Case Study – Should You Join the NFT Universe?

案例分析 – 你應該加入現在最火熱的 NFT 宇宙嗎？

…marketing strategy. Since countless NFT enthusiasts are entering the market every day, how can you stand out from the crowd? Firstly, you need a good story like the 12-year-old boy Benyamin Ahmed who created pixelated whales using his own program. You can also leverage famous characters to give you a hand…

…行銷策略討論，既然每天都有無數的熱情創作者投入 NFT 市場，你要如何在人群中脫穎而出呢？首先，你需要準備一個好故事；就像那位用自己的程式創造出像素鯨魚的 12 歲男孩。也可以讓知名角色助你一臂之力…

NFT is one of the hottest buzzwords in 2021. It relates to all the cool things in town, such as blockchain, Ethereum, DeFi, metaverse, and so much more.

I first heard about NFT in a podcast program, “Daodu Tech,” this March. In one NFT episode, the guest speaker talked about NBA’s Top Shot Moment NFT and other similar products in the market. Then, when the host was trying to find a good example to explain NFT, I immediately thought of those moving pictures in Harry Potter.

At the time, the concept seems so fascinating: it’s a digital asset that can be in any format; pictures, music, videos, blog posts, 3D models, game artifacts (the byproduct of GameFi), DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) ticket, you name it.

A few months have passed, as people have still stuck at home, no thanks to the endless COVID outbreak, the NFT universe seems to be booming at an impressive speed. To ride on the wave of recent hype, not only did I minted my first NFT on the OpenSea platform, but I’d also leverage the management consulting style case study framework to analyze different factors to consider when entering this crazy universe.  

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What’s the latest in the NFT domain?

A piece of popular news in Asia’s music industry is that the Malaysian rapper Namewee made US$1.1m after selling 100 NFTs of his song on OpenSea.

All of a sudden, I began to hear discussions on this new digital innovation from different social groups. Whether it’s investors, writers, designers,lawyers, or marketing professionals, everyone seems to have an opinion or two on the subject of NFT.

Since there’s no limitation on the format; naturally, the momentum is strong; from both demand and supply sides.

On that note, you can imagine the competition is intense.Your competitors come from all over the world at all ages, even a 12-year-old. Therefore, creating a hit is not an easy task. Even so, you can still have a winning chance if you can find a unique spot and have a brilliant marketing strategy. Let’s come back to this topic later.

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What makes NFT so special?

NFT stands for “non-fungible token”. By nature, every piece of NFT is unique since its underlying infrastructure lies in the blockchain network. Consequently, for each transfer, the network will add a new code to its record file; hence whoever owns that NFT will automatically inherit all the historical records.

What’s even better is that the mechanism would reward the original creator, who can earn a small portion of the fee whenever an NFT changes hands. This way, the creators would be free from (evil?) platforms that can make so much but seem to do so little during the creation process. I admit that I’m 100% pro-NFT in this giving-back-to-content-creator notion.

“Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is.”

Taylor Swift’s famous editorial on The Wall Street Journal in 2014

If you are an antique collector, you may want to buy the one once owned by a well-known historical figure. It would demonstrate how valuable your procession is and what a great taste you have. The same logic applies to the NFT market, too. Marketplace visitors can check the time of the minting, who made the bidding and at what price. And that distinctive record is one of the reasons that would make an NFT unique and even go viral.

The seller can also put some juice on it. For example,there’s an Unlockable Content section at the OpenSea marketplace, where creators can include ideas that transfer an online activity into physical interaction. There’re also cases for publicity. A recent example would be the release of the long-awaited sci-fi sequel The Matrix: Resurrections. Warner Bros. already announced that it would issue 100,000 “two-phases transformable” avatars NFTs before its premiere on Dec 22nd. You can check out this article of mine about how I queued 36 hours to get this Matrix Avatar NFTs!

Another selling point is its application in the metaverse. However, I would argue that most NFT is still in a 2D space, and the 3D metaverse is still a work-in-progress; it will take quite some time before we can see more extensive use in the metaverse.

How about profitability? Well, I know you may envy how artist Beeple sold his “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” NFT for $69 million earlier this year. But let’s be more realistic. You would want to consider minting cost and gas fee in the process. Choose your marketplace and blockchain network wisely. A Polygon chain may be a great choice to mint your work for free.

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How to make a splash?

Back to our earlier NFT marketing strategy topic. Since countless enthusiasts are entering the market every day, how can you stand out from the crowd?

I’m no expert, but I can share some tricks that people use. Whether it’s good or bad, I’ll leave you to decide.

Firstly, you need a good story like the 12-year-old boy Benyamin Ahmed who created pixelated whales using his own program. You can leverage famous characters to give you a hand, as in the case of “The One Token That Rules Them All” JRR Token. Or you might seek AI’s support. For example, GPU designer Nvidia recently launched its GauGAN AI to turn pure text into delicate images.

