NYC NFT: Breaking Down Top NFT Marketing Trends | Ep. 48

Ty Smith0:07

What is up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Crypto Marketing Podcast. I'm Ty Smith. With me today is Liz and Jared from Coinbound. We are going to recap in this episode NFT NYC, Jared and I just got back, and then we're going to also touch on out-of-home marketing in the crypto realm. All right, let's dive first into NFT NYC. Dope event, I think, Jared, you agree with me, and I know Connor had a good time as well. Awesome people there. It was so cool to see just NFTs now like out in the wild. Like this whole experience with NFTs has been kind of behind the scenes and just digital. To go to these events and see so many people what they're working on, what they're building, things hanging up on the walls, these digital NFT art galleries now, it was like inspiring. It totally revitalized my interest in NFTs and just made me so much more bullish on what's being done. What did you think of the event?

Jared1:03

Same excitement, but I'm a musician, so I met a lot of musicians there, and there was a lot of musicians at NFT NYC. They are trying to find their own route out of the music industry. I know a lot of them were saying that managers and record label companies usually take most of the profits, and then NFTs kind of open that world up to them. So, it was just cool to see all the different kinds of people. Musicians is what I was biased towards, but there was every single aspect of the NFT and crypto space there. It was cool just to see everyone kind of just come together and just start talking about ideas and where we're heading.

Ty Smith1:41

Yeah, it was a new kind of event. It was because I'm so familiar with just these kind of standard crypto conferences like Bitcoin Miami and World Crypto Con and things like that, which are focused not necessarily on NFTs specifically. And just the group of people that you find there are much more like programmer-based, whereas like here, it was a huge, thriving art scene that now is intersecting with crypto. It was like it was cool. It was honestly a different experience, and it was an enjoyable one.

Liz2:15

What was what was the coolest out-of-home ad that you guys saw at NFT NYC?

Ty Smith2:21

Yeah, I mean, we should definitely touch on that. I mean, Times Square, which is where the event took place, was just dominated by NFT advertising. Like every billboard was NFTs. Yeah, I know DeadFellaz took over a lot. I think I saw Gutter Cats there. I don't remember exactly, but there was it was just like it was crazy. I mean, NFT NYC was advertising in Times Square also. There was trucks covered in in billboards like driving through the event. There was yeah, it was it was awesome. It was pretty cool to see it in the real world.

Liz2:55

Was it all Did you guys take any yellow New York City taxis? I'm curious if there were like, you know how they have like the TVs in the taxi cabs? Like I'm curious if they even went as far to put stuff in the taxi cabs. I know on like sides of buses they probably had things, too. So, I don't know if you guys took a taxi, though.

Ty Smith3:17

No, I didn't. Did you, Jared?

Jared3:19

Yes, I did take a taxi. There was no TVs, unfortunately. However, the buses...

Liz3:26

Are you sure it was a real Wait, are you sure it was a real taxi?

Jared3:31

There was no TVs in the back. There was just there was just a credit card system, and that was it, a little payment system, and then we went through. But no, no NFT advertisements there, but plenty on buses.

Ty Smith3:44

Yeah, did you see outside of the event, and the event was hosted in like a bunch of different locations, but outside of the multiple locations, they had Teslas that had Flow blockchain sponsoring it. So, it was like no gas. I love this. It was a genius advertising. It was save on gas fees because Flow blockchain has low gas fees, and they just take it was a free taxi. If you had a badge to the event, they would drive you around wherever in New York City.

Liz4:14

Wow, that is because that was going to be my follow-up question because with out-of-home, it's really cool to see all of that out there on giant billboards and stuff, but it is that takeaway. Like, is it how memorable is it? Is it something that really stands out? And I think that that's such a good example of that. It's clearly memorable and something that you can walk away with that actually speaks to the function of whatever the project is.

Ty Smith4:43

Yeah. Yeah, no, it was it was cool. It was it was a different kind of event because they they let anyone speak is my understanding. So, anyone that I mean, which is awesome because that's like so aligned with the ethos of crypto is that everyone has the power. It's not just for the elite OGs that have been in the space for a long time. Anyone who's contributing to the space was able to speak. It was cool. It was it really was just different. I don't know how to explain it better than it was different than most crypto events, but it was different in a really kind of cool, funky way.

Liz5:10

How would you say it compared to Bitcoin Miami more specifically? Just because that's something that I was at and could give a better reference to.

Ty Smith5:19

Yeah. I would say, I mean, this is obviously a marketing podcast, so we should discuss the specifics of marketing. I think there was much bigger budgets being spent at Bitcoin Miami. I think it's a more established event, and that's why. I also tend to think that like DeFi protocols and and like Bitcoin like exchanges and stuff like that, those are the ones that are usually advertising at Bitcoin Miami, whereas these were more smaller, newer projects that maybe have smaller budgets. But yeah, I mean, it looked totally different because at Bitcoin Miami, there was like these like art pieces essentially. Like, remember that that I think it was Cake Wallet sponsored that dumpster full of Venezuelan cash?

