Tips for Building a Web3 Game Brand

When I started this article, my objective was to share our experience building long-lasting brands for games franchises, but realised there’s already “some” amount of content on the topic. What’s been harder to find is how different it is to building a Web3 or blockchain games brand compared to a traditional games (Web2) brand.

In this article, we will explore:

• Why shipping early is critical from a Marketing and Community building perspective, especially in the context of Web3
• The importance of “community” in the process
• Key strategies to build a strong visual brand for your Web3 games

Investing in COmmunity

Building a strong brand not only involves creating a unique and memorable identity for our project, but also working closely with our community to create content that resonates deeply with them in order to establish a loyal fan base.

Marketing in Web3 does not happen at scale from the get-go, after working on it for months, optimising assets on ads networks and finally “launching” with a bang.

Instead, it starts small, from the work you do with our community and early supporters. That community helps bring your vision to the next, broader, group of users by communicating their conviction about your project to their network

An image for our custom Discord adventure bot, a community activity

Here are some of the ways that we were able to keep our early community updated and bought into our project, Mighty Action Heroes:

• We shared openly about our development progress, decisions being made, partners, plans, etc.
• We shipped on time — nothing creates more conviction than delivering.
• We launched a NFT collection early to help create a clear alignment of incentives between holders and the game developer. In a simplistic way: the better our project is doing, the better it is for both parties as each has a real “stake” in it.

As our community bought into our vision, we realised we needed to arm them with the best content and tools to communicate about our project as well, like awesome key art, talking points, work-in-progress sketches, branded assets, great stories and lore, activities to share, and more.

All these items contribute to creating buzz around our project, but there are still so many other ways to brand-build.

4 of the different brands we’ve created so far for the project.

Reinforcing your brand through web3 tech

Opportunities to reinforce your IP are everywhere: all you need to do is to find them, or in absence of that, create them.

Every single marketing or community event is an opportunity to reinforce your brand by making sure that a consistent story ripples through all your communications. Even things that feel routine, like App Store reviews responses or social media and moderator responses can be leveraged.

Here are a few of the new opportunities we identified as specific to web3 games, while working on Mighty Action Heroes and the creation of the MightyNet:

1. We discovered quickly that we had to work on a much broader ecosystem instead of just a single title. Mighty Action Heroes is part of the MightyNet, a larger ecosystem that will run all of the Web3 experiences Mighty Bear Games has or will have to offer.
2. NFTs are a very obvious additional way to get your project discovered more quickly. They go out to more channels than just a game in development; they can be listed on NFT exchanges, they can used as PFPs on social media platforms, or they can be offered out via other communities. This interoperability allows our assets to be used beyond our ecosystem, taking our brand further.
3. Web3 is also not just a set of features, it’s also a mindset. It’s a collective of very invested player communities, where asset ownership drives both retention and engagement. In the space, other projects and brands are keen to collaborate so, pick the ones that will elevate your own brand and make the collabs meaningful, and make sure to create awesome content for them

Partnership with BlackPool, a web3 esports organisation, and one of our investors

Here are a few ways we leveraged those opportunities for Mighty Action Heroes and MightNet:

1. We crafted 5 complete brands that sit in the MightyNet. the MightyNet Genesis Pass, Big Bear Syndicate, Mighty Action Heroes, and something else related to the game that we’ve yet to reveal!
2. We made sure to have an ecosystem pass in the MightyNet Genesis Pass, which allowed us to brand build for the ecosystem but also offer more utility than just a simple profile picture NFT tied to a singular game.
3. We built a continuous story with similar visual motifs that link our NFT collections with the MightyNet and with the game.
4. We’re working hard to develop partnerships with IPs and brands we want to include in long-term plans for the game.

Holders could create their own backstory during the Big Bear Syndicate mint

Always Be Creating

The possibilities are endless when you think about developing a brand for the web3 space. I suggest being iterative, and always having the courage to throw away what you had before if it no longer makes sense. Remember: it is OK to change a logo, it is OK to change a colour palette, etc… especially at the early stages of the project.

Ultimately, your brand will evolve with your players, and you need to get used to that.

If building a Web3 brand sounds like a ton of work, it’s because it is, but you don’t have figure it all out before you ship anything. Unlike the web2 space, it is actually okay here to launch and get feedback, iterate on the visuals, the messaging, and then present the new version to your community again. Your community is even more important in web3. Invest time into figuring out how to work with them and treat them well.

A brand needs to be experienced so you understand what resonates and what does not. Get the feedback and iterate. As you build, more and more will make sense naturally.

Be embarrassed and ship.