Lessons learned from celebrity-issued NFTs for fans
Writer: Tammy Yang
Translation: Ethan Wu
If there is one keyword on the internet that can compare to COVID-19 in the first half of 2021 than NFT is that keyword. Since the beginning of the year, NFT have been in everything ranging from art auctions, artist charity sales to digital sports paraphernalia. From Paris Hilton to the NBA to curious individuals, NFTs are being issued one after another and for good reason. With NFTs, for the first time, a bridge has been created between the physical and digital world and the possibilities are endless.
At Numbers we have our own NFT platform CaptureClub. Having released just in April 2021, we have had the fortune of assisting some notable celebrities in Asia (DJ KAKU and Van Ness Wu) with their charity NFT drops. If you consider the very short history of NFTs, very few are issued with fans as the target audience as opposed to crypto enthusiasts. Our time spent supporting DJ KAKU and Van Ness Wu taught us one very important lesson: there is still a huge gap between NFTs and fans. As the title of the Medium suggests, we hope to cover the lessons learned from celebrity-issued NFTs in the hopes of helping future fan-targeted NFT drops be more successful and accessible.
Before we discuss anything in detail we need to understand the profile of a fan. In the context of NFTs, fan buyers can be roughly summarized in the following way:
- I don’t understand blockchain and I don’t understand NFT either
- I hope that payment is convenient and I want multiple payment options
- I hope to express my support for idols / celebrities at an affordable price
- I want to have more interaction with idols / celebrities
- I hope the exclusive collection will not be seen
We will go through each of these points in this article and share possible (or possible lack of) solutions to each fan dilemma.
I don’t understand blockchain and I don’t understand NFT either
The biggest gap definitely comes from fan’s ignorance of blockchain and NFT. Those who understand blockchain are very familiar looking at their transaction on block explorers like etherscan and comfortable looking at the laundry list of metrics ranging from things like transaction id, block height, etc, etc, etc. I mean the transparency of blockchain is what makes it great right?
For the common buyer, this transparency is scary and can cause buyers anxiety. Fan’s hearts are extremely simple. They just want to express their support by buying the product, however if the process has many unknown factors, they can be deterred from following through with their desires.
If fans don’t understand blockchain or NFTs yet, then let’s do our best to try to educate them!
CaptureClub does this by having comprehensive FAQs with pictures and texts along with special articles detailing step-by-step how to purchase and what to do after purchase. Additionally, dedicated drop articles are published in the hopes of narrowing the distance with fans. All articles are published in English and in Chinese.
Our articles and videos take up a lot of resources to create and maintain in both Chinese and English. Platforms such as as OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, etc. do not dedicate as many resources for such personalized content, however, we understand for fans, the buying experience is very important. If they don’t understand what they bought or feel empty they will take their support elsewhere and buy a t-shirt next time. Therefore, even if it takes effort, we are convinced that helping the audience understand is very important.
Oh right! The Japanese version of CaptureClub will also be launched soon. We need to communicate with fans in a language that fans understand :)
I hope that payment is convenient and I want multiple payment options
To be more accessible, CaptureClub has decided to venture away from what most NFT marketplaces do and support credit card payment on top of crypto payment. Based on several release experiences, most of the fans’ reactions are very positive, because they don’t need to have a virtual currency wallet to express their support for idols.
The vast majority of NFT platforms cannot support payment methods other than virtual currencies, not because they are unwilling to support them, but most payment services clearly state that “it is forbidden to be used in cryptocurrency transactions.” Of course, NFT is one of them. Then why can CaptureClub support? Because CaptureClub trades not NFT, but digital assets called Captures.
Every Capture acquired from the CaptureClub has its own NFT token, but it is more than a NFT. At onset Captures are not NFT’s but digital assets that have their ownership and context preserved. Upon request, an extra NFT layer can be added into Captures through tokenization processes. When this happens, the asset itself on the outside will remain unchanged, however an additional information layer containing NFT-related information will be injected into the Capture. Unlike existing NFT wallet, which only allows you to own the tokens, Capture App allows you to own the raw content, the associated NFT token and other context related to the content.
It is important to note that Captures are NOT cryptocurrencies.
The above is the official description of Capture. Capture itself is not a token, but a multi-layered video or image. NFT represents only a single layer in the entire stack that is Capture. For more information, please refer to Enhancing NFTs with Capture. Expanding the payment methods that CaptureClub can support makes buying on CaptureClub relatively intuitive for fans. They don’t need to have an NFT wallet, because they are buying a video or an image, which can be stored in any storage space. NFT is just the ownership record.
Despite CaptureClub being a photo / video marketplace, as oppose to a virtual currency platform, we are still very cautious about the transaction amount on the platform. In order to avoid potential money laundering, starting on July 1, 2021, the transaction on the platform will be strictly restricted. The amount, except for special verifiable conditions, the creator’s product on the shelves shall not exceed US$2500 and the price of each second sale shall not exceed 1.5 times the amount of the previous transaction.
Despite having the convenience of credit card payment support, fans wills till ask, “Can I Google Pay?” “Can I Alipay?” and so on. I believe that in the future with more complete regulations, CaptureClub can also support a wider range of payment methods to meet the needs of fans.
I hope to express my support for idols / celebrities at an affordable price
Pricing…it’s really difficult.
Despite being charity drops KAKU and VAN NESS WU NFTs prices were very high. The lowest entry price is $168 and $88 USD respectively. If we help artists conduct charity drops in the future, what would we suggest? Don’t make the lowest price too high, because a lot of people really want to buy it.
