Cybeermonday: Assessing Budweiser’s move into Web3 + NFTs
Budweiser, one of the largest and most iconic beer brands just made huge moves into Web3.0 (Web3) today. The brand changed its Twitter US handle to Beer.eth (as in Ethereum) and launched its first Budweiser NFT (non-fungible token). The collection is called “Budverse Cans: Heritage Edition”.
The collection included 1,936 unique NFT cans (Budweiser launched cans in 1936), 36 of which were priced at $999 and the remaining 1,900 priced at $499. That brought the beer brand ~$1M in revenue in <1 minute after launch. What’s more important is ~8 hours later, secondary sales on OpenSea have clocked nearly Ξ300 (Ethereum) = $1.3M with a floor price of ~$2,000. Secondary sales will continue to grow in perpetuity through every transaction and worth noting typical NFT royalties among creators are in the 5–10% of sales range with ongoing transaction fees paid by buyers and sellers). Brilliant business!
As Budweiser marks one of the first behemoth brands to launch a serious NFT project, I thought to comment:
- Why This is Important?
- What Went Well?
- What Could Have Been Improved?
- Where to Go From Here?
Fortunately, I was able to nab #410 in the aftermarket for a premium (pictured above).
- Why This is Important?
Web3 is a groundswell but individual blockchains like Ethereum are often viewed with pump-and-dump speculation. NFTs are viewed with similar skepticism. Many don’t see the value of digital ownership and don't see the active community so retort with “why can’t I just right click save the image?”
Budweiser has been aggressively protecting (but bleeding) market share to craft beer. And while my love for craft beer coincides with the reality that few things are more refreshing than ice-cold Bud, lager drinkers have pushed into PBR, Modelo Especial, Tecate, and other “cool” alternatives.
Pushing a brand of this stature and size to take risks in a growing, strengthening Web3 makes a statement. And Budweiser is building its OG creds through channels like Twitter and Discord. Even the global brand’s Twitter handle has a Tom Sachs Rocket Factory NFT for its profile pic.
2. What Went Well (not exhaustive)
Launch Patience and community: Budweiser has been slowly signaling NFT and Web3 interest. In addition to building its US Twitter presence here, it has created a Discord (gamer and crypto native messaging platform) to start a community with its audience. This gave the team time to study NFTs broadly (buying a few as a brand) and community to have greater conviction in what to build for a launch.
Meaningful, Manageable, Specific Tierd Launch: Launching an NFT can be scary (and pricing it at $500–$1K). Nobody wants a Reverse Field of Dreams scenario. Keeping the Collection to 1,936 cans to correspond with 1936 can launch made sense. The tiering thoughtfulness was also done very well. First, they tiered Better-Best in the collection (1900 Originals + 36 Golds). They also future-proofed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. launch possibilities by keeping this specific to cans (even saying it's their first-ever). The thoughtfulness of a Cybermonday or correction Cybeermonday launch date was on point.
Sexy Heritage Inspired Art (But not just art): The cans are stunning and they went into the vintage catalog to leverage artifacts seemingly since 1936. Each NFT is a 1 of 1 vs. printed series and that is very thoughtful and cool (worth noting programmable design can do a lot here). Side comment that it would be cool to know who the artist/artists were? Beyond cool art, they didn’t forget community as they reinforced at launch: “But this isn’t just another NFT drop. This project is about giving our community a chance for exclusive benefits, rewards and surprises for all NFT holders.”
3. What Could Have Been Improved (not exhaustive)
Equitable Access and Launch Transparency: I had the good fortune of not having a meeting at the launch. And was on both Discord and Twitter just before (I actively joined the Discord about a month ago). In the Discord, they indicated they would drop the link there ahead of Twitter. And 2 minutes before the official launch the link got shared with all visible NFTs already sold out. Many suspect minting was happening ahead of the launch which is a big NFT no-no. While I applaud that the team made it both credit card and ETH friendly, there was limited transparency at launch. More common would have been a lottery to buy/issue mint passes ahead, and some communication on how many NFTs were reserved to reward the team vs. the broad audience, etc.; lesson for next time. Also sometimes customary to hold some NFTs for things like marketing and community rewards.