Liz5:59

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ty Smith6:00

Yeah, so there was nothing like that. There was no kind of guerrilla marketing, which was really disappointing because there are so many guerrilla marketing agencies in New York that I think could have done a great job with that. But I mean, there was every kind of advertising. There was like when I flew into JFK, there was advertising on the whatever you call those, turnstile things. There was people handing out just flyers outside of the event. Like, there was like every type of marketing you could imagine out-of-home at this event.

Liz6:32

That's incredible. Is there another brand that...

Jared6:36

Oh, I'm sorry. I think Bitcoin Miami had more of those like physical advertisements, while everything NFT NYC was more of like that branding or awareness, the ads, the advertisements on buses, the Teslas. And I think it also has a lot to do with the location. Like Miami, you came there, and a lot of people who attended were in flip-flops and like Hawaiian shirts. But here in New York City, the vibe isn't relaxed. It's let's get around, let's get things done. So, I mean, it reflected itself in a way, too, because a lot of the advertise I mean, a lot of the events were in different locations. You had to travel around the city. So, to hit advertisements, you had to hit people who were traveling around New York City. In Bitcoin Miami, at least they were all condensed into like one spot, and you can just focus like on one area.

Ty Smith7:27

That's a good point because a lot of the a lot of the marketing at Bitcoin Miami, like it's it's at an event space, right? Like, it's at a space where the only people that are seeing it are people that are going to the event that are already into crypto. This was advertising on the billboards in Times Square. Like, people that were not at the event were seeing this. Like, this was such a great, I think, push for adoption of NFTs, and there was non-NFT advertising there as well, just like the mainstream consumers. Like, it was in Penn Station there was advertising for this. On Long Island Railroad there was advertising for this.

Liz7:59

Yeah. What would you say is the best ways then to hit someone with out-of-home advertising that it is in that kind of environment where it's not so structured? What would you say were like the the top takeaways from that?

Ty Smith8:16

I think this was one of the first big pushes of crypto marketing out-of-home. I think I mean, crypto looked a lot different before COVID. It wasn't nearly as big. Now we're coming out of COVID. Out-of-home is now becoming an option. Before, it was really purely digital. I think out-of-home is going to become an increasingly important part of of crypto marketing. And we've spoken with like all the major out-of-home like advertising networks in the past couple weeks, and they're I mean, they're getting blown up by by crypto ads. They don't seem to have any issue with advertising crypto companies, whereas a lot of these major tech companies do. It's like it's added a whole new dimension to what we're as an agency capable of doing for clients because now we have out-of-home as an option.

Liz9:19

Yeah, wow. So, the so the level of censorship that you've seen there, it's been pretty much none?

Ty Smith9:27

Yeah, it really has been very limited.

Liz9:33

That's incredible.

Ty Smith9:34

Yeah, it is. Jared, what did you think of that event that last night, that what was it, the Alesso concert? It was it was cool. It was sponsored by it was I mean, it was sponsored by like seven different sponsors, but they had a pretty solid event there, and the tickets were NFTs.

Jared9:49

Yeah, yeah. Everything about it was really cool. And I mean, I'm an Alesso fan, so I love that alone. But it exact represented what crypto is all about. I mean, the hustle for the freedom and and the casualness, but at the same time, it's the work hard, play hard. And there they had the best there from the business were all networking, and Alesso is playing different DJ, I mean, different songs from his list. The vibe was just pretty much exactly what I expect crypto to be. And then focus on the advertisements on the wall. I think they were brilliant. Actually, I reached out to some of the artists, and some of them weren't even aware, though, that it was a rave type of an event. So, they were like, 'I wish I sent more art that's styled towards that type of DJ event instead of like they had a more classy, Renaissance kind of art.' It's someone that I spoke to on Twitter. So, it was interesting, but nonetheless, it caught my interest. So, I think the advertisements on the wall were great.

Ty Smith10:47

Yeah, it was cool. It was like a blend of of an event with marketing and concert that was also like an art gallery.

Liz10:57

When you say the tickets were an NFT, can you speak more to that and how that worked and how you could see that working in future events?