What is the approximate price of the merchandise fans are accustomed to? If we reference the Korean group Blackpink Shop and Mayday’s merchandise, you will find that the entry-level model is about $8 to $15 USD, and the second level is about $60 to $90 USD. Pay even more and fans will get physical rewards after purchasing.
We can learn a lot about pricing by observing the sales status of KAKU and VAN NESS WU. KAKU’s entry-level NFT was nearly twice the price of VAN NESS. Upon release, when promotion has not been shared, KAKU drop did not receive any activity whereas fans of VAN NESS’s had already seen some activity. Buying during the initial pre-promotion stages comes from loyal fans who have observed the celebrity for a long time. KAKU’s drop did not start to have any activity until physical offline activities.
Generally, the price of NFT is very expensive. The minimum auction price of Uehara Yayi’s works is 2 ETH (about NT$130,000), but if you want to bring the NFT collection to fans, you need to adjust the price expectations. Ask yourself, “How much are you will to spend on a digital image or video on Instagram?” I think this is a question we have to ask ourselves every time it is released.
To clarify, we didn’t feel that KAKU’s pricing was wrong at the time. Every release has sponsors, charity event partners, image creators, publishers, etc. behind each release. All parties have different considerations. Creators naturally don’t want the price of creation to be too low, after all, it is their own hard work. The measurement of the pricing strategy must be based on the success of its release and how that is defined depends on who you talk to. KAKU or VAN NESS WU drops, successful or not brought together fans to celebrate them and participate in a good cause and that is a good thing.
I want to have more interaction with idols
NFTs are NOT the focus of fans’ consideration. Fans just want to express their support. As a result, it is very important to have sufficient communication before the release. Before the release date of 4/23, KAKU had many Clubhouses, and each of them had enthusiastic response. In the Clubhouse, he would interact with the audience, and the key message delivered was: “Why did I issue a NFT”. When the core idea can be conveyed to the audience, fans are naturally willing to participate in the event.
VAN NESS WU was released more than a month after KAKU, and 886 Studio team had ample time to prepare and learn from the experience of the predecessors. The result was an amazing fan experience. From the beginning, this work was not a personal creation but a collaborative effort that invited fans to contribute photos to create make a collage and add music to become the final work. Every fan who contributed a photo has a stronger motivation to buy it and keep it as a souvenir.
In addition to hosting the Ask Me Anything interaction like the KAKU event, VAN NESS also recorded a video before and after the event. The video explained to fans his idea for issuing a NFT. Topics ranged from “I don’t know what NFT is” to “Learn what NFT is”. Both video and Clubhouse successfully communicated each issuers vision. Compared with Telegram or Clubhouse, the video is a more direct medium that everyone can watch. This kind of communication is indeed reflected in the buying spirit.
In addition to online interaction, what can be gained offline? It is also an important point. Fans who win the KAKU auction can get exclusive music created by KAKU. Buying mid-priced and high-priced products can get a signed photo of VAN NESS and interact with a phone call. These must also increase the motivation for fans to participate.
As a technology provider, how to interact with fans is not our expertise. What we can do is to provide technical support based on needs as much as possible. Whether it is the NFT issuance of KAKU or VAN NESS WU, there is a professional team behind it, which also gives us many opportunities to learn and observe during the two issuances.
I hope the exclusive collection will not be seen
Regarding the question of “what can NFT do,” there is a fairly common answer that circulates in the NFT community: “NFT allows you to show your unique possession.” But what hasn’t been answered yet is, “What if I don’t want to show it?”.
Although Captures purchased from CaptureClub have native App support, you can view the collections from the App at any time. Many NFT collections need to be browsed through a web interface. Metamask Collectibles does not yet support all platforms. The Capture App is relatively simple in experience that satisfies both normal and crypto users. Despite, being user friendly, it doesn’t satisfy some fan experiences.
Every Capture content asset has a page for display . Fans who are not familiar with blockchain will see this page and their first reaction is inevitably: “Doesn’t this mean other people can just look at my collection?”. The demand is very simple. They don’t want the collection they purchased to be seen by others. It is a simple demand but it is difficult to achieve because it conflicts with the nature of the blockchain.
At the moment when a Capture is produced, since the image is a personal asset, no public information is published in order to protect users privacy. We are very careful about what should and should not be placed on the blockchain. However, once NFT is added to Capture, according to the ERC721 spec, the picture must placed in IPFS. Even if we hide the display page, the NFT message can still be publicly reviewed in IPFS, Viewblock, etc., and even the location of the user’s wallet is transparent. This is natural for the blockchain community, but annoying for fans who are not familiar with it, and may even reduce their willingness to buy.
This problem can be assisted with new technology, such as Filecoin’s ChainSafe or Space Storage encryption. An alternative solution is the use of private key to encrypted the file first before sending to IPFS. When we start diving into solutions to reducing the transparency of NFTs we start to question whether NFTs are even needed? If you have more ideas or thoughts in this matter, please share and we can discuss further.
What we learned
Users are the best teachers of what works and doesn’t work with products. We obtained valuable experiences through these two celebrity-issued NFT drops. With the experience we can greatly improve our user experience.
Most fan users are unfamiliar with software companies such as ourselves, Numbers. When we receive positive feedback such as “easy to use”, “Capture App is very convenient for viewing collections”, “team customer service is very attentive, and reply very fast” and so on, we are very happy.
In the future, we will continue to improve CaptureClub and Capture App, enhance technology and community interaction, and hope to make a small contribution to the growth and adoption of blockchain/Web3.
