The Big Whale: Several companies have just launched their NFTs collection. The one from Porsche has been particularly talked about, and not necessarily in a good way... Why?

Stéphane Baudin: We can even talk about a big flop. To launch a collection successfully, you need several things: a price that corresponds to the market, an attractive design and an active community. Porsche did not have any of these elements.

They issued 7500 NFTs at a unit price of 0.911 ethers (1330 euros at the current price), which is really expensive, especially for a brand with no experience in the Web3 field.

On the design, the community was disappointed because the NFTs were all the same, not to mention the Discord where almost nothing happens. There are only channels for announcements and frequently asked questions, which is not enough.

More globally, the roadmap of the project remains very vague. One wonders what they want to do and they certainly don't know it themselves... As a result, the collection didn't take off. They sold barely more than 1300 in two weeks, and they decided to reduce the offer to 2400 units to limit the breakage.

How to explain such a failure?

Like many, they thought that having a brand image was enough to launch a collection of NFTs, but that's not how it works.

Web3 is very communal, you need to have a real community for a collection to work. This project was announced only 2 months ago. It has no history yet...

Was there a Bear Market effect?

Probably, but I don't think it would have been crazy during a bull market. There are still fundamentals to NFTs, and in this case, people are not willing to pay that much for NFTs that don't add much value.

What you describe sounds pretty obvious. Why is Porsche, and other companies for that matter, missing out?

I think many people misunderstand the Web3 ecosystem, how communities are organized, what they expect. There is often a glaring gap between the idea that brands have of Web3 communities and the reality of these communities...

Just because we talk about Web3 doesn't mean it's not serious, that there aren't people out there with real expectations. We have to understand these expectations and make NFTs that meet them in terms of services and benefits.

What do you think the Web3 communities are waiting for?

It all depends on the communities, because the profiles are quite different.

There are the "flippers" who are there to make money by selling the NFTs quickly after the mint, the "holders" who will collect them for a long time because they believe in the project and like the brand, and finally the "normies" who are the newcomers in the ecosystem.

Many brands turn to agencies to launch their projects. What are your recommendations for making the right choice?

That's a good question! Working with agencies and studios is not a problem, especially in such a recent universe and with such complicated codes to master (we talk about it in The Big Whale's Discord, reserved to Premium subscribers).

However, you should not work with only one partner. The best thing to do is to have several: one for technical development, another for community management, and the company keeps the vision and the project in hand.

What NFTs projects have worked well in your opinion?

I think Lacoste has successfully launched its collection.

They created a pretty lively Discord, with channels by country, and a pretty strong commitment. Where they weren't very good was on the design of the NFTs. Some of the community didn't understand the design of the crocodiles. But overall it's a success, there's a lot of activity around these NFTs.

Why is it in the interest of the big brands to get into NFTs?

To continue to develop their business! Beyond the money they can directly earn, the NFTs collections allow to reach a new audience. Porsche is a very good example: you will rarely find owners under 50 years old, but with NFTs you will reach a younger public who, after the NFTs, will perhaps fall in love with the car. It's a winning bet.