Operational Hiccups: Once the link was shared (despite already being viewed as sold out on the pre-link), the site went down. There wasn’t appropriate stress testing on the demand which was a huge issue complained about across Discord and Twitter. On one hand, it was cool to “pick your NFT”. However, had the team issued mint passes through a lottery, it would have prevented the server surge and frustration as a consequence. It was further insult that accessed buyers could purchase multiple NFTs in the process. While the cart was capped, it was capped way too high at $10,000. This incents flipping early and to the transparency point above, possible nefarious action to those with privileged access.
Engagement + Further Discord Response: The Discord felt somewhat abandoned following launch which left a transactional taste in your mouth (not a smooth Lager). I don’t think Budweiser has fully considered community here yet despite intentions to build it. The final post was:
“Wow, Budverse! The fridge is empty — our #Budverse Cans are SOLD OUT.
Thanks for your support! You can now shop our collection on OpenSea at https://opensea.io/collection/budverse-cans-heritage-edition”
It is typical for these projects to immediately outline some next steps and create sub-verifications for token holders on Discord for new channels after an NFT launch. After all, this should be the start of something new, not the end. The 10K Discord users are the ones committed to buying and supporting this project. Hopeful for quick announcements and action here later this week.
4. Where to Go From Here:
I plan to hold my #410 Original above with hope and optimism. These projects are incredibly difficult to execute well but I believe are much greater than just the art and the image.
I think what Budweiser pulled off is incredible. So much respect for the brand and this work!
I thought to close with some thoughts on how I might move the project forward as a marketer:
Market with a Degen + Brand Filter, not as a Brand Manager: It will be hard for the brand teams to resist the temptation to take a quick cash grab on this. But Web3 values community and rewards over the pure transaction. You can’t apply a SKU / Volume / Share mindset to this. Similar to getting a Tech product right ahead of monetizing, this should be carefully thought out and work in tandem with but independent of the brand.
Start Building Rewards for Hodlers (holders): While churn drives ongoing royalties for NFTs, you need to get the Supply-Demand equation right with these projects. This typically means increasing value for existing holders so that price drives up among interested buyers. I think a one-two punch of continuing to market the NFTs on Bud-owned channels along with creating the right incentives (access + community + roadmap of rewards) will create a flywheel to increase price + demand over time.
Consider Exclusive Merch + Better Files + Other Drops: Beer and Merch go oh-so-nicely together. The art is beautiful, build around that with available merchandise as gifts or for purchase and drops for holders. Some easy ideas could be: 1) High-resolution images of art or fun holiday files and 3D files 2) Real prints accompanying NFTs 3) Exclusive merchandise for sale or gifted to NFT holders 4) Exclusive Beers / Beer Cans for purchase among NFT holders (would be sick to have a Bud with your NFT on it at your own Bud-hosted party).
Access and Integration with other properties and IRL (In Real Life): Budweiser has a huge brand budget and global Ambassadors like Messi and partners. Don’t ignore how these assets can be leveraged to include and build your token holder community. The best NFT projects integrate the IRL experience. It could be exclusive events, access to celebrity meetings, parties, and other things. You also can’t forget trade. Maybe these unique 1 of 1 digital cans will find themselves on display at chosen on-premise locations around the country through captivating Infinite Objects displays. Marketing meets Art. How cool would it be to visit the NFT you own on display at a cool bar?
Avoid Dilution of Holders at All Cost: Sustainable growth with the next evolutions of NFT projects is important (BAYC, LarvaLabs, Degenerate Ape Academy to name a few). Consider rewarding Hodlers (holders) with free tokens or guaranteed access to the next Mint or Drop. And OG in crypto matters, so while trite, Crypto is tribal. Ensure you honor your first-mover community like family. Be thoughtful on how the next project is new and interesting but not better or displacing the last.
Nurture Community, Build a Treasury, Maybe Consider a DAO: ABI (AB InBev) is still a business and going to be interested in building Budweiser and its bottom line with this project. That’s okay as an NFT can’t be everything. But this is a first chance of building a two-way dialog with a very dialed-in consumer. Creating a treasury to fund ongoing community development and rewards (enabling actions above) will create enduring value. To the Degen comment above, this is Web3 Guerilla Marketing at its best.
I hope this was helpful. Please feel free to DM / Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn if you are interested to chat more on NFTs.
What were your thoughts?
