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Starbucks is Ever-Closer to Releasing NFT Project
John Meyer & Austin Miller
August 12, 2022
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Today's Agenda
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Starbucks NFTs are coming very soon 🔜☕
NFTs 🤝 Better brand/consumer relationships
3. Omaha-based NFT company secures the bag 💼💰
ABCs of NFTs - N is for NFT 🧠✴️
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Strap In — Starbucks NFTs are Coming Soon
In one of our first editions of the Mint, we covered the news that Starbucks was strongly toying with the idea of utilizing NFT technology in its future business model. We made sure to include this story in the early goings because it's an absolutely gigantic story because of its implications on the rest of the hospitality industry. Flash forward to today, and Starbucks has announced that a new web3-based initiative is coming in September.
If you're not an active Starbucks customer, you should know that they have a hugely successful app with a fully-fledged rewards program that continually pushes customers to buy from them. It's rumored that they have $1.6 billion in stored value card liabilities outstanding on the app; insane, right?
"We believe this new digital Web3-enabled initiative will allow us to build on the current Starbucks Rewards engagement model with its powerful spend-to-earn Stars approach while also introducing new methods of emotionally engaging customers, expanding our digital third place community, and offering a broader set of rewards"
So what will the NFTs look like? What kind of utility will they have? Will they give people free coffee for life? Free size upgrades? Will they give you more "star" points? We're excited to find out.
One Twitter user asked, "How much would you pay for a Starbucks NFT that gave you free coffee for life?"
The Mint staff talked about it. John said he would pay 3 ETH (~$5,500) for such an NFT, while Austin said he would pay 2.5 ETH (he's a make coffee at home type of guy but would gladly resell the NFT on the open market to someone for more $).
Reply to this email and let us know how much you would pay and what features you want to see in a Starbucks NFT.
How NFTs Help The Brand & Consumer Relationship
Web3 is changing the ways that brands and consumers interact, and it's primarily doing this through NFTs.
In web1 (the first generation of the internet), brands created websites to offer insight to internet users; it was essentially just a gigantic database of information. In web2 (the second and current generation of the internet), brands could interact and have a dialogue with internet users through social media and other channels. Now, at the precipice of web3, brands are beginning to use technology that allows internet users to actively engage in their business.
Let's talk about a few examples of this:
Coachella launched an NFT that allows users to get lifetime passes and other prizes to level up the fan experience. This is an example of improving customer access to a brand.
Gucci used an NFT to fundraise for UNICEF. This is an example of allowing customers to help in a charitable cause.
Lacoste created an NFT that allowed customers to help design new products. Customers are now creators.
With the advent of web3, brands now have more potential than ever to leverage technology to create better, longer-lasting, and more impactful relationships with their customers. Pretty cool, huh?
Midwest NFT Company Gets Major Funding
This one is a fun one to share. Friend of The Mint and former guest on my podcast, Kyle Tut, co-founder of Pinata, just announced his company's $21.5M fundraise.
Pinata is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska with employees all over the world. Pinata started in 2018 and today helps over 240,000 users manager their NFT media. Think of it like hosting for all the jpegs, videos, and audio files we see as NFTs on the Internet. We at No Fun Team are customers of Pinata. We used the tools to host our very first client, NFT project - the Sioux Falls Founder's Pass.
Kyle is a great dude and it's so cool to have a company that is becoming a core part of NFT infrastructure based right here in the Midwest. Good luck to Kyle and the entire Pinata team!
Listen to this past episode of Kyle on the Leadmore Podcast, it has some really nice nuggets on learning blockchain basics.
ABCs of NFTs
N — NFT
Welcome back to our weekly series, the ABCs of NFTs. This week, our term is NFT.
Yeah, we know. You probably know what an NFT is by now, but we thought we'd be extra thorough, so John made this great video to discuss NFTs, i.e., the lifeblood of this newsletter. Check it out if you still have unanswered questions. If you'd rather read an article on the topic, check out this one.
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