merch drop? 

This week, we looked at ways companies used Web3 strategies in 2022 — from marketing to research, to product, to supply chain — to help you be ready to spearhead Web3 initiatives in the year ahead.

Here are some ways we predict Web3  — or its more accessible cousin, Web 2.5 — could hit the workplace in 2023, with reflections from those who’ve been testing these approaches already. Take notes — and be prepared to speak on these points during your next pitch meeting!

Prediction #1: More emphasis on community

Web3 starts with its values, and an easy way to start building towards a Web3 strategy is to simply focus on community. The magic of NFTs, for instance, isn’t just the artwork; it’s the fact that holders feel like stakeholders in a growing product. So even if your higher-ups aren’t keen on an NFT launch, simply providing a shared platform using tools like Discord or Geneva gives your members a place to congregate. It also helps brands keep an open  line of communication between decision makers and the community.

“Web3 is a new way of marketing where you're not just talking at an audience,” said Alexa Lombardo, founder of Atomic No. 8, a Brooklyn-based creative studio for Web2 and Web3 brands. “You are actually having a two-way conversation. Your community shapes you and you shape the community. There is shared value creation going on.”

Prediction #2: Experimental metaverse activations 

The metaverse can be a fun, interactive opportunity to create this type of shared value creation. For brands, this may look like brand activations taking place inside a metaverse platform built upon user-generated content (UGC). For instance, in February, 2022, leading fashion and lifestyle brand, Alo Yoga, partnered with Roblox to launch Alo Sanctuary, an immersive wellness space for yoga and meditation.

“There was a gap in both the gaming space and the metaverse space for calming and grounding environments,” Alo vice president of marketing Angelic Vedette said. “I just knew there was an opportunity for folks to enjoy the metaverse in a sense where they can better themselves and focus on their mental health, mindful movement and meditation.” In 2022, more than 53 million people participated in virtual mindfulness activities, said Vedette, including daily affirmations and yoga classes. 

In UGC worlds, players create and dress their own avatars, design buildings and landscapes, and even host virtual events like art gallery exhibitions and poetry readings. Like expanding into any new market or demographic, you should have an idea of what the players might like and feel excited to support — which goes back to Prediction #1, community. Brands don’t necessarily need permission to build in a metaverse, but any prospective worlds likely have a liaison or partnerships director with which you can work.

“Anyone can come in and create on our platform,” said Christina Wootton, VP of global partnerships at Roblox. “We're seeing this organically happening more and more, where more brands and talent are connecting with our community, and they're building together.”

Prediction #3: DAOs for days

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have infinite business applications, but two to experiment with might be:

• DAOs as the new focus group: “Estée Lauder is spending so much money internally on innovation,” said Lombardo. But traditional focus groups can waste time, hemorrhage money and skew results because paid participants don’t care about the product like a real user would. 
  
  If you already have an active user base, Lombardo suggests giving them the ability to form a DAO:
  
  “You’ll be seeing these ideas bubble up from within the community, and then they're voting on them. When the brand says, ‘Our community really wants us to develop this, so why don't we prototype it?’ you do your internal R&D prototypes and push it out to your DAO. You're gathering feedback from your active user base, and they're already really excited [before it goes on sale]. You've got them not only built into the innovation process, but then ultimately into the selling process. You can test everything across the entire lifecycle before you even get to launch.”

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• DAOs as the new membership club: We already have a history of social clubs and subscription-based business models, like Birchbox monthly beauty boxes or Rent the Runway. Now, NFTs provide a way to sync product manufacturing with social clubs. Linking a monthly product subscription to a membership lets NFT holders create a treasury, vote on which products they want — and, not to mention, hold their membership as a digital asset until they want to resell it.

Prediction #4: Social tokens as a new currency

Imagine a world in which you can’t simply buy a ticket to a VIP concert — you have to earn it through social proof. Legacy socialites might be gobsmacked by the idea, but that’s kind of the point, argues Melanie McClain, head of community at p00ls, a social token platform for creators and brands. Die-hard fans should be rewarded for their long-time (and, too often, thankless) engagement with favorite artists, musicians, and companies. Social tokens give community members the opportunity to unlock experiences that money can’t buy. 

“Any of us who love music and band tees knows they mean something,” she said. Social tokens spin off of this idea of artist merch by letting creators, artists and brands mint a special crypto token just for fans. 

How does someone earn social tokens? By scanning QR codes at special events, engaging in private community channels like Discord, and subscribing to content such as podcasts and newsletters. For example, p00ls partnered with avant-garde glassblowers Heven during New York Fashion Week in September. Heven launched a social token on September 15, 2022, which gave collectors access to private glass-blowing classes along with special events and first looks at forthcoming collections. 

TL;DR 

Now’s the time to jump in and start experimenting with Web3 in your workplace. Be OK with asking questions and revealing your gaps in understanding. Trust that bringing your unique perspective will enrich the conversations and inspire new ideas. 

Read More On Discover:

• ‍We’re Entering The Era Of Decentralized Workplaces Contributor Carlee Lloyd offers three predictions for the future of work, plus tips to navigate the digital divide. ‍
• Web2 Is Testing NFTs — Here’s What That Means for Consumers Contributor Liya Dashinka compares the NFT rollout strategies for Reddit, Instagram and Twitter. ‍
• Forget ‘Likes’—How Will Internet Clout Influence Marketing In The Spatial Metaverse? Contributor Mags Clarendon looks at the history of internet clout and speculates what clout may look like in a world where marketers speak directly to our avatars. 

Catch Up Quick

The biggest crypto lessons for 2023. So much has changed since the 2021 bull run. Without idealism or hopium to fuel us, recovery will be sober, rocky — but possible. 

Valkyrie proposes Grayscale Bitcoin Trust takeover. The crypto asset manager and registered investment advisor presented on Wednesday a proposal to become the new sponsor and manager of the GBTC. 

Is Solana sinking? The Layer 1 smart contract blockchain, once hyped by venture capitalists and valued over $258, was decimated after FTX’s fall. The sharpest declines were reportedly due to evidence that SBF funded his support for Solana with stolen customer funds.

Avi arrested. Police in Puerto Rico arrested crypto investor and social media figure Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg, who may soon become the first U.S. resident to face charges for manipulating a DeFi trading platform. Eisenberg, who outed himself in October and believed his actions to be legal, was charged with market manipulation for draining $114 million from decentralized exchange Mango Markets.

SBF is moving money. The disgraced former FTX CEO, whose bail conditions state he cannot spend more than $1,000 without court permission, cashed out $684,000 to a crypto exchange in the Seychelles while under house arrest.

Investors vs. Gemini. Two Gemini investors argue that Gemini's Earn program didn't register borrowed assets as securities in accordance with U.S. securities law, and also that Gemini is now unable to return assets due to the FTX contagion. 

Activision Blizzard deal frozen? The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it was filing a lawsuit against Microsoft to block it from acquiring Activision-Blizzard in the $70 billion deal. The FTC alleges that this deal, if approved, would allow Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles, subscription content and cloud-based games.

From Our Founding BFFs 

✨ ICYMI: This insightful interview from November, 2022 with investor and entrepreneur Moj Mahdara is a timely reminder to trust your life’s pace, move slowly and practice self-inquiry. ✨

BFF Events

Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to let us know what you think of this newsletter and what you’d like to see from it in the future by emailing hello@mybff.com.

🚨 This newsletter and all the information in it does not constitute financial advice. If you don’t want to invest money or time in Web3, you don’t have to. As always: Do your own research.

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‍Megan DeMatteo is BFF’s Guest Editor