Lately, a lot of GameFi or Airdrop projects are also gaining media attention, given that it’s related to real money. Whether it’s the “play to earn” GameFi model (a famous example would beAxie Infinity blockchain game) or free Airdrop (such as the “Travelogger” issued byMatters Lab,Line Friends NFT launched by Line Japan, and the latest “vocus and friends (VAF)” from writing platform Vocus); when you can get a free NFT without paying anything, and turn it into real money, the attraction is off the chart!

If we take money out of the equation, we can say the hottest application is “empowerment.” Simply put, it’s about giving owners (usually shared with a community) some benefits from the people or organizations who issued the NFT. These benefits can be of money value (direct or indirect by sharing a percentage of the issuers’ future profits), the identification of social status (e.g., Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the entry ticket of certain clubs (e.g., FOMO Dog), the certificate of supporting your beloved stars, etc.

Otherwise, you may try the celebrity route if you already have a fan base like Linkin Park’s rapper Mike Shinoda. I heard his NFT journey at the 2021 Singapore FinTech Festival this month. He seemed genuine when he admitted how good it felt not to worry about monetization ever since he metthis new tech.

Moreover, it’s possible to increase your media exposure via a partnership. Nevertheless, it would be best if you think about what is the right way to do publicity. That being said, you may want to read an article on Beeple’s record-breaking deal controversy written by an independent blogger Amy Castor. 

Another great show was pulled off by the Metapurse fund, which spent $69m on Beeple’s work. Metapurse created “B20 token” this Feb, and its price went all-time-high to over $29 in Mar. Remember that I said NFT is non-fungible? In the case of a B20, it’s a fractional token representing a proportional right to Beeple’s artwork. And guess what’s the price of a B20 now? It’s currently traded at below $1 (by the end of Nov 2021).

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Final Thoughts

To sum up, we’ve discussed NFT’s potential from the angle of its competitive landscape, product feature, and marketing strategy. Now I reckon we all agree that it’s a market that you can not ignore, let alone JP Morgan just announced that its market is now worth more than US$7b.

Before diving in, something you should be aware of; which is the risk involved. From either buyers’ or sellers’ point of view, the copyright issue is something that one can not take it lightly. Even the famous director Quentin Tarantino got himself into a lawsuit trying to sell NFTs of scrips of his 1994 black comedy classic “Pulp Fiction.” 

And don’t treat NFT as a purely speculative investment vehicle. If you want to invest, invest in the project that you have a passion for. This way, even if the heat diminishes one day, you can still hold that digital asset with pride and affection. Think about those collections you had as a child; did you buy them to make a buck? Or was it out of love? Just keep in mind, don’t rush to make any decision out ofFOMO (fear or missing out)! 

Where should you go from here, you might ask. You don’t need to be a creator of any kind, but I recommend doing a bit of research on your own to understand the technologies involved.

Given that it may take years to build the virtual world described in the movie Ready Player One. One thing to note is that Web 3.0, the infrastructure that makes the NFT universe possible, is a revolutionary invention that will shape the world in the next decade.

Accordingly, for the time being, no matter which industry you are in, you should accumulate more knowledge on NFT and its applications. The research is not for anyone else but rather for preparing yourself, and I hope that we can all make the best out of our digital identity in the much-anticipating metaverse one day.

You may refer to my other article, “How Will Web 3.0 Shape the Financial Service Industry?” to learn more about the impact of Web 3.0 in the next decade.

Are you ready to join the NFT universe? Give me a shout-out below, or drop me an email to tell me all about it. 

Meanwhile, don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter so that you won’t miss the latest update. And you can check out my other industry sharing here. 

Last but not least, if you like my article, you can support me by clicking the icon below so that I can continue to create high-quality content on this website without ads.

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NFT 是 2021 年最紅的流行語之一，它和時下流行的酷炫元素都有點關係，如區塊鏈、以太幣、DeFi 去中心化金融、元宇宙等等。

我第一次聽到 NFT 這個詞是在《科技島讀》今年 3 月的一場 Podcast 節目，在這集中來賓寶博士提到 NBA 發行的 Top Shot Moment (進球時刻) NFT 和其他相關商品。當主持人周欽華試著舉例說明 NFT 到底是什麼，我馬上就聯想到，這不就像哈利波特裡面那些會動的肖像畫嗎？

還記得當時覺得這個發明好神奇，因為本質是數位資產所以它可以是任何形式的存在，舉凡照片、音樂、影片、部落格貼文、3D 模型、遊戲道具 (GameFi 遊戲化金融的副產品)、DAO (分布式自治組織) 門票，你想的出來的點子都可以化身成 NFT 存在 Web 3.0 的網絡上。 

