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Web3 Marketing: How not to Market your Brand Like Porsche

Validated Individual Expert

The Porsche 911 is truly an iconic car, but the Porsche 911 NFTs received so much negative response, it would be difficult to call it Iconic.

That's because they messed up marketing and their attempt to launch into Web3. Here’s exactly how they messed up:

After tons of marketing efforts, an ample effort to build a community, generate hype from influencers, and the FOMO associated with the brand and the Car itself, The team announced a supply and mint price.

A Supply of 7,500 NFTs. And a Mint Price of 0.911ETH. Yeah, quite ridiculous.

However, this announcement was followed by a backlash from the community and then negative comments on Twitter and from Press.

That’s because the team failed to understand the ecosystem. Rather, they were after the money, not the community.

And it was obvious because at their Supply and Mint Price, (If ETH was at $1500), they would have generated a whopping sum of $11M, excluding Secondary Sales.

Unfortunately, they did not sell out.

And 24 hours after the Public sale started, they were only able to sell 1500 NFTs, leaving 6,000 NFTs unsold.

The project sales activity was even terrible on secondary marketplaces with people selling their NFTs below the mint price they paid — clearly, they did not believe their investment to be safe.

So yes, Porsche experienced a Failed Launch. They had to Stop the Mint and cut the supply to 2,363 NFTs. And apparently, listened to the Holders

Porsche

Here’s what they did wrong.

  1. They didn’t onboard their actual Porsche 911 Car Owners (Some of which might be into Web 3). This would have made the community stronger and more cohesive because these owners would have had a higher sentiment to own the NFT
  2. They Did not Onboard web2 folks and rather focused to onboard Web3 degens only. One of the aims of Web3 brands is to onboard Web2 folks into the ecosystem, Porsche had a golden opportunity to do so but didn't.
  3. They completely fluffed their ratio of price and supply. Setting a Mint price at 0.911 (for a collection named Porsche 911) looked fancy, yet highly ridiculous due to the current Market Sentiment, the Roadmap of the project and the huge supply of the collection.
  4. They failed to Take the time to build an actual Community. I believe the approximate time between when Porsche announced the 911 collection and when they launched was between 2–3 months.
  5. They Communicated Poorly. For a web2 brand looking to launch in Web3, communication between the team and the community has to be top-notch and healthy. Sadly, that wasn’t the case as most community suggestions fell on deaf ears leading to mint.

Mostly, I believe they completely ignored their Community’s capacity to create, suggest and own their narrative.

If they had dialogued with the community before deciding on Supply and Mint, they’d simply be selling at the agreed price the Market (Thier Community) had decided upon with the team.

This way, Porsche sells the NFT at the Price and Supply the community expected.

The failure to understand the Ownership terms in how Web3 Audiences consume content (including purchasing) marred any attempt they had.

Truly, the Porsche 911 is an Iconic Sports Car. I wouldn't pass on the opportunity to own one but I wouldn't buy the Porsche 911 NFTs at the initial Price.

Now, you know some of the mistakes Porsche made when launching their web3 brand, let's look at how not to market your brand as they did and what you can do successfully.

Here’s How Not to Market your Brand Like Porsche

A customised Porsche 911 NFT

The significant advantage of Marketing in a digital age is solely based on how people consume content.

With the introduction of Web3 as a technology, the Fundamentals of Marketing and the mode of consumption haven’t changed much.

Except for how People can now create, Share and own the rights to their content. This Decentralizes Content Creation, making people more powerful.

It also introduces an Ownership ideology that has shaped the consumption model of the Web3 ecosystem.

With this ideology, Power shifts from central (the team and founder) to Decentral (The Community Members).

Hence, in Web3, Purchasing and Sales is highly dependent on the community consensus to Mint. They determine If you sell or not.

A Common theme in Web3 — Comunity Consensus to Mint

If they do not generally agree to Mint your NFT or buy your token — you do not sell or sell as much as you’d love to.

People buy when they believe they are not being sold. When they believe it is their own decision. When they believe they contributed to the project's creation.

People buy when they Like you. When they share a sentiment about the brand. When they feel respected. Amongst other things which centre around how they feel.

Common community debate whether to Mint or Not!

Sadly many Brands don’t know this change in buying psychology and the change in how web3 audiences consume content — we can say the same for Porsche.

To stand out and market effectively, when You Try to sell your brand to Web3 Audiences, all of these things should be top of your mind:

  1. How do you make your community believe they are not being sold?
  2. How do you make them believe it is their own decision?
  3. How do you make them contribute to the project’s creation and Vision?
  4. How do you make them like you?
  5. How do you make them share a sentiment about the brand?
  6. How do you make them feel respected? etc.

As a founder or team, You build a great product but you need your community to love the product, Mint the NFT or buy the token, then adopt the innovation and utilise the solution.

I that's what you seek, you should ensure your marketing efforts sync with the community's desires and wishes, and you set yourself up for a home run!

Wrap Up

Asides from the grave mistakes mentioned. I do believe that Porsches 911 NFT is a special collection, with interesting benefits to holders. Others may argue that these benefits are not groundbreaking.

Still, my favourite part of the collection is the customisation; how holders can choose a road performance, heritage or lifestyle,

And claim an exterior colour for their car, Choose a font, and claim a customised hood and roof to make their NFTs special.

Who knows … Porsche might go on to launch a mobile and PC racing game anchored around the 911 collection. (Just me speculating)

The best part of all this is, the team saw their mistake, learnt and has since picked up their activities, holding regular AMA with holders to understand better how to serve the community.

You, however, leverage the right things, don’t wait till you have a failed Mint or you’re forced to cut supply. Many Brands don’t survive this in Web3 — but Porsche did.

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