Ty Smith11:15

Yeah, so I first of all, I think it was a blown opportunity of NFT NYC to not do their ticket as as as an as an NFT, but these guys did. Basically, it was an add-on that you could pay an extra couple hundred dollars for. When you bought the ticket, they collected your Ethereum address, and they would send you a black and white NFT. So, it was done by artist Alotta Money, who's been in the game for like longer than this NFT art craze has been a thing, which is awesome to see like someone get picked up like that. And then once you went to the event and scanned your ticket, it would turn to like the colored version of the ticket. And it's just kind of proof of attendance protocol like version of proof that you attended this event. Pretty cool. Will it have value? I don't know, but I think it's sick that you can like, you know how like you're in college and and you go out to the bar and you go to all these events and you like leave the wristbands on because you're like, 'Look look how social I am' and stuff, Jared?

Liz11:52

No, never have done that.

Ty Smith12:02

Now it's now it's immortalized on the blockchain that you have attended all these kind of cool, exclusive events.

Liz12:42

No, I think that's so cool because like, I mean, for me, too, not even just, you know, a 'Hey, look at me, I'm cool and like social' factor, but just to keep them for memories. Like, if I go on a date with my boyfriend and it's like a really memorable concert or something, like I like to keep tickets from that, or if I bring my mom to something, or like a group of friends go out to a big festival, like I've kept tickets from years back. And I feel like a lot of people do the same, and this could be a really good digital scrapbook essentially of that, and it's immortalized somewhere where it's not in like My boyfriend calls it my box of junk. It's not junk. They're memories. And instead of a physical box of memories, you can have it in your wallet, and you could even like potentially share it with those people that you had those memories with. And so, I love that idea. I think that that's really, really cool and could definitely play into how people collect those things in the future.

Ty Smith13:10

Yeah, definitely. I think it's going to be huge. I think it's going to be honestly a huge component of of the concert scene in general because now you're not saving physical tickets. You have like the beauty of NFTs is you don't it doesn't take up any space anywhere, and it's transferable whenever you want.

Liz13:28

Yeah. No, I love I think that that is so cool. I can't wait for more projects and events to do that because like, you already essentially have a digital wallet in your iPhone, and so if you get a ticket from like Live Nation or Ticketmaster, it's in that digital wallet, and so why couldn't they just make that an NFT that is then stored in like your, you know, whatever other like Rainbow wallet or something?

Ty Smith14:17

Yeah, and then they could even like upcharge to get like different levels of NFTs and then have a Decentraland sweatshirt of the event. Like, endless possibilities.

Liz14:18

Endless endless possibilities. I think that that would be so cool. So, I'm I'm super stoked on that. I didn't realize that they had ticketing with NFT with NFTs. That's awesome.

Jared14:37

My question with that is really what happens to it after, though? Will people be willing to buy it just because it's a memento, or...

Ty Smith14:41

Maybe, but like yeah, maybe if you went to the event and wanted to prove it. I don't think that's really what people are going for with like these event I think it's more of the memories and and kind of just proving that you attended the event. I don't think there's going to be a huge secondary market for these proof of attendance things unless those proof of attendance NFTs get you some kind of access to something else. Like maybe you have 10 proof of attendance NFTs to, I don't know, like a Porter Robinson event, and then you can get backstage access to the next one or something like that.

Liz15:12

Yeah, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club party. I know they did that through like your anyone could go who has a Bored Ape, and correct me if I'm wrong, but that was my understanding of it. And maybe it can just be like a forever ticket essentially. And so, if you buy like one and it's a Porter Robinson thing, then you can forever maybe like you can't go, but maybe you could forever claim a ticket, or it gives you like first access to getting tickets. Like, you know how artists will partner with like Amex or something, and like Amex holders have a date where they can log in and get tickets prior to like the general sale. Like, maybe it can give you limited access to that. Again, I feel like the opportunities there are limitless, and so I do think that there could be room for that on the secondary market if it does give you some kind of like all-access pass or preview pass, something along those lines.

Ty Smith16:00

Yeah, so it's essentially a rewards program.

Liz16:06

Yeah. Yep.

Ty Smith16:07

That's sellable.

Liz16:08

Mhm.

Ty Smith16:09

All right, cool. I mean, the event was obviously awesome. I'm definitely going to be attending the next time they have it, which I think should be next year. Awesome example of out-of-home advertising. I don't think there's anything left to cover on this unless you guys have some last-minute thoughts before we close this out.

Liz16:30

No, I loved hearing about it.

Ty Smith16:32

Yeah, it really was fun. I really would recommend it to to everyone. All right, let's wrap this one up. Please remember to rate, review, and recommend this podcast if you found any value in it. We are now streaming on where are we? Wherever we are these days, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Google, a million other places. So, leave us a review. It goes a really long way. And send us a DM on Twitter. I've been getting a lot lately, honestly, of these Twitter DMs of people like with supportive like words of encouragement, and it's like it's so inspiring, honestly, to people are suggesting like new topics. It's it's I don't know, I love crypto. The crypto world's so exciting. And on that note, we will wrap this up. Bye, guys.

Liz17:15

Bye.

Jared17:16

See you later.