Update: Starbucks announced on Friday that it will discontinue its NFT program, which was in beta, “to prepare for what comes next as we continue to develop the program,” according to an FAQ page.
We spoke with Steve Kaczynski, the program's lead, on Chain Reaction last month. On Friday, he tweeted that his future at the company was uncertain:
Below is our original interview with Kaczynski on February 22:
The NFT space may be down significantly from its all-time highs, but brands and loyalty programs looking to reach fans in new ways can still find value, said Steve Kaczynski, co-author of “The Everything Token” and head of the Starbucks community. Epic.
He said “brand anchors” in gated areas like rewards programs are something companies will expand into in 2024. “I think this year we're going to see a lot of community brand building,” he shared on TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast.
Starbucks launched Starbucks Odyssey in 2022 as its first step into the world of web3. The trial combined the company's Starbucks Reward loyalty program with NFTs to enhance customer experiences, TechCrunch previously reported.
“We are able to help people find their tribe,” Kaczynski said. “I've seen that people who live in California in the Starbucks Odyssey community are really good friends with people in Chicago and have met in real life sometimes. This would never have happened if it weren't for web3.”
The loyalty program has a five-tier system with more than 58,000 active participants at least in the first level, Kaczynski said. “I can promise you that these are not mostly or all web3 natives… and it's not just people involved in web3.”
Those who reached the fifth level of the program bought a “decent amount” from secondary markets, Kaczynski said. In December, for example, Starbucks announced it would send the top 20 participants to Costa Rica to visit the coffee giant's farms where beans are produced.
There are other “third-party utilities” that could be developed through NFTs, not just by big companies like Starbucks or Nike but by local businesses that want to develop loyalty programs or use tickets as an asset they can anchor and incentivize.
Kaczynski brought up this example: Let's say Hot Pockets, the food brand, ran a promotion where it would give a 20% discount to players if they purchased the brand's Fortnite skin and linked it to a cryptocurrency wallet. “The buyer is happy, the eater is happy, they get a discount and they are in the ecosystem,” he said. “This person is not just a gamer, they are an active player who is engaged and willing to spend disposable income on third-party things.”
When people think of NFTs, they often just think of expensive monkey pictures on the internet — and to be fair, that's one part of it with Bored Ape Yacht Club — but there's more value in owning NFTs, Kaczynski says.
“Imagine you go to a museum and you see a beautiful painting on the wall, and you can take a picture of that painting but it's not worth any money. The picture on the wall is worth the money because the museum owns it, it's the original and they can prove both of those things,” Kaczynski said. “Until recently,” Kaczynski said. “You couldn't do that with digital items” until NFTs came along.
Brands and companies having the ability to buy, sell and “truly own your loyalty is a new concept that makes it less one-way,” Kaczynski said. “Even though not everyone in the community is involved in buying and selling… I think having that choice is very important for a lot of people.”
This story was inspired by an episode of TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast. Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform to hear more stories and tips from the entrepreneurs building today's most innovative companies.
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