Welcome to our latest episode of The Crypto Explorer, a podcast by Sygnum, which takes you into the exciting world of crypto assets and Future Finance through conversations with leading figures in blockchain and finance.
In this episode, host Aliya Das Gupta and guests Massimo Moretti, CEO and Founder of SIGNVM, as well as Dom Castley, Chief Marketing Officer at Sygnum, explain what it takes to build a successful brand in Web3.
Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Aliya Das Gupta: When you consider start-ups getting into Web3, what are the key factors that you consider for growth?
Massimo Moretti: The question that many start-up founders are asking us is what is the difference between Web2 and Web3. From my point of view, one of the most significant differences is that we are going from an audience to a community. In the past, people were passive and brands shared content. The difference to an audience is that a community is engaged with the purpose of the project or even the brand. They can co-develop the brand or the start-up product, participate in brand decision making and sometimes even more. A community is sometimes an investor, which can be a game changer in the space.
Dom Castley: Growth in Web3 has a lot of similarities with growth in tech in general. I think solving substantial real-world problems must come first: don’t be a solution looking for a problem. You could ask yourself, is what we are doing here “a painkiller or a vitamin”? This a great phrase to think about when looking at what kind of problem you are solving. On the flip side of this, in Web3 the potential and the trend are clear. It is about navigating the challenges even if the upside is clear, but there are several challenges around the Web3 ecosystem, including it still being significantly centralised, or things like delivery speed, unified wallet experience or privacy. There are big challenges for the industry, being realistic and focusing on them and how they apply to your firm is quite important.
Aliya Das Gupta: That’s an interesting point to consider: we are talking about an idealised future world. The journey there is often not smooth, there is a lot of patching stuff together in Web2 to create an optimised journey into Web3. Massimo, have you had experience with this as well?
Massimo Moretti: Yes. From my point of view, Web3 is not just a technological shift. Blockchain is the main [tech] game changer in this space with crypto, NFT, Metaverse… and will rebuild many different infrastructures. Web3 is also a cultural shift, and that is why we started talking about community first. Right now, people are more involved with the product or service. There are things that we can still set up like the brand platform, marketing activities or how you go to market. However, in Web3 we can develop something a bit different by sharing with an audience. Before asking your community for something as a bank, start-up or corporate, you need to show your product’s value and why you are different. This is the shift in the Web3 ecosystem.
Dom Castley: I think moving on from the way brands engage their audience or tribe in Web2, you can also see a future where they take further steps. Brand originated from simple ownership and identity, and then it moved on imbuing those brands with meaning and purpose. However, with Web3 as a new environment you can draw the brand much wider. For example, brands can create philosophies and ideologies of the way that they work and think. If you think of a traditional brand like Patagonia, it’s known for many amazing things (including care for planet or lifestyle ) and only one of them is their product; all of these can be used to create an environment. These types of environments and interactions could go much further than branding does today.
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