I sat in a client meeting last week where a VP of Marketing said the words "we need an NFT strategy" with the same energy that someone said "we need a Clubhouse strategy" nine months ago. Which is the same energy someone said "we need a TikTok strategy" in 2019. Which is the same energy someone said "we need a Snapchat strategy" in 2015.
The technology changes. The panic is identical.
Zoom went from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million by April 2020. That's not growth. That's a civilization-scale behavioral shift that happened to have a brand name attached.
Let me be clear about my position: I am not a Web3 skeptic. I think decentralization, creator ownership, and community-governed platforms are genuinely interesting ideas that may reshape how brands and consumers relate to each other. Some of this will matter enormously in five years.
But right now, in December 2021, most brands pursuing "Web3 strategies" are doing it for the same reason they do everything: their competitor did it first and their CEO saw an article about it on a plane.
That is not strategy. That is fear dressed up as innovation.
Here is my framework for evaluating whether your brand should be in a new space. I call it the Three Why Test:
Why this platform? What does it offer that existing channels cannot? If the answer is "it's where the conversation is," that is distribution, not strategy.
Why your brand? What is your legitimate right to show up here? What do you bring that is additive, not extractive? If you are a legacy CPG brand launching an NFT collection, what exactly are you adding to the Web3 ecosystem?
Why now? Is there a genuine first-mover advantage, or are you spending innovation budget to be early to something that will be easier and cheaper to enter in twelve months?
Most brands cannot answer all three. And if you cannot answer all three, you should not be there yet. Being early to a space you do not understand is not a competitive advantage. It is an expensive way to look foolish.
I have been in this industry long enough to remember brands buying Second Life real estate. I remember QR codes being declared dead three separate times before they became useful during a pandemic. The pattern is always the same: hype, gold rush, correction, actual utility emerges two years later than the hype cycle predicted.
The pattern is always the same: hype, gold rush, correction, actual utility emerges two years later than the hype cycle predicted.
My advice to every brand being pitched a Web3 strategy right now: ask your agency to tell you about their Clubhouse strategy from February. Then ask what happened to it. The silence will be instructive.