幾個月過去了，當人們仍因疫情的爆發不得不關在家裡，NFT 宇宙正以驚人的速度成長。為了搭上這股浪潮，除了在 OpenSea 平台鑄造了自己的 NFT，今天我會試著以管理顧問常見的案例分析框架，探討踏入這個目前最火熱的元宇宙需考慮的各個層面。

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NFT 市場有哪些最新消息？

近期亞洲音樂市場最紅的新聞，應該就是馬來西亞歌手黃明志一夜間在 OpenSea 平台以自己歌曲的 NFT 賺進新台幣 2400 萬元的報導。

從那天以後，突然間我開始在不同的群組聽到對這個發明的諸多討論；不論是投資人、作家、設計師、律師，甚至是行銷人員，每個人對 NFT 議題似乎都能發表一兩句高見。

前面提到，NFT 的形式是沒有限制的；自然地從供給和需求面來看，它都自帶強勁的動能。

你可能已經可以想像到這樣的世界競爭異常激烈；你要跟來自世界各地不同年齡的創作者競爭，甚至還有年僅 12 歲的男孩！在這樣的環境下，可想而知要打造一個熱賣的產品絕非易事。若想技壓群雄，你必須找出作品獨樹一格的特色，還需搭配絕妙的行銷策略；這點待我們稍後再談。

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NFT 有什麼特別之處？

NFT 是 non-fungible token (非同質化代幣) 的縮寫。從本質來看，因為底層技術架構在區塊鏈網絡上，每個 NFT 都是獨特的。因此每次 NFT 轉手時系統就會在紀錄中加上一段代碼，不論下一個所有者是誰，他或她都會自動繼承歷年所有的紀錄。

更棒的是這個機制可以獎勵原始的創作者，讓創作者在每次 NFT 被賣出時都可以獲得一小部分比例的收益。如此一來，創作者就可以免受 (邪惡？) 平台的牽制，畢竟一般公認的看法是這些平台往往賺很大，但在創作過程中卻沒什麼貢獻。我必須承認在這個「回饋內容創作者」的概念下，我是 100% 支持 NFT 的。

“Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is.”

(音樂就是種藝術，而藝術是重要且稀少的；重要且稀少的東西是珍貴的；而珍貴的東西應該有償。在我看來音樂不該是免費的，而我也預測將來個人藝術家和他們的唱片公司將有權力決定專輯的價格)

Taylor Swift，出自其 2014 年在華爾街日報 (The Wall Street Journal) 引起軒然大坡的一篇投書

如果你是個古董收藏家，你可能會想購入某個歷史人物擁有過的收藏；一方面可以彰顯這份收藏的價值，另一方面可以展現你的一流品味。而這套邏輯當然也適用在 NFT 市場。在交易平台上，使用者可以查看某個鑄造 (mint) 時間、誰曾經出價、又出了多少錢；而這絕無僅有的紀錄就是 NFT 風靡全球的原因之一。

同時，賣家也可以開啟加碼活動炒熱氣氛。譬如在 OpenSea 平台上有一個 “Unlockable Content” (不可鎖住的內容) 項目，讓創作者可以執行一些讓線上的活動轉化為線下互動的點子。也有公關活動的例子，像是為了睽違 18 年即將上映的科幻電影《駭客任務：復活》，華納兄弟公司就宣佈在電影 12/22 首映前會發行 10 萬個「兩階段可變身」的人物肖像 NFT，我自己花了 36 個小時才買到這個 Matrix Avatar NFT，可以看我這篇文章的血淚分享。

另一個賣點，就是現在最夯的元宇宙運用。然而，關於這點我的想法可能有點不同，有鑒於目前大部分 NFT 都還存在於 2D 的世界，而 3D 的元宇宙架構又還是個半成品，若真要看到大量的元宇宙運用恐怕還得花上好長一段時間。

那麼大家最關心的獲利能力又如何呢？我知道你可能很羨慕藝術家 Beeple 在今年稍早以新台幣 19 億元的天價賣出一組 “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” (每天：最初的5000天) NFT；但我們還是實際一點吧，別忘了鑄造過程中你必須考慮鑄幣成本跟轉移的礦工費。記得要慎選你的販售平台跟拿來鑄幣的區塊鏈，Polygon 鏈不用鑄幣費我想是個很不錯的選擇。

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如何打出知名度？

回到我們稍早的 NFT 行銷策略討論，既然每天都有無數的熱情創作者投入這個市場，你要如何在人群中脫穎而出呢？

我不是專家，但或許可以分享一些其他人用過的技巧；但究竟這是好是壞，就得由你自行判斷了。

首先，你需要準備一個好故事；就像那位用自己的程式創造出像素鯨魚的 12 歲男孩 Benyamin Ahmed。也可以讓知名角色助你一臂之力，像最近的 “The One Token That Rules Them All” (一枚 NFT 統治天下) JRR Token 代幣。或著尋求 AI 人工智慧的幫忙，例如圖形處理器的晶片設計公司 Nvidia 剛宣布開發出可以將文字指令轉換成精美圖片的 GauGAN AI。

當然，最近很夯的各式 GameFi 或空投專案因為直接涉及金錢也讓 NFT 被媒體大肆報導。不論是強調讓用戶可以邊玩遊戲邊賺錢 (NFT 或加密貨幣) 的 GameFi (以 「Axie Infinity」區塊鏈遊戲為近期代表作)，亦或是免費拿空投 (如 Matters Lab 社群發的 Travelogger、日本 Line 公司發行的 Line Friends NFT、寫作平台 Vocus 方格子 2022 年開春上線的 “vocus and friends(VAF)”)，當你可以不花一毛錢就拿到一枚免費的 NFT，還可以再轉換成法幣 (貨真價實的錢)，吸引力絕對爆表。

若不要這麼市儈，我們也可以說 NFT 目前最夯的應用其實是「賦能」(empowerment)，簡單解釋就是讓持有者 (通常為社群共同) 分享發行單位或個人給予的好處 。這裡的好處除了金錢價值 (直接或日後間接得到發行者利潤的一定比例)，也可以是身份的象徵 (如無聊猿 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC))、得到某些特別社群的入場券 (如台灣的 FOMO Dog 追高狗俱樂部)、對名人偶像的支持認證等等。

再來，如果你已經有一群粉絲支持，也可以試著走名人路線；Linkin Park 聯合公園成員 Mike Shinoda 就在今年加入了 NFT 宇宙 。我在這個月的 2021 Singapore FinTech Festival (新加坡金融科技節) 聽過一次他的分享，他說自從接觸這個新科技後，再也不用擔心如何將創作變現，當下聽起來很是真心。

更甚者，透過合夥關係增加媒體曝光也是可行的。然而，你必須思考什麼才是正確的宣傳方法；說到這裡，你可能會想先看一下獨立部落客 Amy Castor 所寫的一篇關於 Beeple 創紀錄拍賣背後爭議的文章。

這裏順帶一提另一個傑出的宣傳手法，出自花了新台幣 19 億元買下 Beeple 作品的 Metapurse fund，該公司在今年二月創造了 一種 「B20 代幣」，該代幣在三月時最高價位曾來到超過美金 29 元。記得我說過 NFT 是一種非同質化的代幣嗎？在 B20 的例子裡，它跳脫了原本的框架，變成一種可分割的代幣；每一枚 B20 都代表一小部分 Beeple 作品的所有權。猜猜它現在價格是多少呢？ 目前 (截至 2021/11) 一枚 B20 代幣價格不到 1 美元。

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寫在最後

從上面的段落，我們已經從產業動態、產品特性、行銷策略的角度分別探討了 NFT 的潛力。現在，我想我們應該都同意這個市場大到不能忽視，更何況摩根大通剛宣布它的市值突破了驚人的 70 億美元。

但在進入這個混亂的元宇宙之前，有些事情你必須知道，就是它的相關風險。不管從買方或賣方角度，相關著作財產權都不可以等閒置之。即使是大導演昆汀·塔倫蒂諾 (Quentin Tarantino) 都因想發行自己 1994 年的黑色喜劇經典《黑色追緝令》中部分對白的NFT 吃上官司。

我的建議是，不要把 NFT 當作是個單純的投機投資工具。如果你真的想投資，找一個你有熱情的標的吧！如此一來，即便哪一天這把火慢慢熄滅了，你還可以帶著驕傲跟感情保有這份收藏。想想你小時候那些得來不易的收藏，你當年是為了賺一筆而買下它們的？還是出自對他們的真心喜愛？ 只要記得，不要因為 FOMO (fear or missing out) 而衝動決定！    

你或許要問，下一步是什麼？你不一定要成為某種形式的創作者，但我建議至少自己要做點功課去瞭解背後的技術跟原理。

雖然我們要做出電影《 一級玩家》 (“Ready Player One”) 裡勾勒的虛擬世界可能還要很多年，但你要知道，讓 NFT 宇宙變為可能的基礎建設 Web 3.0 是個革命性的新發明，即將在下一個 10 年大大改變我們的生活。因此在這個時間點，不論你身處哪個產業，都應該努力累積更多相關知識。這些功課不是為了別人，而是為自己做準備，希望有朝一日我們都能自由地利用虛擬身份在萬眾期盼的元宇宙找到屬於自己的一片天。

欲了解更多 Web 3.0 的影響可以參見我的另一篇文章《 如何用 Web 3.0 設計金融服務? 》。

你準備好加入 NFT 宇宙了嗎？歡迎在下方留言或透過 email 跟我分享。

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